American West and Art

There is annual 7000 mile field trip through the American West to explore art, the use of land, and how it affects us.  The field trip travels through western Texas, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico.  It explores many well known land artists installations in that region from Spiral Jetty, to Lightning Field, to Sun Tunnels.  Other stops are not necessarily artists installations, but rather juxtapositions of man's impact on the land and how the land now affects us.  This seems like a fascinating field trip to view in the great expanse of the open lands of the west, our impact on it.  Nature and land and our use of it are incredibly intertwined at this point in time and in the west where human habitation is often times non-existent, the impact of nature and man can be witnessed without "background" noise.  One stop on the field trip is simply a spot between an interstate highway and a train track running parallel to each other.  Both the train and traffic pass at high speed and it affords the students the opportunity to envision the area as other than it is.  This last trip, the students imagined the high speed traffic as the sound of waves rolling onto a beach.  They set up beach chairs and everything, but in the end were forced to move on after getting covered in dust that was kicked up by traffic and trains. 

Unless we remove ourselves from urban and suburban landscapes and for that matter rural landscapes as well, it is difficult to get to the roots of the impact that nature has on us.  While even in rural surroundings we may be surrounded by nature, it is not until we are almost entirely absent of human influence that we really gain perspective of nature's awesome power.  This field trip affords students that opportunity to view in a broader setting works of art that were directly inspired by the artists' surroundings.  Spiral Jetty, off the great salt lake in Utah (the name pretty much describes it)  is an enormous jetty that is difficult to grasp the concept of unless you make the trek to view it in its surroundings.  Simply viewing a picture of it in a gallery does not do it justice.  The same holds true for the other pieces.   How often have we walked into a museum or art gallery and viewed a painting or picture by an artist hanging on a wall.  Sometimes we may not grasp what inspired the artists to portray the scene the way he or she did or we may.  While that is partly the point, if we were able to view that same scene juxtaposed to the actual scene that inspired the artists, we may glimpse a little bit of the inspiration that was behind the specific technique or style that the artist used.  We may achieve greater appreciation of works of art if we attempt to view those pieces in their true settings.  If we view a work of art in a gallery and then try to find that scene in nature, both the trek and the adventure will bring us to new levels of understanding. 

As the interstate highway and train track running parallel in Texas suggest, we often times fly through these barren expanses of nature and land, traveling solely between points of civilization and not allowing nature to impact us fully.  We may glance out the window and say, "Oh, what a nice horizon or landscape,"  but it is not until we pull off the highway, stop the car and sit, letting nature fully impact us do we realize how vast and wonderful the land really is.  The nuances in color and shape that we view when at rest do not happen when traveling at high speed through a setting.  We may start to notice more intricate designs and patterns emerging from the landscape if we let it take its full effect on us.  Regardless of whether you are in the Western U.S., Mongolia, France, India, wherever;  unless you stop to take in your surroundings, there is no real way to let them have their full effect on you.  Artists recognize this first hand often times sitting for days in a specific surrounding letting the land and nature truly seep into their consciousness before attempting to translate that into their specific medium.  We could all do well to learn from the artists who take a little extra time to look around them and notice nature.  This past weekend, I went up to Vermont to do some camping on my property up there and realized this first hand as I flew on the highway past amazing vistas and landscapes.  I glanced out the window, receiving only a brief glimpse of what was passing.  The views were amazing, but I was in a hurry as most of us usually are.  I would have done well to take my own advice and pull off the highway, take a little break, and let the surroundings sink in.  In any case, wherever you are traveling, take some time to look around you, stop even for a few minutes and let nature affect you on a deeper level.  Let it take hold and show you its immense beauty and splendor.  Take time to appreciate it and let it take you to another place.