The journey has been my life.
I took photography classes in high school and my senior photography class final (I graduated in 1979) was a movie that I made complete with a soundtrack. The movie, "Balanced Expressions" was about surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding, sports that required an effort in balance. I made the movie with my super 8mm camera. I spliced the sections of film editing the footage into a 3 minute movie. Many years later, a friend took all my movie reels and had them placed on a VHS tape. Currently I am in the process of digitizing the VHS in order to use elements of the movie for my current project.
As an adult, I have lived a full life of Balanced Expressions. Now I am planning my retirement project. Here at my blog, I will detail the plan.
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I've lived nearly my whole life in Phoenix, Arizona. It is a big desert city in the southwest portion of the United States. Phoenix is located within the Sonoran Desert. This area of the desert contains tribal lands which surround all of Phoenix. Arizona is the 48th state to be added to the United States, our state holds one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements of North America. Shongopovi or, Old Oraibi is one of three Hopi villages are located on the Second Mesa of the Hopi Reservation. It is located surrounded by the big Navajo Reservation, the two tribes live peacefully together.
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| Winterstick Swallowtail snow surfboard & Nuvak’china |
My initial interest in Hopi goes back to my late teens. I was snow surfing in the San Francisco peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona. The mountains there are near the Navajo and Hopi reservations. The Hopi deities, the Katchinas represent different elements of Hopi life. Nuvak’china, the snow g~d lives in the San Francisco mountains in Flagstaff. I chose this Kachina out of respect for the native Hopi g~d that lived in the area that I snow surfed. I climbed the snowy slopes of the inner basin during the years of 79 through 82. I was making stairs in the snow to do laps surfing the slope. Sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. I painted Nuvak’china on the nose of my board to show respect, a sort of pray for surf. I taught myself about snow, avalanches and studied *Wedeln style for board style.
Back to the Hopi…
The Hopi are an indigenous tribe of people primarily inhabiting Northeastern Arizona. Known for their art and peaceful ways, the Hopi call their land “Tuuwanasave,” which means "the center of the universe.” Their culture is centered around the seasons of the calendar year. Their beliefs are passed down by story telling.
The Hopi people have historic connections through rock etchings found in the Petrified Forest to the South on the Navajo Reservation. Tribes from the area, the Hopi, Zuni and Navajo all have historic connections through the petroglyphs in the Petrified Forest.
The Hopi call the rock art, Tapamveni, which means, “hammered mark or pounded sign.”
The more familiar term, “petroglyph” encompasses all of the etched rock art from ancient people.
My attraction to rock art is found in the interest of the history of the indigenous people of my area, their indelible art form and the ideas from it left to interpretation.
Here is where I will detail the plan, the journey and the results of that journey.
The Plan: To photograph and study Tapamveni, visit, photograph and detail my trips. Then to take oil painting classes and paint the (un clear at the moment) ideas I have for my paintings. Anyway, here is the steps I’ll take or the plan.
✔️1. Gather my photography kit, lenses, digital and film cameras. COMPLETED✔️2. Photograph the Southwest petroglyphs, pictographs and the landscape, detailing in my blog (writing, film and video) Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve, Glen Canyon Petroglyph Panel, Rochester Panel Petroglyphs, Molen Reef Petroglyphs, Buckhorn Wash Pictographs, Sego Canyon Pictographs, Newspaper Rock, Monument Valley, South Mountain, Desert Classic Bike Trail3. Conceptualize the ideas for my paintings, sketches on the iPad.4. Take painting classes, learn color and brush technique.5. Film the paintings and edit, finalize the film.
The Idea: to learn photography, video editing and painting. To enjoy the process along the way and to paint a picture for each one of my sons that they will be proud of hanging in their home. Oh, and to paint one that my wife will be brood of hanging in the living room.
Once completed, I will have experienced what I have detailed here.
I’m writing about it now so I can return, review and stay focused on the idea.
