chaco canyon

 

new art

ghosts

 

"I once asked a friend what is important, and he said 'beauty'. He was dying. He was in a sleep, a slumber, and he woke up for five minutes. That was the only question I could think to ask him. Boy, was that profound for me. To be in search of beauty; what else can you be in search of, except for that? And you find beauty in the landscape. You find beauty in your natural environment. That is where wisdom comes from. That is where art comes from. That is where aesthetics come from. That is where understanding things like intimacy, industry, respect, come from. Land is a great teacher."

Tessie Naranjo, Santa Clara tribal member

 

Fajada Butte

 

 

 

arriving at Chaco Canyon

is always a relief to me

you drive 20 miles on a bumpy dirt road

into the middle

of "no where"

only to find out

thats really what your interested in

and why you came there

in the first place

 

 

 

 

 

Chetro Ketl

 

from the US park service

From AD 850 to 1250, Chaco was a hub of ceremony, trade, and administration for the prehistoric Four Corners area--unlike anything before or since.  Chaco is remarkable for its multi-storied public buildings, ceremonial buildings, and distinctive architecture.  These structures required considerable planning, designing, organizing of labor, and engineering to construct.  The Chacoan people combined many elements: pre-planned architectural designs, astronomical alignments, geometry, landscaping, and engineering to create an ancient urban center of spectacular public architecture--one that still awes and inspires us a thousand years later.

 

 

 

 

 

petroglyph near Chetro Ketl

 

 

to some folks

Chaco Canyon is a big mystery

why was it built?

what it was for?

and where did everyone go?

if i knew the answer to that

i prolly wouldnt come back

 

 

 

foto by dreamr at Pueblo Bonito

 

doors leading to doors leading to doors leading to doors

pueblo bonito has a strange magic

or pull to it

i suppose it would be temtping to say

its a spiritual place

but then again

there was prolly human sacrifice done here

 

 

 

 

 

foto by dreamr

 

 

like the dark birds we are

most of the time in pueblo bonita

we spent looking for

dark rooms

alleys or places

with shadows

 

 

 

 

foto by dreamr

 

 

 

 

The largest of the great houses is Pueblo Bonito, the center of the Chacoan world. Planned and built in stages, Pueblo Bonito was occupied from the mid-800s to the 1200s. Eventually the structure towered four stories high and contained over 600 rooms and 40 kivas. Pueblo Bonito is one of the most extensively excavated and studied sites in North America and a place sacred to many American Indian groups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Casa Rinconada is quite a ways

from Pueblo bonito

and prolly the largest Kiva

at Chaco Canyon

 

 

 

 

 

theres something about

the light

at chaco canyon

at the end of the day

that feels like

like you are seeing something

no one

has ever seen before

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

after 4 days

of dreaming and floating thru the 4 corners

everything starts to

take on a symbolic quality

so as we drove out of chaco canyon

every animal we saw

seemed to have a

secret message to tale us

 

 

 

 

 

 

but then again

it could just be a black cow

 

 

 

 

 

 

or maybe a white horse

really does mean something

that i should know

 

 

 

canyon ghost--painting done on return at the flea

 

 

im back from 4 corners

drove way up into utah

saw canyonlands saw mesa verde saw aztec

but theres something about chaco canyon that sticks with ya

mattr of fact as i was drving back

glancd at the rear view mirror

in the back seat

and sure enough

i had brought a canyon ghost back with me

 

 

the last stand at Hovenweep

 

art

 

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my new art for 200007....

 

 

 

 

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