Park and Art Letterboxing

Went out yesterday working on finding our 4th Letterbox, "La Cueva Arrowhead" in an NE Albuquerque park with beautiful views of Mt. Taylor in the West and the Sandia Mountains in the East. Gorgeous warm day and nice stroll through an urban park with a reward of a unique art encounter at the letterbox end of the trail. And also a very unique stamp for our Letterbox journals!


We discovered a wall with "Walk of Fame" style handprints of famous artists, such as this one of one of my favorite Southwestern artists, R.C. Gorman.
R.C. Gorman (born 1931, died 2005) was perhaps the leading Native American artist in the United States. Gorman's themes were universal and transcended the boundaries of the Navajo culture in which he was raised. Gorman's portraits of Navajo women were executed in a free-flowing style with vivid colors. He was sometimes called the "Picasso of American Indian artists." Jackson 'trying on' R.C Gorman's handprints.
In 1964, he discovered Taos, New Mexico, which he loved at first sight.
Gorman said he liked to capture the beauty of his people, especially the women. As he explained in his autobiography, "Navajos always had respect for strong, powerful women who would go out and chop wood, herd sheep, have babies in the field. My Indian woman isn't glamorous but she is beautiful. She is earthy, nurturing, and it is a constant challenge to capture her infinite variety.

"I deal with the common woman who smells of the fields and maize. She lives and breathes.... My women work and walk on the land. They need to be strong to survive. They have big hands, strong feet. They are soft and strong like my grandmother who gave me life.

"My women are remote, withdrawn in their silence. They don't look out, but glance inward in the Indian way. You know their faces, but not a thing about their thoughts. They do not reveal whether they are looking at us or not.

"I like to think that my women represent a universal woman. They don't have to be from the reservation. They could be from Scottsdale or Africa. They're composites of many women I've known."

Gorman wrote in his autobiography, "It's strange I should come to Taos. The Navajos are encircled by the four sacred mountains, and within those four mountains the Navajo feels, I think, protected, but on the other hand inhibited. I'm outside of the sacred Navajo mountains and feel like a very independent creature who is protected by another mountain that is quite magic, the Taos mountain." Here are some of my favorite Gorman paintings.

Gorman was not offended at being called an "Indian artist." He wrote in his autobiography, "I am what I am, and its obvious I'm not white, black, or Oriental. I am an Indian. I am an artist. I'm an Indian painting Indians, and if it worked out for me, then it's all well and good."
But Gorman added: "I've always felt successful. Even when I wasn't making any money, I just knew it was all there. I always believed in myself. I knew I had talent and there was just no doubt about it. I just didn't give up."

Gorman gave thought to his legacy in his autobiography: "If I'm remembered at all, I'd be very surprised and amused. I don't really think about it or worry about it. But I suppose I would like to be remembered that I was an earnest worker. That I cared. That I know anyone can get what they want if they work hard enough. After all, I'm just a little boy from the reservation who used to herd sheep at Black Mountain."