Sequel to the Summer Solstice

5:52 a.m. Sunday, June 21, 2009

The summer solstice.

You remember the post I did last week about Chaco Canyon and it's connection to the summer solstice? Well this is sort of a sequel to that. Early that morning on the day of the summer solstice, a bunch of us met us at the City Hall here in Rio Rancho. In front of the City Hall is a commissioned piece of art called, "Chaco Rising". It is a beautiful sculpture that is an interactive sculpture. Interactive, that is, only on the days of the solstice: summer and winter.

Artist, Jaymes Dudding came out to see his work interact with the sunrise that day. He also teaches a Humanities class at the local community college, Central New Mexico Community College (CNM for short). He encouraged his class to come out for it too. Here you see him with some of his students and other hardy people like ourselves who wanted to witness this remarkable event.

The sculpture really captures the geologic feel that is unique to the Chaco Canyon area and to the greater area that it is in, the Colorado Plateau.

When you peer into the slits of the sculpture, you can see the 'sun dagger' making it's way across the diochroic glass that his wife made. A tribute to the cosmos and the universe and to the ancient civilization that created the site that this sculpture's inspiration came from. This is a 'panoramic' shot that I took so that you could get a sense of the light making it's way across the glass. My husband shot some video of this and interviewed the artist. He also used some of my images that I took that day and from a recent trip I did to the Chaco Canyon area. You can view that video here.

Our city of Rio Rancho is only 27 years old. It is a very young city with no history, no old buildings, not even a downtown. It is growing faster than we have the resources with which to keep up with. And, we are faced with the haphazardness of just being a bunch of subdivisions. Public art such as this brings cohesion to communities and gives a sense of identity. I think most people don't stop and think about whether or not public art as a thing to be valued. I say it is. Perhaps I'll expound more on that in a future post.

For today, though, it is really all about the SHADOWS! Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse by stopping by to see what others have posted!