Thanks to Todd---Living Color

Thanks to Todd, we managed to add his link on the Blog and I learned how to post photos. Now, after looking at this photo, I am sure you are wondering if I have lost it and the answer is, "Of course!" But not because of this photo. This shot actually represents the work of a Native American artist in the wilds of Nevada whose life after returning from Vietnam was dedicated to highlighting the plight of American Indian people. At the entrance, there was a kiosk on which was posted a number of articles pertaining to massacres and other indignities suffered by indigenous people of the Americas. This went a long way to set the tone and mood about the monument and the work itself. It would have been unsettling at best but with the introduction, seemed to imbue everything that we saw with a sense of sorrow.

We had been directed to the monument by a friend who said I should check it out on our way to California; she said it is called Thunder Mountain. As it happened, I was asleep when I heard Paul exclaim: "What the heck is THAT?" I peered out and saw that it was Thunder Mountain and asked him to get off the freeway so we could check it out. Wow! It was sad and strangely beautiful. We couldn't decide if the creator of all of this artistic chaos was a driven individual whose desire it was to simply make a graphic statement about the poor treatment of his people or if he was an artist who had been driven out of his mind!

Needless to say, there were some very strange and beautiful things there as we wandered about the property which has been proclaimed as a state historical site.
This photo was taken inside an old shed that stood away from the main building. The walls were composed of bottles and other glass---it was cemented in place and created a dynamic collage especially from the inside looking out. I, being the crazed photographer that I am, took a number of photos---I really liked this one because it shows some of the other glass pieces utilized in the creation of the walls. I cannot begin to imagine the countless hours, days, weeks and months that all of this work required. Just gathering all of the material would translate into hundreds of hours...

I have some other photos to add but will put them in a separate post. These photos deserve their own showing and too, I do not wish to tinge my "happy" pictures with such sorrow. Odd, I know but there it is...Posted by Nancy