Telluride Arts HQ East
May 24, 2024 – June 30, 2024
Telluride Arts Presents:
Desert Dreams
By Kellie Day
In 1992, fresh from a Joliet Illinois cubicle, Kellie landed in Sedona, Arizona as a Volunteer Wilderness Ranger for the US Forest Service. She was handed a copy of Desert Solitaire by her chaw-chewing boss, given a “pickle suit” and a shack to live in, and began patrolling the red rock desert.
For years, she drove back and forth across the Navajo Reservation to get from her part-time home in Flagstaff, Arizona to her future home of Ridgway, Colorado. Herds of sheep meandered with their dog and sometimes a scarved woman or a child. Scraggly horses ran together in numbers. Shiprock guarded it all. These desert images became more embedded in my soul.
“In this exhibit, you'll see the rattlesnake and how it blends into the earth and rocks, its patterns created using handmade collage papers and gold marks,” says Kellie. You’ll see Navajo sheep herded by their dog, and the cool skin of the agave made with papers and layers of gels.
You’ll feel a twisted Juniper tree along the cool San Juan River. You’ll see Navajo horses grazing in the sage, hand drawn with gold lines. A coyote trots through the Banana Yucca, his scraggly fur reflecting colors with thick brush strokes. You’ll see a Tucson sunset.
“It’s all here waiting for you to be still for a moment and allow these images to sink in. Maybe if you linger a moment longer, it will embed its desert beauty in your soul,” says Kellie.