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Kirk Gittings
10-Apr-2012, 10:16
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 5, 2012

Contact: Michael Williams, (970) 882-5600






Mythological Landscapes:

Artist-in-Residence, Kirk Gittings Shares his Vision



DOLORES, Colo.— Kirk Gittings, first Artist-in-Residence at Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, will discuss the ideas behind his life work in a theater presentation at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Anasazi Heritage Center at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 21.



The Albuquerque photographer is one of four professional artists chosen for one-week residencies during the spring and summer at Canyons of the Ancients. Gittings’ primary tool is a large-format 4x5 inch view camera, which demands a slow and deliberate approach, according to Gittings.



The Artist-in-Residence program promotes awareness through art of the exceptional places protected within the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System and provides an opportunity for learning and dialogue about the value of preserving public lands.



Gittings sees the expanse of canyons and mesas as a mythological landscape with aesthetic and historic qualities to inspire both residents and visitors. He will spend a week immersed in the Monument landscapes, learning their inner story and making photographs. His contribution will form part of a show in Washington D.C. commemorating the founding of the General Land Office in 1812.



“My first mythological landscape was my childhood home west of Albuquerque,” said Gittings. “Surrounded by the volcanos, Sandia Peak, Ladron Peak, and Mount Taylor, my brother and I invented personal mythologies. I learned later that prominent landforms featured in Native American origin myths, and that tourist stops along Route 66 were mythologized versions of cowboy culture and the Old West.”



Gittings’ acclaimed book Chaco Body (with poet V.B. Price) became the first part of a long-term project to reimagine the Southwest in mythic terms. Gittings has presented his work previously to the American Institute of Architects and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as at Chaco Canyon and the University of New Mexico.

The Anasazi Heritage Center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit the museum’s web site at

http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/ahc.html.

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Robert Skeoch
10-Apr-2012, 10:27
Very cool, way to go.
-Rob

bob carnie
10-Apr-2012, 10:29
Wonderful

Leigh
10-Apr-2012, 10:38
Very good, Kirk. Congratulations!

- Leigh

Peter Mounier
10-Apr-2012, 10:44
Nice! Congratulations.

Peter

Richard Wasserman
10-Apr-2012, 11:03
Fantastic Kirk—congratulations!

Scott Walker
10-Apr-2012, 11:23
Way Cool Kirk, Congrats!

Kirk Gittings
10-Apr-2012, 12:14
Thanks all!

Merg Ross
10-Apr-2012, 12:22
Terrific! ----and congratulations, Kirk. Hope you return with a good number of keepers.

Merg

Darin Boville
10-Apr-2012, 12:32
Very cool. I've always fantasized about living in a park like that. Looking forward to your images.

--Darin

Greg Miller
10-Apr-2012, 12:34
Excellent! Congratulations.

Kirk Gittings
10-Apr-2012, 12:42
Very cool. I've always fantasized about living in a park like that. Looking forward to your images.

--Darin

It'll be a new experience for me too, a fun opportunity for sure.

bob carnie
10-Apr-2012, 13:37
Kirk when is the show on the East Coast, and what will it comprise of in terms of prints . Will this be a framed show??

joelio
10-Apr-2012, 13:48
Congratulations!

Erik Larsen
10-Apr-2012, 14:25
Way to go Kirk! Need an assistant for the week:)
Erik

evan clarke
10-Apr-2012, 15:43
Terrific!!

Kirk Gittings
10-Apr-2012, 16:58
Thanks all!

Struan Gray
11-Apr-2012, 01:54
Congrats Kirk.

I have to ask though: is a week long enough?

Mark Barendt
11-Apr-2012, 02:07
With a little luck I might just be able to come see that. Cool.

Renato Tonelli
11-Apr-2012, 06:05
Congratulations - well-deserved.

Chauncey Walden
11-Apr-2012, 07:39
Way to go, Kirk. Enjoy it! And scout it for a new gathering;-)

Kirk Gittings
11-Apr-2012, 09:40
....:) great idea!

Alan Curtis
11-Apr-2012, 15:27
They selected the right photographer as one of the resident artists. I sill have and admire the View Camera issue featuring your southwest photographs. No pressure, we're all behind you and counting on you for stunning photos. When are you going?

Steve Sherman
11-Apr-2012, 15:35
Congrats Kirk, well deserved!!!

Kirk Gittings
11-Apr-2012, 17:20
Thanks guys, I'm going this Sunday. Hopefully a time with decent light and clouds, but before the black nats of early summer and the heat of summer.

Erik Larsen
11-Apr-2012, 17:27
Thanks guys, I'm going this Sunday. Hopefully a time with decent light and clouds, but before the black nats of early summer and the heat of summer.

I think you'll beat the gnat season no problem this weekend-looks like a cold front is moving in till Monday or Tuesday which might give you some interesting weather and nice skies. Best of luck Kirk
Regards
Erik

Mark Barendt
11-Apr-2012, 17:35
I can confirm the weather is moving in already. Some fun puffies today.

Kirk Gittings
11-Apr-2012, 18:42
thanks Mark. What is the 10 day forecast like? I like shooting on the edge of storms.

Mark Barendt
11-Apr-2012, 18:52
Back to puffies tomorrow then Friday it chance of snow through the weekend, partly cloudy next week.

You may need a rock bag to hold things down, windy.

Mark Barendt
11-Apr-2012, 18:54
I doubt the precip will be significant.

Kirk Gittings
11-Apr-2012, 18:57
Wind is not an issue for me-learned to deal with that a long time ago. I have a rock solid setup for wind, a Philips, a heavy duty tripod and a light disk that I hold up to block the wind from the camera-works like a charm up to about 6 seconds-fire the shutter release with my teeth. I would love to see some good storm clouds.

Kirk Gittings
11-Apr-2012, 19:14
I can't invite people to come and shoot with me this time as I have some friends and my wife coming up later in the week. I would love to see some of you at the talk though. I don't know how many times I have given talks like this to tourists and I get questions like "why'd you shoot that in b&w it'd be so much nicer in color?"

But I love Chancey's idea of doing a meetup there this fall or next spring maybe like we did at Chaco a few years ago.

Mark Barendt
11-Apr-2012, 19:17
I tried a new spot before work today north of Aztec and had fun but didn't get much more than a beautiful walk.

Dang work gets in the way.

Kirk Gittings
11-Apr-2012, 19:20
I went to a talk the other day about some archeologist and engineers doing sophisticated aerial laser scans at Chaco sites. There is some very esoteric Anasazi architecture and landart (for lack of a better term) up on the mesa behind Aztec. That's to the north right?

Mark Barendt
11-Apr-2012, 19:46
Yes some interesting Badlands and lots of gas well sites, that's what drags me out there daily.

Kirk Gittings
11-Apr-2012, 19:53
Are you in that industry?

Mark Barendt
11-Apr-2012, 20:06
Yep, I'm one of the guys that keeps the gas moving at least until my wife starts her career.

Kirk Gittings
11-Apr-2012, 20:15
Do you work those gas fields over in the Dinetah like Gubanador, Blanco Canyon, Largo too?

Wayne Lambert
11-Apr-2012, 21:51
Congratulations, Kirk! They couldn't have picked a better eye for archaeology!
Best regards,
Wayne

Mark Barendt
12-Apr-2012, 02:41
Do you work those gas fields over in the Dinetah like Gubanador, Blanco Canyon, Largo too?

Not Dinetah and only rarely the others, at the north ends close to Hwy 64 and the San Jaun river.

Oh before I forget, the Paint Brush and trees and a few others have really started at Aztec's elevation. Durango is showing signs of spring too, but not as strong yet. Dolores and Cortez should be close.

Kirk Gittings
12-Apr-2012, 08:57
Thanks. Hope to meet up sometime.

Mark Barendt
12-Apr-2012, 11:08
Planning to - Anasazi Heritage Center at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 21 :)

Kirk Gittings
12-Apr-2012, 11:11
great!!

Chauncey Walden
12-Apr-2012, 11:41
Kirk,
Mark is a fellow veteran of Per Volquartz's Tonopah and 5 Churches get togethers and has entirely too much fun when he is supposed to be working!
Chauncey

Kirk Gittings
12-Apr-2012, 11:42
Hmmm.....sounds like someone I could get into trouble with......

Mark Barendt
12-Apr-2012, 11:58
Hi Chauncey,

Maybe I can find another church to get thrown out of. ;)

Kirk Gittings
19-Apr-2012, 07:12
So far so good. Light has been a challenge and its raining today. BLM people have been great. This is a huge monument-some 250 square miles and I have been chasing the light daily over a 120 mile loop!

cdholden
19-Apr-2012, 07:51
Kirk,
If you have a smartphone/ipad, check out http://photoephemeris.com/.
While I would assume the timing of lighting in canyon cracks and crevices to be a lot more critical, this may be quite helpful when you're working topside.
If you already know about this, feel free to ignore my enthusiasm. Being a new smartphone owner, I'm happy to find useful tools instead of the mindless social networking babble (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc) so many people lose IQ points to.

Mark Barendt
19-Apr-2012, 07:58
Go Kirk,

Hey anything interesting happening Saturday AM before your presentation?

Mark Barendt
19-Apr-2012, 11:52
Hope you are getting those white puffy cotton ball clouds in something Kirk.

Ken Lee
19-Apr-2012, 12:47
If someone takes any pictures of Kirk giving his presentation, it would be great to put some up here.

Mark Barendt
19-Apr-2012, 16:05
Is that a hint Ken?

Ken Lee
19-Apr-2012, 16:37
I don't know what you mean. Sorry, I'm dense.

Kirk Gittings
20-Apr-2012, 10:06
I am having a blast-don't want to go back! I just found out I am the Bureau of Land Management's first AiR nationwide-kind of a test case and a big deal. Working my butt off to come up with some good images.

Mark Barendt
22-Apr-2012, 14:01
Well the presentation was great and Kirk did a fine job.

Sorry Ken it was too dark to get a decent shot of Kirk with what I had in hand, there was no spot light on our fine speaker.

Kirk Gittings
22-Apr-2012, 14:30
It was good to see and meet you there Mark. We'll have to meet up some time and do some shooting.

Kirk Gittings
22-Apr-2012, 14:32
Special thanks to the Anasazi Heritage Center and the BLM for making my stay so enjoyable and productive-coordinator of the Artist-in Residence Program, Michael Williams, in particular.

Mark Barendt
22-Apr-2012, 15:21
It was good to see and meet you there Mark. We'll have to meet up some time and do some shooting.

Sounds fun to me!

John Olsen
22-Apr-2012, 17:35
Sorry I missed the show. Now I've got to Google the location and plan on a visit sometime. Congratulations.

Kirk Gittings
8-May-2012, 10:13
I am processing the film now, about 200 sheets. So far they look great. I am stoked.

Kirk Gittings
23-May-2012, 20:27
Some preliminary images from my stint at Canyon of the Ancients National Monument (as the first ever BLM artist-in-residence) are being posted on their website: CANM (http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/nm/canm/artist_in_residence.html)

Mark Barendt
24-May-2012, 01:42
Cool stuff Kirk.

Steve Smith
24-May-2012, 04:35
Very cool.

Agreed.


way to go

But I don't know what this bit means!


Steve.

Brian C. Miller
24-May-2012, 08:27
Some preliminary images from my stint at Canyon of the Ancients National Monument

I really like the first one!

Steve: "way to go" is an Americanism similar to Australian "good onya."

Kirk Gittings
24-May-2012, 08:30
Thanks. I had to deliver some images 30 days from when the residency ended. That image needs some more work on the sky, but I didn't want to put too much effort into it till I had a good drum scan to work on.

Chauncey Walden
24-May-2012, 09:27
Very nice, Kirk. Looking forward to the gathering.

Kirk Gittings
24-May-2012, 09:50
Yes I did some research for that. Need to do it about the time I was there in Mid May-before it gets too hot. I think we should stay at Hovenweep campground. It has 30+ campsites and according to the ranger, never ever fills. But it is far from anything like gas or food supplies.

Ron McElroy
24-May-2012, 11:44
Nice! Those two images look like a strong beginning.

Kirk Gittings
24-May-2012, 14:26
Just got an email from the head of the BLM National Landscape Conservation System (which manages all the BLM "National Monuments") congratulating me on the results and thanking me for my efforts. Cool.

David Lobato
24-May-2012, 16:08
I've been to Hovenweep several times and have a nice collection of 4x5 negatives and transparencies. It's well worth packing a large format camera and tripod on the loop hike. Lots of don't miss opportunities. Once my wife and I were the sole visitors and had the campground all to ourselves. A Hovenweep photo from that trip is on my wife's latest music CD cover.

Chauncey Walden
24-May-2012, 16:32
Yes, Eric and I stayed at the Hovenweep campground in the fall and there were only 2 other campers there. Very nice, and easy access to the rim trail. There was a stray cat that was hanging around and as soon as I went back in the trailer it leaped up on the grill and swiped a chicken breast. Hope it was worth the hot feet!

Old-N-Feeble
24-May-2012, 16:44
Things like this make me a bit envious. I want to go but can't. Bravo and best wishes to those who can. :)

Erik Larsen
24-May-2012, 17:06
Nice images Kirk, especially the close up view. It sounds like you are satisfied with the results of the adventure. Congrats!

The first time I went to hovenweep I thought the place was abandoned. I never saw another soul, not even park employees - my kind of place as I try to avoid crowds whenever I am hauling LF stuff around. It would make a great place to have a LF shoot the shit/photograph gathering I would think.
Regards
Erik