Anarchist Lockdown
Ajo, Arizona
2020

The Night of the Steampunk Moon
from the Synthesizing Icons exhibition
2020

I received some nice press coverage from the Sidney Herald Leader newspaper in Sidney Montana for the opening of my exhibition Synthesizing Icons at the Mondak Heritage Center. (The photos were reproduced poorly but at least this way anyone going to see the exhibit should be pleasantly surprised!)

This is the first of four venues for this exhibit being circulated by the Montana Art Gallery Directors Association over the next two years. The other locations for the exhibit will be the Carle Gallery at the Butte Public Library, the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, and the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell.

Tree of Life
Ajo, Arizona
2020

Motivation
Ajo, Arizona
2020

You may need to zoom in to be able to clearly read the message on this wall.

My personal feeling is that there are already way too many people in this country to be optimal for the kind of person that I am and the lifestyle I prefer to live. At the same time I am well aware of the chance privilege that I possess simply by virtue of being born in a place as spacious as this country with a political and economic system that, no matter how flawed (and it is very flawed), has provided me with the opportunity to live the life I want to live with just a bit of effort on my part. So what kind of person would I be if I supported punishing anybody whose situation is so hopeless and desperate that they risk their lives to try and gain access to the same opportunities I’ve enjoyed just by chance of birth?

Always Legal
Ajo, Arizona
2020

Never a Crime
Ajo, Arizona
2020

Ajo, Arizona seems to be in the forefront of humanitarian efforts related to border crossings. I’m sure there are those there who object to these efforts but the supporters have taken a very visible stand in this small community.

With a Little Help From My Friends
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2020

Sticker on the end of the Humane Borders water barrel featured in yesterday’s POTD.

Lifesaver
Organ Pipe National Monument, Arizona
2020

“Border crossing may be illegal but it shouldn’t be a death sentence” is the rationale behind the Humane Borders organization who, with full cooperation from the National Park Service, maintains water stations like this one in several locations across Organ Pipe National Monument. This cooperative activity is in interesting contrast with the section of President Trump’s border wall being built just ten miles away, as well as the recent conviction of four humanitarian workers for similar activities in the nearby Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.

While the four humanitarian workers admittedly left those supplies at Cabeza Prieta without getting proper authorization, it is difficult to understand why their conduct was even treated as a criminal offense in the first place not to mention why they were convicted. This is especially true in light of the lack of convictions at all of any of the Bundy family for their much more egregious armed occupation of a National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016, not to mention their previous very tense armed standoff with federal officers in Nevada. Why should violent extremists get better treatment by the legal system than humanitarians?

Fighting to Survive
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2020

Well over half of this cholla cactus is dead, parts to the point that revealing it’s dried skeletal remains. Yet it is showing an amazing amount of healthy looking new growth.

Bare Tree #42
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2020