naa dáá'

lawrence + his mom at their stand on 89 north

i had a most excellent morning hanging out with them hearing stories from their lives.  

naa dáá' is navajo for sweet corn.

gerry + mary's trailer

we are the goats

álá means hand in navajo

backyard

this is how this piece looked yesterday as i was driving home

álá

panorama drama x jetsonorama

jerry + mary's

step

step 2

backyard

jetsonorama (sans drama) for the painted desert project

this past week has been hectic preparing for all the artists coming for the painted desert project, hosting gaia + doodles and working at my job 4 days this week.  a big shout out to karen koestner who came from flagstaff to assist while i was at work.  you rocked it!

i got work up before the artists arrived and have a moment now that they're all in page getting paint and enjoying the lake to post images.

ben delmar on 89 north

water is life

i installed this piece about 7 miles north of the first piece after it was altered.

john begishie

cavalene on an outhouse in bitter springs

step on j r's house

step in cedar ridge

king fowler at the old red lake trading post

king is about 92 now and is a code talker.  i shot this portrait of him for pasting on mother's day this year.

there's more goodness to come from breeze, labrona, overunder, doodles, gaia + tom greyeyes.  stay tuned...

peace.

the painted desert, dispatch 1

wow.  what a long day.  i awoke early this morning.  andrew awoke shortly thereafter.  we stayed in phoenix last night with friends.  nick landed around 12:30 this afternoon.  after scooping him up, he and andrew decided they were ready to go north.  nick really wanted to stop in sedona to get lunch at a spot where he did a mural about a year ago.  i'm not a big fan of sedona but we went.  and in truth, the spot where we had lunch was super cool.  we ate out back under the shade of a tree with the red rock canyon wall visible in the distance.

we got back in the car and headed to the painted desert.  when i told them we were in the painted desert, nick finally got the name of the project.  we drove for about and hour and 1/2 before arriving at mrs. woody's food stand about a mile from my house, i stopped so nick could meet her as he'll be painting her stand.  

the vibe was a little funky.  i wasn't sure what was going on.  i walked over to mrs. daw's food stand and learned from her that a six year old child who was unattended attempted to cross the highway by himself and was hit and killed.  that happened at 2 p.m. today.  mrs. daw and her family and mrs. woody and her daughter sandra were the only people left at the flea market site.  they were deeply affected by what happened earlier.  mrs. woody and sandra knew the little boy who was killed and had spent time with him 3 days earlier.  

mrs. woody went on to tell us how her stand was vandalized recently.  besides spray painting the wood part of the stand, the kids who hit her stand also spray painted her screen.  she said they even tossed a blazing bottle of gasoline into her little cooking stand trying to burn it down.  she and her daughter were confused as to why anyone would want to do that.  nick attempted to help them feel better saying that often when he paints murals, people don't tag them.  

before going to my house, i took andrew + nick to the canyon in back of my house.  they dug it.

exhausted, i give thanks we made it back safely and am excited about where this may all go.

in the painted desert

ahhh shaaa now!  watch out.  it's 2012 with big things in the works.  i'm excited.  stay tuned for good things down the road.


meanwhile, when alice walked in to be seen recently, i wondered how it was that a 64 year old, traditional navajo female was rocking a stud in her lower lip.  i told her about the wheat pasting project.  she'd seen the pictures along the roadside and agreed to be photographed today.  she lives 80 miles away from the clinic and said she'd meet me in gap.


an hour and a half later i got to the gas station where we agreed to rendezvous.  


"now what?" i thought.  it's a cold day and we don't have any place to shoot.  alice told me to follow her to an abandoned roadside stand nearby.  a dead raven was lying on the table.  fearing she'd perceive this as a bad sign, i asked if she wanted me to move it.


"move it," she said.  i'm not sure whether she thought it was a bad omen or just didn't want a dead, partially eaten bird in the photo with her.


my primary interest was in her story and how it was that she decided to wear a stud in her lip. after she didn't answer that initial question i asked whether it was her idea or did one of her kids talk her into it.

"it was my idea" was all she said.