New Mexico, 1985, works on paper 

Moving in 1985 to the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico, on the outskirts of El Paso where my husband and I would teach, retiring from the University of Texas at El Paso in 2013, required me to take long walks to introduce myself to the magnificent views. From our rural property we could see three states (Texas, Chihuahua, and New Mexico) and two countries (the US and Mexico). The sense of scale was breathtaking; the sky overwhelming; the distances beyond belief. So, for the first and only time in my life, I undertook a series of simple and representational landscape paintings, mostly on paper, and mostly 30" x 22" (a few, like the one illustrated above, were on masonite).

1989: "Boon Circuit," an installation at the Bridge Center for Contemporary Art
This installation consisted of 40 "prayer wheels" made from empty oatmeal containers. The exhibition featured a number of local artists invited by "The Bridge" to make temporary pieces with a limited budget of $200. My piece, "Boon Circuit," refused to be photographed by both me, newspaper photographs and one professional photographer; none of our images of the actual installation turned out!


The prayer wheels were arranged in a path that, from above, created the "yin/yang" design. It led the viewer/ participant toward and then away from a central convex mirror that reflected all the wheels as well as the observer. The intention of the piece --- obviously to invite prayer, contemplation, and reflection --- was to also offer all of it as a gift. Each prayer wheel had a particular person or institution as its theme, and each was given to the appropriate person/institution at the shows end. Likewise, the 80 pounds of uncooked oatmeal was given to the El Paso Mission. This was one of my most loved works, and there is no evidence of it besides memory.