I chose the title “Earth Remembered” partly because my landscapes consider moments in wild places I have experienced in many ways. These include through travels, through reading, through movies, but also through imagined places anywhere, and dreaming. The spirit of place stays with me most, be that deep atmosphere, glint of light, a moment with a wild animal, the pause before or after a storm, and certainly a sense of desolation, of seclusion, or of great silence. To me these visions are psalms. I am not compelled by a precise or literal likeness of a place name from one vantage point. I am interested in spirit.
In his poem, “How To Be a Poet,” Wendell Berry wrote, “There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.” Take Celilo Falls, a stunning, extended, cross-river cascade on the Columbia River. Since 1957 it has been submerged by the Dalles Dam, a project, which while a successful venture to produce energy and other benefits, was a tragedy beyond measure, certainly for native peoples. For well over 10,000 years, they had been using this prime site not only for salmon fishing, but also for regional gatherings. As a place, it remains sacred. I have tried many times to evoke the spirit of what was once Celilo Falls, with only partial success. Should I ever fully succeed, that would be my “Guernica.”
I can believe, indeed know, the Earth will one time be as pristine as it was when the first humans walked the Earth. So this is really a show of paintings depicting the spirit of the Earth, long ago and long to come.