In The Beginning

Our journeys, of which there are many, led us to New Mexico where we found one another at various times. Belinda and Harriette, in Santa Fe at the time, shared ideas and friendship for several years. Later Harriette and I met during Harriette's sojourn at Picuris Pueblo.  The three of us did our first collaboration for a show at Encaustic Art Institute in the summer of 2010.  Belinda and I were invited by Harriette, an institute founder, to enter our collaborative pieces; When Crow Mother Came, and Dawning of the Mesa.  This experience introduced us to the reality that we plan well together, have a similar sensibility around our imagery, and make collaborative work that is beautiful and cohesive. So the group began.

In Summer of 2011, in Santa Fe, there was a summer long, city-wide collaborative project called "Mining the Unconscious" based on the work and Redbook of the renowned psychologist, Carl Jung.  Harriette wrote the original proposal for the project, and was the organizing lead for getting the second show off the ground. 
And it was really a fabulous show.  Belinda was instrumental in organizing and producing the vast array of workshops that happened in Santa Fe during the project.  I organized the volunteer activities and information  materials we used during art exhibit number 2. This is when we met the fourth member of our group, Betsie, who lives in Jemez Springs.  She was the installation expert for our exhibit, based on years of experience at San Francisco Art Museum.

We did not make a collaborative art piece for the show, but feel the show itself to be an enormous collaboration that brought us together.  We have, since then, been working on the Creation/Migration: Stories of the Journey project.  That's another story, and we will tell you all about it as we add to this blog.
Our friendship, trust and respect for each other's work grew through each project.  We want this blog to be about that journey, as well as the individual journeys that brought us to this place in time.

These last four images are of works from the "Mining the Unconscious II" exhibit.  Top to bottom: "Pollen Men", Harriette Tsosie, "Sacred Ground", Donna J Caulton, "Memory", Belinda Edwards, "Corazon Salvaje", Betsie Miller-Kusz.