The Upper Rio Grande Basin Watershed Wall is a collaboration with Amigos Bravos and Scott Sutton. The interactive art installation will function as an educational sculpture highlighting the terrestrial ecosystems of the Upper Rio Grande watershed we call home.

The Watershed Wall will be composed of a steel frame and catchment basin with a pump that cicrulates water up to a drip line. The dripline will create a falling water screen for images to be projected onto from a projector. We will project images and videos upon the screen of water highlighting the diversity of species such as fish, insects, birds, mammals, and plants that are integral to the ecosystems of the Upper Rio Grande Basin.

About Amigos Bravos:

Amigos Bravos is a statewide water conservation organization (based in Taos, NM) guided by social justice principles and dedicated to preserving and restoring the ecological and cultural integrity of New Mexico’s water and the communities that depend on it. While rooted in science and the law, our work is inspired by the values and traditional knowledge of New Mexico’s diverse Hispanic and Native American land-based populations, with whom we collaborate.

Amigos Bravos’ programs and activities are developed through a collaborative process with our Board of Directors, Staff, and partnerships with like-minded environmentally-focused public and private organizations. A strategic planning process, updated every 5 years, assures that Amigos Bravos remains close to its diverse constituency of land-based local communities, Native American tribes, and urban environs while linking those insights with expertise from a variety of professionals working on natural resources, legislative policy, science, health, and education, as well as with representatives from regional and national conservation organizations.

Since our first victory in 1990, which saved the Guadalupe Mountains from all future mining activities, Amigos Bravos has not faltered in our commitment to protect New Mexico’s precious waters and the communities that depend on them. Based in Taos, with a statewide mission, Amigos Bravos has grown into a well-respected and nationally recognized river and water protection organization.

Our areas of expertise and accomplishment include: broad-based advocacy campaigns; community organizing; the creation of effective socio-economically and culturally diverse coalitions; successful legal, regulatory, and legislative campaigns at the local, state, and federal level; community water quality monitoring programs; and, ecosystem restoration initiatives.

About the Artist:

I have been working as an artist since I graduated from Oregon State University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Fine Art.  While at OSU I focused my studies primarily on painting, but also worked in other mediums such as drawing, printmaking, and sculpture.  I was fortunate to have been taught by a professor, Sandy Brooke, how to make my own paints.  This introduction into the art of making paints has been a part of my life ever since and has taken me to places I would have never imagined. 

My art has evolved over time as I constantly learn about materials and the processes in which they can be used.  The creation process for me is one that combines the conscious and subconscious and the materials help guide and reveal the mysteries of color, form, and texture.  As a painter, I work in an open manner to allow for the materials themselves to shine within the light.  Over the years I have made my own paints using many of the modern pigments made by humanity, but I have also become fascinated by the traditional pigments composed of minerals and plants that are being overshadowed by the global economy and contemporary material culture.

As I have evolved as an artist, I have also explored other realms beyond the confines of the art studio such as public art, land art, and environmental art.  By very nature of my own mind, I am never satisfied with just one art form nor do I want to be categorized as just a painter.  Working independently within a confined space provides the time to explore the inner depths of art and my personal relationship to it, but I am also interested in how the creative process can be used to educate and collaborate with others in schools, cultural centers, and public space.