​Earth Art

     The topic of earth art is very dear to me because I have done some earth art myself. When I lived in Amarillo, Texas, I worked closely with Stanley Marsh 3 to do just that. We made larger than life art that snubbed its nose at conventional art. Some of the art that we did was created with the intention that it was temporary, which it was. A lot of things disappeared very quickly while others lingered for up to a year after it was created. We put the art in places where people might happen upon it while walking in the country or flying over it on the way out of the Amarillo Airport. When I worked with him, it was before digital cameras and cell phones, so most of the art was only seen by 10 to 50 people. For us, it wasn't made for the point of masses of people seeing it. It was made for our sheer enjoyment. One of the works presented here, The Amarillo Ramp, was commissioned by Stanley. He had many conversations with the creator, Robert Smithson, to plan the Ramp. Unfortunately, Robert was killed in a plane crash while scouting for a site to install the giant earth art. The site was still built and dedicated to Robert.
     I can't say that other artists in this Artist of the Month exhibit have the same attitude as Stanley and I had about not caring if people saw the work or not. These works are some that I wanted you to see because they deserve to be seen. Some are widely popular and some are not. My hope is that you'll keep your eyes peeled while you're out walking in the woods or flying over a corn field. You may just happen upon a true work of art in the middle of nowhere. Much love to my friend Stanley that passed away recently. I still love him immensely. Have fun with these works. 

The Nazca Lines

Earth Art is nothing new. The Nazca Lines in Peru are thought to have been created by the Nazca people some 1,500 years before the Incan Empire existed, about 500BC to 500AD. These earth drawings, or geoglyphs as some call them, are very large with some as big as 1,200 feet long. It was once thought that the only way to see them was from an airplane, but surveys of the area show that there are nearby hills tall enough to be able to see them from the ground. That still doesn't diminish the fact that these would be a difficult feat to pull off. The drawings were made by removing the top layer of red rock and soil to expose the underlying white rock beneath. 

Walter De Maria

In the tradition of the Nazca Lines, an artist named Walter De Maria created some of the earliest modern earth art. His series of Line Drawings were grand in scale and nearly impossible to execute. If you've ever tried to draw a straight line on a piece of paper, you'll be marveled by his straight lines in the desert that measures one mile long! From 1968, The Mile Long Drawing is the first two photos. The third is Line in the Himalayas and the fourth is Line Made by Walking.

Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson

Possibly the most famous of all earth art works, the Spiral Jetty is situated on the shore of The Great Salt Lake in Utah. It was created in 1970 and has survived until present day. Due to weather conditions and water levels, it has disappeared and reappeared quite a few times over the decades which makes it a wonderful piece to me. Maybe you'll see it, maybe you won't! 

Amarillo Ramp

Patrick Dougherty

Stan Herd

Roger Asay & Rebecca Davis

Sylvain Meyer

Running Fence by Christo & Jeane-Claude

Andy Goldworthy

Sultan the Pit Pony by Mick Petts

Simon Beck's Snow Art

Crop Circles

I'm not here to debate whether crop circles are the work of aliens, drunken frat boys, Jesus, or locusts. What I know for sure is some of them are ridiculously beautiful and graphically technical wonders. It might not be conventional art, but it is art.