Zion National Park
Artist in Residency
February 2025
For the month of February 2025 I got to live in a little stone cottage tucked up in a grove of cottonwood trees along the virgin river. My time in Zion Canyon was a dream.
Rocks show the forces that shape them. Smooth curves of water and layers of sandy wind. Their elegant movements show deep time and erosion. The huge walls of the canyon gestured my gaze upwards. Carved by the virgin river, the patterned faces of the rocks reflect the colors of the thick willows found along the riverside.
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Winter in the Canyon
I spent my days hiking, weaving down by the river and connecting with the many people of the park. The thick smell of juniper and pine draped over the trails. The song of dipper birds and ravens. One day I saw a porcupine in the crook of a tree and I could hear him munching on the budding cottonwood tips! I got to share the process of weaving a basket with curious visitors. This was my job as the artist in resident and one of the highlights of my time in the park. My interactions made me reflect on how deeply fractured modern civilization’s relationship is with the animate world. Baskets are an ancient technology, once common knowledge for human survival. How have we become so estranged from these basic survival skills? How do we relate to each other and the land? What do we collectively value?
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There was a zine in the grotto house (my little stone cottage) written by Ansel Adams entitled, “the role of the artist in conservation”. He wrote about how artist’s work have been used as a tool for exploitation and colonization (particularly westward expansion in the US) as well as for the protection and preservation of places. How was I to create art on the homelands of the ancestral Pueblo and Southern Paiute peoples in a way that honors the history of this place? How do we engage in ways that are ecologically and culturally present in place? Humans have historically acted like beavers, changing the landscape in ways that give back. A reciprocal exchange and way of relating that benefits biodiversity. How has our relationship with land become so one sided?
Our material culture is a reflection of our values. The things we use daily tell us who we are, where we are from and what is important to us. I want to weave baskets that speak to my values and to my relationship with the animate world. I found deep time and elemental shapes in the rocks. I found the wild food of juniper berries in ringtail scat. I found familiar friends and mentors in the spiders.
This open twined basket was inspired by my favorite twisting juniper tree on the trail to emerald pools. It was a gift to spend an entire month in the canyon, watching the days grow longer and the weather change.
This basket is inspired by the geological phenomenon in sandstone known as crossbedding. This curvy babe now lives in Zion National Park’s permanent collection.
Woven with wild willow rods, cultivated willow skeins and iron-dyed maple bark. I was excited to experiment with this new style and pay homage to one of my beloved teachers!
Relationships are always changing. Our relationship with places, plants, creatures and each other reflect who we are. Beauty tells of our relationship with time. Who has access to beauty? Who has access to land? Who has access to material wealth? We need to protect public lands and the access for all. We need to engage with public lands in ways that honor our relational reality. I see everything reflected in the twilight eyeshine of crepuscular creature. I hear everything vibrate in dipper bird song. I feel everything move in the waters of the river.
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Thank you Ildiko, Patricia and all the other folks involved in Zion National Park!
Intertwining songs stargazing at canyon overlook
Protesting the firing of government workers!
