A Photographic Study of Anasazi Culture

I have taught at the San Francisco Art Institute since 1969. Throughout
this period it has been fortune to teach classes within the sculpture, film,
photography and digital departments. During my own formative years primary
education was aided by journeys into the American West. At that time, in the
mid-1960's and the early 1970's, Diane and I (sometimes w/our children)
would spend approximately two weeks per year visiting ruins of Native
American culture and areas of geologic wonder. The West was wide open
with barely any paved roads and nary a tourist. From this experience I gained
insight into how I would proceed with my career as an artist and have
embodied this experience in a yearly travel class which explores remote
areas of Nevada.

This particular class, on Anasazi culture, is known as an "Intensive' where
the student works without stop for a period of two weeks. This class was
intensified by us travelling 3,500 miles through five States in 14 days. We
experienced temperatures into the middle teens (-10ºC), snow storms (up to
5"), rain, sand storms (visibility was near zero), iced conditions not
allowing us access to areas and brilliant sun. March is the time of year
called 'unpredictable' out there in virtually nowhere.

This group of students ranged in age from 20 to their mid-40's with some of
them never having camped out. We cooked our own food and ate well. Each
day saw us visiting marvellous and intriguing sites of ancient and contemporary
history. Certainly the emphasis was upon the Anasazi but it is impossible to
not mingle with contemporary America.

The Anasazi were a Native American culture who built complex architectural
dwellings the most curious of them being Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. They
seemed to disappear in the 1200's though remnants were there in the 1400's
when the Navajo and Apache arrived over the Bering Straight. Today we
believe the Anasazi to have melded into two distinct groups. One group of 19
villages, or pueblos, is known as the Pueblo culture along the Rio Grande
river of New Mexico. This group speaks five different languages. The other
set of people are called the Hopi who reside in the northern desert region
of Arizona. Our primary interests were in the architecture, arts and artefacts
created by this group of people. In the course of our study we did visit the Hopi
and Navajo village centers. No photographs were permitted in the Hopi country
but the remainder of our trip proved eminently successful for fruitful
photography and drawing.

These images represent a sampling of each person's endeavour to capture
important aspects of this memorable venture into time and history.

Jack Fulton August 2002