First Week in July!

 

NV Awe: Discovering a Stand of Aspen

 NV Awe: Discovering a Stand of Aspen

by Rebecca A. Eckland, MFA, MA, MA

June 24 , 2024

Aspen trees remind me that my home—

Nevada—has fostered a special love for what it lacks. As a high desert landscape, Nevada is a place where there are not many of them, where wind and sun have created an ecosystem of sagebrush and grasses; to exist as a tree in this place is to find the pauses between the high desert just as the rainstorms that are pauses between the sunny days, to be remarkable as an anomaly and not as the rule. 

Most visitors to the desert first notice cottonwood trees which are defiant soldiers staking claim to springs and watersheds, improbable and steadfast, a glimmering hint of hope as I run or ride my bike for miles through the high desert. In this way, trees are markers that there is water here, that there is life here, that a great many miracles are unfolding—the transitory reprieve of shade, birds nesting, that there are lifeforms that articulate the better aspects of the human spirit, this yearning to grow and to never stop growing, to spread and stretch and to embark on a never-ending journey of becoming.

Cousins of cottonwoods—members of the poplar family—aspens are not individual trees but instead massive organisms whose presence can spread for miles thanks to web-like lateral-growing roots called rhizomes beneath the earth’s surface. 

Perhaps this is why discovering a stand of aspen has always felt like coming home, their leaves flickering in the constant breeze as a friendly wave, a welcome. Surrounded by mothers, sisters, and aunts—a single organism of aspen can be a myriad number of trees. To walk through an aspen grove is to walk among the soul of a single living creature.  

Aspens have saved me when my state of mind— my heart itself— is something like a desert, vast and open and dry, when the loneliness seeps in, and it is impossible to believe that solitude can be a good thing.  I’ve felt that hours into a trail run— the impossibility of each step and the futility of wanting to arrive wherever I believe I am going. I have curled into a ball and cried beneath an aspen stand as flickering leaves all around me the reminder that even as shattered as life can make us feel, we can be made whole again. 

I had so much fun participating in NV AWE: Tiny Treasures.  I was the second collaborator of this piece (the first artist was Candace herself—it is the disk in the bottom left of the second image)—her shapes inspired me to try and create one of my favorite features of the Nevada landscape: a stand of aspen. But 4” is smaller than I thought it would be, and I haven’t squealed with sheer joy as much as I did as I figured out how to create tiny aspen trees. 

Artist Moms by Rossitza Todorova

Rachel Stiff send me her disc and included a Nikita Gill quote. It made me think of how interconnected we all are. As artists we are inspired by nature, culture and each other. 

“We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins, carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains. 93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames, we are all just stars that have people names.” - Nikita Gill

For me this piece became about the body. Rachel Stiff started it, and we both had our daughters within two months of each other. Personally, I needed a lot of medical intervention to become pregnant. The silver leaf feels invasive, like the doctor’s visits, injections, and prolonged hospital stay I experienced. The silver is very visible from one angle, but disappears from another angle. Medical care can feel that way too, invisible but always there. 

This collaboration between my daughter age 4 months and Candace’s granddaughter aged 5 fills my heart. 

Creativity and creative expression is apart of everyone from the start. We all want to make and see how others react to them. I hope this is the start of a lifetime of creativity for Catherine. 

Price Family Camping and NV Awe Project

 

Desert Love

by Sheyenne Taylor  - There’s this random collection of abandoned cement structures in the middle of the desert near Tonopah. Every time I drive between Reno and Las Vegas, I stop and check out the new art/writing. It’s prettiest at night ! I saw this disc that I selected, and it immediately brought me to that spot. 

More discs in June!

 

Breathe~ Rossi and Tamara Collaboration

 

Collaboration between Haley and Patrick Deiro

 

Some finished discs today

 

Celebrating Artistic Collaboration: A Reflection on the Nevada Awe Project

Reno Nevada- 6/10/2024: As an artist, I am continually inspired by the world around me and the ways in which we interact with our surroundings. When I was approached to participate in the Nevada Awe Project, I couldn't help but feel a sense of alignment with my own artistic practice, rooted in awe and wonderment.

The Nevada Awe Project presented a unique challenge: How do I, as an artist, respond to another artist's work, and how do we create a cohesive expression of awe for Nevada? These questions initially seemed daunting, but they led me to a simple realization when I met Katherine Case.

Katherine's artistry, particularly her line work, captivated me from the moment we connected. The variety and quality of her lines seemed to dance with movement and emotion, evoking echoes of memories past. In her relief prints, I found a resonance with my own visual language—the emotional power imbued in each meticulous mark.

Together, Katherine and I embarked on a journey of artistic collaboration, creating disks that reflect our shared awe for Nevada. Through our work, we sought to capture the essence of this awe, drawing on our individual perspectives and experiences to create a unified expression of reverence for the beauty and complexity of Nevada's landscape and culture.

As artists, we understand the transformative power of collaboration and the ability of art to transcend boundaries and connect us on a deeper level. In the Nevada Awe Project, we found not only an opportunity to express our awe for this remarkable state but also a platform for fostering connections and dialogue within the artistic community.

The Tortoise and the Hare!