“Kasha-Katuwe” means “White Cliff” in the native language of the Cochiti pueblo people. The tapered rock formations are called hoodoos (or tents). Some still retain their “boulder caps.”
“Make sure you visit Tent Rocks,” both friends and acquaintances told us. “Go now, before the it gets too hot.” Actually, they said that back in March. We finally made it Sunday even though we couldn’t take Tynan (the dog) which was what made us hesitate earlier. He loves going to new, outdoorsy places. But even without him there, it was easily the BEST, MOST INTERESTING FIELD TRIP since we moved to New Mexico back in August.
Tent Rocks are the products of volcanic eruptions that happened 6 or 7 million years ago.
Technically, the national monument is Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks. It’s located about an hour north and west of Albuquerque. There are very cool geologic formations as well as a couple trails with wicked vistas that include views of the Sandia, Sangre de Cristo, and Jemez mountains and the Rio Grande River valley.
Entrance to the slot canyon portion of the Slot Canyon Trail.
According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (because why should I re-write the wheel?):
The cone-shaped tent rock formations are the products of volcanic eruptions that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago and left pumice, ash, and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet thick. Tremendous explosions from the Jemez volcanic field spewed pyroclasts (rock fragments), while searing hot gases blasted down slopes in an incandescent avalanche called a “pyroclastic flow.”
Precariously perched on many of the tapering hoodoos are boulder caps that protect the softer pumice and tuff below. Some tents have lost their hard, resistant caprocks, and are disintegrating. While fairly uniform in shape, the tent rock formations vary in height from a few feet up to 90 feet.
The view from the top of the mesa. The climb there was quite satisfying. I’m not sure if those are the Sangre de Cristos or the Jemez mountains. Either way, we were jiving on the undulating cliffs.
What are the cool, touristy places you can visit in your area? How do they provide inspiration for your art?
It’s as if the trees grow right out of the rocks! Check out those gorgeous stone curves. They encourage you to wend your way to the right, to keep following the path. And maybe even to create an abstract rug based on them.Unfortunately, I’m not up on my high desert botany yet, so I can’t give you a name, but aren’t these gorgeous? Who says the desert is boring and…brown? I see bright orange flowers in a near-future mat…
Memory Lane can take you to the best places. In this case, New Hampshire’s Story Land around 1970.
Memory Lane’s got me in her grip, but I managed to come up for air for a few moments. For one thing, this post is due tomorrow. As long as I can get a draft done today…
I’ve been going through hundreds of old family photos that my brother and his wife generously uploaded to Shutterfly from slides my father’s been taking for decades. It’s a huge undertaking and the job’s not done yet. But at least family history – the good and bad of it – won’t be lost, and the collection of pics doesn’t have to be split between the four of us kids.
Why am I going through photos today? And not just my father’s but my own family’s as well? It actually has to do with rug hooking. Really! In less than a month Cheryl Bollenbach is paying a visit to Albuquerque, specifically to the Adobe Wool Arts guild, to facilitate an open class with us. I know, it’s exciting. It’s open, so we’re choosing our own projects. Cheryl will be informed ahead of time, so that she’ll know what we’re looking to learn and what we need help with, then she can prepare accordingly. Actually, she’s waiting to hear from us, um, me right now. I received her email Friday. Still haven’t responded.
Dancing with Grandpa. Maybe I was 13-ish.
See, between creating hopefully saleable small mats and working on the bed-sheet rug (which presented a not-so-small backing challenge this past week) in order to have enough inventory for the Rail Yards Market come June 5, I haven’t been thinking too much about the class. Sure, now and again – usually at 2:00 a.m. in bed – I’d agonize a little over it and what I wanted to accomplish with Cheryl, but I’d comfort myself with “Hey, it’s not till May. You’ve got plenty of time.” This week I realized that May 4th is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!
Deep breath. More thought. One goal I’ve had for 2016 is to hook a sefie. Not something particularly realistic, but one of those whimsical, full-of-color mats I’ve seen some of you put up on Facebook and Pinterest. What fun! I’ll do that. But then I got to thinking, I haven’t done
Tynan, family dog extraordinaire. (We all say that about our dogs, I know.) Love his color, but not interested in hooking that much Welsh springer spaniel red and white.
Tynan. He’s our dog who simply must be immortalized in wool or t-shirt or something. Again, not looking to make him realistic either. Did that with another dog and really didn’t enjoy it. Ripped out a LOT of loops. Hooking’s supposed to be my happy place. And what I want to do in one of these rugs is show that and the joy that Tynan and/or I get from life. That means bright colors, people.
So, I’m looking at pics, and I see my beloved grandmother. And my brother who passed away from cancer at 14. I could hook them! Or pictures my dad took of Nova Scotia during our camping trips! What about the mountains of New Mexico that I’ve fallen in love with? Or my daughter behind a feathered Mardi Gras mask circa 5th grade? Now I’m out of control. Really, I’ve never mined my photographs for ideas given my love of abstract. I guess it’s time.
I know that many of you do use your pics to hook. I’m looking for some advice regarding Photoshop. Looks like it can definitely be a great tool. Thoughts? Ease of use? (I’m Windows based, not Mac.) Happy to hear from everyone. And I’ll let you know sometime soon who’s getting a portrait done.
Refilling the creativity tank (photo by GermanGirl at rgbstock.com)
It happens: the creativity tank starts to run low and needs gassing up. After rushing to finish and then submit “Ribbons Over Albuquerque” last week, I had to come down, recharge, give my brain and swollen hands a rest. That’s not a bad thing; it opens me up to new experiences which is always a great thing for dreaming up new rugs and mats.
So, just what do I do when I’m not hooking but still want to keep the fires stoked?
I cook. Gluten-freedom has made that a little…interesting. But you can’t beat it for almost immediate gratification. And my family is oh, so appreciative.
Field trip! Last week Tom and I headed toFlowers seen at Albuquerque’s Biopark last week.
Albuquerque’s Biopark Botanic Garden where I do rug hooking demos once a month. I’d never seen the rest of the park! Now we’ll go every season to see how it changes.
I take pictures of things I deem “interesting” as possible design candidates. If the pic sucks, just hit DELETE. Easy-peasy.
Never underestimate the joy in visiting a Penzeys spice store just to sniff the merchandise. Especially if it’s next door to a Michael’s. Just be careful around the Berbere Seasoning if you value the nerves and blood vessels in your nasal cavities.
I grab the dog and the husband and hit a trail. Or even a nearby sidewalk. You never know what you might see even in your own neighborhood. (Don’t forget the camera!)
Many of us attending Artful Threads powerfully desired this silk scarf hand painted by Cheri Reckers.
Speaking about creativity – we were, yes? – lately I’ve been noticing a LOT of synchronicity going on. Two weeks ago, three AWAG (guild) members and I headed off to Tucson for the hook-in down that way. Last weekend, I participated in a hooking demo at Artful Threads with creative women in Belen, New Mexico. Various fiber arts were demonstrated in one of the cooler sites I’ve visited since moving here.
A Grenfell-style mat by Vi Darcy offered at Artful Threads as a raffle gift.
There was a ginormous rail yard next to the Harvey House Museum where we were. This week there’s a fiber sale happening as part of Artful Threads; I’m taking Tom with me if only so that he can see more of the state we now call home . He’ll love all the trains coming and going.
Meanwhile, I’m seeing all kinds of creativity memes and such on Facebook. Just today I saw this from writer Julia Cameron:
As artists, the creative dream we move toward is often visible to us– but invisible to those around us.
Go on, create, bring forth what’s in you no matter what the naysayers or your spouse or parents say. They’re too myopic or maybe just too busy doing their own thing to see the highway you’re traveling on.
And don’t be afraid you won’t be good at your art, whatever it might be. Jon Marro‘s I’MPERFECT reminds us not to get caught up in a quest for perfection. Salvador Dali does likewise.
Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.
So keep working, reaching for your own particular star in your own particular medium be it hooking or painting or writing or dancing or bowling or… Forget the fear of not being as good as someone else, even if that person appears perfect. I mean, should we all stop hooking just because our mats and rugs don’t look like Deanne Fitzpatrick‘s or Susan Feller‘s or Lynn Stein‘s or any other artist’s work we see in Rug Hooking Magazine? Of course not! Use them as inspiration for your own pieces.
The New York Times even has a terrific article about raising creative children. Read it here.
But what’s really brought all this creativity talk home to me is Elizabeth Gilbert‘s book,
Much of what Gilbert says in the book is the butt-in-the-chair, labor of love shit that I would call preaching to the choir of creative folks who would typically buy this book. BUT, I’m in a place in my life where I’m actually able to appreciate what she has to say. The bit about combinatory play especially resounded. Combinatory play, Gilbert writes, is “the act of opening up one mental channel by dabbling in another.”
I used to write fiction a lot more than I hooked. Then life became vastly more complicated, particularly with a child having anxiety, emotional, behavioral, and academic issues. Preparing for a move across country didn’t make it any less so. Our emotions in the house were up and down, fighting and flighting. During those years, I moved more into hooking. Even though I design my own rugs, it was a hell of a lot easier in the evening (because that is when I would have time for such personal endeavors) to hook than to contemplate plots and character to write an actual story. I have continued as an assistant editor at Fifth Wednesday, a kick-ass lit journal out of Chicago – I read the slush pile – but it’s always more stress-free to read someone else’s work than to write my own stuff. Plus, I consider it my way of giving back to literature, another labor of love.
Since we’ve moved, though, I’ve been feeling the tug of writing again. I’ve even had some fits of starting and stopping. But I hear the call, and it’s only getting stronger. Maybe it’s because the kid’s graduated from high school (thank you, God!) and has started working (bless you, Target!), and we’ve mostly settled into the new house. Meanwhile, there’s a small but active hooking community out here in in Albuquerque that’s been incredibly welcoming. They’re very open to my less-than-traditional way of hooking. Between them, the scenery, and all the art out here, my own creativity idea well is starting to really fill up again. Or maybe that well is just more accessible now. I’m 51 and I get to re-invent myself to some degree, dump some of my own insecurities, and just explore what I am at this moment: a writer and a hooker.
A friend recently looked at some of my hooking on Facebook and asked a question that gave the writer in me goose bumps.
“Do you hide secrets in your hooking?”
How would you respond?
The rug currently on my frame. What’s hiding in it?
Tynan having a grand, old time in the snowy Sandias.
New Mexico is a great place for nature. It was a big reason for moving to Albuquerque; that is, we wanted a more outdoor lifestyle than New England’s winters afforded us. (And I hated being cold for six to eight months straight.) Make no mistake, there is winter here. We’ve had snow a couple of times now, and morning temperatures are usually in the high teens to lower twenties. Makes for cold walks with the dog in the Bosque, the forest along the Rio Grande.
The Sandias as viewed from our neighborhood on Albuquerque’s west side. Winter hiking and skiing are excellent on the other side.
Monday was a big, bodacious day in Albuquerque with lots of sunshine filling the sky. Tom and I packed the dog and some gear in the car and headed around to the other side of the Sandia Mountains. Winter abides more forcefully there. They even have a ski area. One of the last big storms dumped about 21 inches of the white stuff on the slopes. And on the trail we decided to hike.
I had considered bringing my snowshoes, but Tom needs new ones, so they stayed home. No worries. The trail is a popular one. Other “snowshoers” and hikers had blazed the way creating a nice hard-pack. Boots were fine. Of course, if you stepped off the trail, you dropped way down to at least your knees. And your boots filled with snow.
I spy a nature inspired abstract mat here! Check out all the bore holes.
I always take my camera (i.e., phone) with me when we go, hoping to find something nature-ific that might inspire a rug or four. We weren’t disappointed yesterday. Clearly, there’s been a fair amount of evergreen dieback in the forest in the Sandias which is actually part of the Cibola National Forest. But as the trees decay, they make for the most interesting subjects to study, if only aesthetically. I was quite taken with the one in the photos. It might have a future in fiber.
Another view of my tree.
After our most pleasant of snowy, winter hikes (it was about 45 with the slightest breeze), we wound our way up to the Crest of the mountains. By car. Much colder with a wicked wind, from there we could look out over Albuquerque metro area and to other snow-covered mountains to the north, south, and west. Very impressive.
The view from Sandia Crest looking to the southwest. Our house is somewhere to the right.
Then it was goodbye to the snow and the cold. A quick 40- or so minute ride down the mountain and through the pass and we were home, on the city’s warmer west side. Tired, we opened a bottle of red wine and toasted our good fortune. Next week we’re off to the west (by only a couple of miles) to further explore Petroglyph National Monument.
I know that nature inspires many of you when you hook, paint, write, and make other forms of art. Please share some of those marvelous creations.
PS – I’m off this weekend to Tucson to attend the hook-in put on by the Old Pueblo Rug Hookers there. I’m told it’s an eight-hour drive. Four of us from the Adobe Wool Arts guild are going. Hope to have lots of pics for you next week. In the meantime I’m off to the liquor store for a bottle or two of chardonnay to share with the ladies.
Creative Living Beyond Fear
