Canyonlands National Park

Mesa Arch

The charms of these [places] are beyond all common reason;

unexplainable and mysterious as life itself." -John Muir

We pulled up to the park entrance station at 8:30 in the morning. I had read on the NPS website that the Mesa Arch was best viewed early in the day. Stop number one. The ranger at the visitor center had given us a detailed seven-stop itinerary to cover the highlights of the Island in the Sky District in a single day. Mom and I were somewhat skeptical but managed to arrive at the Grand View Point Overlook (#7) at 3:30 where we contemplated taking a third hike though happy hour was calling and we had neglected to fill one of our water bottles with wine. The whole day we were planning our return trip, taking notes of campsites we liked, backpacking routes, and what we needed to do to get a permit to roam the 4-wheel-drive road at the bottom of the plateau. Canyonlands gets its name from the deep winding canyons carved by the Green and Colorado Rivers which converge within the park boundaries.

Upheaval Dome

The Green River from the Murphy Point Overlook

Grand View Point

Grand View Point

Grand View Point

Arches National Park

The infamous Delicate Arch

I checked off two more National Parks on my most recent road trip. Arches and Canyonlands, located within an hour of each other, hug the northeast and southwest side of Moab, Utah. Mom and I were surprised it took us this long to get there given our family's track record for visiting parks in the west. The last time we were in the area was 2002 on the way to Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympics and a ski trip. The town had changed quite a bit in 14 years, almost overrun with tourist trade, Jeep Wranglers jacked up on monster truck-sized wheels were everywhere, ready to conquer the landscape like a horde of military tanks. Skydiving also seemed to be big deal. We wanted to camp but couldn't make a campsite reservation even two months out; it was okay given that the mornings were still quite cold. I kept reminiscing about geology being my favorite science class in high school and how fascinating it is. If I had chosen to major in one of the sciences that would have been it. The two of us spent a full day there then went back the day we left to capture some of the arches in better light like the Landscape Arch below.

Landscape Arch

The Windows

Does anyone else see Jack Skellington?

The Three Gossips and the Organ, a scene I did a painting of in high school but didn't realize it was at Arches until much later

Pine Tree Arch

Tunnel Arch

The 7th Annual People's Art Show

My second year participating in The People's Art Show at the Factory on 5th

Electric Feel II, second from right on the top

12x12 for $144 VI

My 12x12 this year was based on a section of this photograph I took in 2010 on the grounds of Planet Bluegrass during the RockyGrass music festival.

Rock Wall II, acrylic on panel

 6x6's (sold for $36) by the students of Escuela Del Sol

Two of my favorite pieces from the auction exhibition Prelude

John Garrett, Fall Song, paper, metal, wire, trinkets, beads on board

"Fall Song plays with the idea of translating marks in one system to marks in another system. In this case, the marks become objects which are held together in plied wires. It covers a range from the mundane to the poetic."

Reyes Padilla (one of my studio mates), Synesthetic #11, acrylic on canvas

"Synesthesia: a concomitant sensation; especially: a subjective sensation or image of a sense (as of color) other than the one (as of sound) being stimulated.

Using the synesthetic condition that allows me to see sound, my paintings are representations of the music I listen to while I paint."

Creative Mornings ABQ: Empathy

I've been following Creative Mornings for years, watching inspiring talks online from creative thinkers all over the world and waiting for the day when I would either move to a city where the lecture series was already happening or hoping that someday it would come to Albuquerque. To my surprise the latter happened before the former. The first Creative Mornings ABQ talk I attended in person was Carlos Contreras reading poems surrounding September's theme of empathy. It was incredibly powerful.

Four Corners Folk Festival

My first summer music festival experience was the Telluride Bluegrass Festival sometime around age five. Since then I've gone to a festival almost every summer: The Silverton Jubilee, RockyGrass, and most recently the Four Corners Folk Festival which I've attended annually since 2010. I learned to hula hoop at these festivals and eventually got into making my own hoops and bringing them along to dance with. What I love about them is the intimacy and sense of community: as I wrote in a previous post, "There is something magical in the air during these three day events, whether it is being in the presence of so many talented musicians, dancing and hula hooping under the stars, or walking through the campground listening to late-night jam sessions." They aren't overwhelming like SXSW or Bonnaroo can be. It rained nearly all day for two of the three days we were there, but it didn't stop anyone from being outdoors and even dancing during the heaviest downpour on Saturday night. The headliner that evening invited everyone who was outside the tent to come up and sit on stage with them. Some of my favorite new discoveries from this year's festival: Eddie From Ohio, I'm With Her (Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan), Ruth Moody Band, and The Novel Ideas.

Dangerous Ideas About Design Education

A recent article in Print Magazine by James Victore made me think about the rigorous theory-based design program I went through at the Kansas City Art Institute and how it has shaped my perspective of the field as well as influenced my practice as a freelancer and an agency designer. The premise of the 2010 Graphic Design senior show was "Unusual Behavior." My classmates and I developed this theme based on the theories and practices drilled into us throughout our three years in the program:

"The human mind is prone to pre-determined linear thought. This kind of thinking is problematic in a designer's process to innovation and creative solutions. And so we have been taught otherwise, to push the limits of our notions about graphic design and how it works—to behave unusually."

Some highlights from Victore's article Dangerous Ideas About Design Education:

"Weird is good; it's an anomaly and it's unique. I teach on the simple premise that the things that made you weird as a kid make you great as an adult—but only if you pay attention to them."

"Design is not math. This is what makes the work hard. There are no right answers and very few wrong answers."

"Know that not all clients deserve your attention. Designers are not one-size-fits-all."

"Have boundaries. Be able to say NO and to never learn the taste of shit."

"Enjoy your work and the process. If you don't enjoy it, how can you expect anyone else to?" 

Though I'm usually not one to boast, KCAI was recently named one of the 2015 Top Design Schools by Graphic Design USA.