PHOTOGRAPH

American Bison (Bison bison)

The largest surviving land animal in North America, American bison can nearly weigh as much as 3000 lbs. They are of course grazers that travel in herds. Herds that are far smaller than they once were. The history of the American Bison is, I believe rather well known. Their near demise at the hands of white settlers alongside the genocide of the Indigenous People of North America, is just one of the ugly beginnings of The United States. The conservation of Bison versus the control of Bison is still a hotly debated topic in some parts of the country. Cattle ranchers opt for the later choice due to concern over property damage as well as the spread of brucellosis, a disease that causes abortions in pregnant livestock. For most of U.S. history, ranchers have gotten their way. However, more and more action is taking place to repopulate areas with Bison and allow them to roam larger areas freely. Just this year—2023—a herd of two dozen bison were released into the wild in The Ninnistaakoo (Chief Mountain) area of Glacier County Montana. The Blackfeet Nation is behind this project that has brought direct decendents of the Bison that used to roam these exact lands back for the first time since 1873. This sacred area is known to the Blackfeet as Mistaaksis — the Backbone of the World.

LOCATION

Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States, and has thus been one for about 150 years. For 10,000 years before, the land was home to many Indigenous Tribes, and many more animals than inhabit the area today. A convergence of the The Great Basin, The Great Plains, and the Columbia Plateau, it is still a special place in this country with a wide array and abundance of life. Having been expanded and more heavily protected over the last century and a half, Yellowstone National Park today stands as the largest intact temperate-zone ecosystems on the planet, preserves over 10,000 hydrothermal features, more than the rest of the planet combined, and is home to the largest concentration of wildlife in the lower 48 states of the United States. That last fact is extremely evident when you are there in person. Although consistently a top 10 most frequented park with between 3 and 4 million visitors annually, the wildlife still exists in droves. I have never experienced the feeling of looking into the past that I feel when I am in Yellowstone. One truly gets a glimpse into the world that existed throughout the United States before this land became the United States. Animals interact with each other and exist in numbers that you simply don’t see throughout the rest of the country. I try to visit once a year to see the ever quickening changes and collect more photos of one of my favorite places I have ever visited.

FRAME

Cuban Mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni)

Cuban Mahogany is one of three species of Mahogany and it was originally the most widely used of the three. Nowadays, Honduran Mahogany is the much more prevalent wood and what most people would recognize as Mahogany. Native to the Carribbean, Cuban Mahogany’s northernmost range does include the far south of Florida, including the Keys. I happen to get all of my Cuban mahogany from a salvager in the Keys who removes the trees from construction sites before cutting it into slabs and drying it.

THE ELEMENTS

Fire, Water, Earth, and Air

In the display case in the bottom of the frame, four items are preserved glass vials. The items represent the elements: fire (wood charcoal), water (mineral oil), earth (soil), and air (a milkweed seed). I include these items in my work as a symbol of the interconnectedness of all life on earth, and as a reminder that humans must do better.

THE PLAQUE

I engrave a wooden information plaque for each work. The plaque includes what the photograph is of, the location of the photograph, what type of wood the frame is made of and where I got the wood from. The plaques also explain what the vials are in each display case, and even state the meaning of my logo. The plaques are attached magnetically and can be removed to read or to store on the back of each frame if you prefer not to have it displayed on the front.