Putah-Cache Bioregion

Visual Poems

“Bioregionalism” had been a part of my thought and practice for some time. Extending this ecological sense of place to include the ‘information environment’ has been a long term context for my creative art works. To my delight, I applied for and was selected as a UC Davis Artist in Bioregional Residence for 2000. The project provoked me to drive, bicycle, hike and walk around this area, from Clear Lake to The Sacramento River, from the Capay Valley to Lake Berryessa, from Boggs Mountain to the Putah Sink, and around my own back yard.

During the year, using a small 35mm camera, I extensively photographed every colorful aspect and detail of the bioregion I encountered: landscapes, plants, clouds, water, people, livestock, signs, fields, gravestones, the moon, trees, fire, cracked mud, vehicles, fences, birds, buildings, trains, insects, chairs, garbage, and archeological relics.

Inspired by printed poetry, I eventually decided on the resulting format; a series of vertical visual poems created with overlayed photographic images. Color and black and white reprographic copies and enlargements were made from my original small photographic prints. These images were than arranged, cut and pasted in ‘variations on a theme’ of five vertical images within images. Additional collage and hand coloring accented each piece. Twenty four original “Visual Poems” were ultimately composed.

Upon completion, I produced a limited edition set of these works for exhibition and sale. The relatively new Iris (archival quality, digital ink jet) printing technology seemed the appropriate way for me to do this. Six of the original 24 panels were selected and exquisitely reproduced by long time friends, Richard and Noah Lang (and crew) at Trillium Graphics.

I hope that the intended simple beauty of these pieces inspires viewers to more deeply explore their own creative sense of place.

(Exhibition review by Paul Dorn, in the Davis Enterprise.)

2 of 6 limited edition digital prints.

This page is printer firendly. It will print without banner images and will change colored text to greyscale.