NeoRio: Confluence of Art and Environments (Thanks to John Wenger of Wild Earth Studio for production and editing of this NeoRio “Docu-Promo“, as well as Wyman Edwards for shooting video footage and Liliana Mejia of HEREKEKE for assistance with footage downloading and management.)

Discover more about what’s brewing for NeoRio 2012!

The Spring segment of the NeoKite project was a great success! We so enjoyed working with the Rio Costilla Elementary Students and Questa Alta Vista 5th Graders.

Our thanks to the businesses and individuals that helped sponsor the project. Photos of  the NeoKite and windsock making and flying can be viewed here.

A short video documenting the project is in progress….don’t miss its premier at the NeoKite Exhibition and NeoRio! Please join us for the NeoKite Exhibition reception at Ocho in Questa on September 28, 5- 8 pm.

Check out all the details here. Fabulous photos will be posted soon!

We were excitedly planning and plotting with Wild Earth Studio for this year’s Artist Rendezvous slated for May 2012. Check out the details here.

Thank you to all who attended and participated in NeoRio 2011!! A huge thank you to everyone that made the event possible – especially to our featured artist, Daniel Richmond, to the Bureau of Land Management’s Taos Field Office, the staff and volunteers at the Wild Rivers Recreation Center, John Wenger, the Wild Earth Studio Team, to Olga Gressot, our wonderful cook, musicians Timothy Long and Michael Rael, Questa Junior High School Art Class and to our supporting partners, NM Wilderness Alliance, PLIA, the Village of Questa, Localogy and our many volunteers!

It was a great event! Learn more about the event and check out a slideshow from the day here.

On Saturday, September 10, 2011, join in the third annual NeoRio Festival, celebrating art, nature, culture and community. All are invited to the Wild Rivers Recreation Area, to experience and celebrate the place through arts and community events on this year’s theme “Water Mark.” NeoRio 2011 will feature artwork by sculptor and environmental artist, Daniel Richmond and an evening of innovative short films projected outdoors with solar power and created on-site at Wild Rivers by John Wenger, UNM professor Emeritus, and the Wild Earth Studio team. Among these films will be a film called, “What’s in the Water”, made with puppet-like props, created and operated by Questa Junior High art students. The film is the result of a week-long, arts-based “study” of local aquatic species with Jennifer Vialpando’s Junior High Art Class in Questa, funded by a small grant from the Public Lands Interpretive Association. The project culminated in a fieldtrip to the Wild Rivers Recreation Area, where the students  brought their puppets to life in an experimental set on the rim of gorge. On September 10^th, this film will be premiered alongside other Wild Earth Studio film creations.

This year all are invited to the Wild Rivers Recreation Area Visitor Center, for brief presentations from event hosts and sponsors and an artist talk by NeoRio Featured Artist, Daniel Richmond, followed by the opportunity to participate in creating his unique, earth pigment, ground stencils drawn from conversations with locals about water.

The event continues with an evening celebration of food, a campfire, live music provided by Michael Rael and Tim Long and outdoor short film screenings on the rim of the gorge. Participants are requested to bring chairs for the evening as well as a drink and a dessert to share.

NeoRio events are free and open to all. Camping is available at Wild Rivers for $7 per night.  Celebrate art and nature and explore the Wild Rivers Recreation Area on September 10^th.

To learn more email Claire at emailforleap@gmail.com or call 575-586-1150.

Click HERE for a Google Map to event locations at the Wild Rivers Recreation Area. Click HERE for complete event description.

Mark your calendar for Saturday, September 10, 2011, to join in the third annual NeoRio – it’s a celebration of art, nature, culture and community! Artists, locals and visitors are invited to the Wild Rivers Recreation Area, to experience and celebrate the place through arts and community events. This year the NeoRio theme is “Water Mark”. The theme will guide both artists and public in exploring the Wild Rivers Recreation Area from a unique and focused perspective.

NeoRio will take place on Saturday, September 10th from 2 – 9:30 pm at the Wild Rivers Recreation Area. A parallel exhibition, “Watermap” will open on Friday, September 9th at the Red Pilot Gallery in Questa. Find out more about NeoRio 2011: Water Mark here.

More information about events schedule, our featured artists and other ways to become involved will be posted this spring.

To learn more or become a NeoRio sponsor or volunteer email Claire at emailforleap@gmail.com or call 575-586-2362.

Left image: L’échelle Les Arques, France, 2003*
Right image: materials to be used in habitat enhancing sculptures at NeoRio 2010

Environmental artist and sculptor for wildlife, Lynne Hull, will present a rare public workshop for artists, teachers and other interested persons to create shelters and other sculptures for various species of wildlife for NeoRio 2010. Participants will create sculptures utilizing recycled dead trees in the area. Lynne Hull will also share her knowledge of creating small, hand-built stone sculptures to slow erosion in runoff areas, inspired by the restoration engineering concepts of Bill Zeedyke. The now annual event, NeoRio, is a celebration of art, nature, culture and community at Wild Rivers Recreation Area near Questa, New Mexico.

Set for September 24^th – 26^th, NeoRio 2010 will feature Lynne Hull’s sculpture which assists wildlife and habitat restoration, as well as her lecture, “From Lascaux to Last Week”, an overview of environmental artists working with nature, ecology, water and land restoration. Lynne will facilitate the creation of three site-specific installations by students, artists and members of the public. Hosted by the Bureau of Land Management’s Taos Field Office, NeoRio is organized by the environmental arts initiative, LEAP (Land, Experience and Art of Place), in collaboration with John Wenger of Wild Earth Studio, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, the Village of Questa and other cosponsors.

NeoRio was created both as a platform for innovative ecological artists and to propagate cross-pollination between artists, conservationists, and others interested in protecting and celebrating our local communities and wild lands. The ancient relationship between humans, our fellow creatures and our environment is a complex story of interdependence, which we each author every day with our own choices and actions. NeoRio attempts to both tell and explore this story through innovative and creative installations, interventions and interactions with our environment. It asks the questions: what is the role of art in experiencing and protecting wild lands and what is the role of wild lands in art?

On Friday, September 24^th, Lynne will offer a special all-day workshop for artists (reservations required see below). On Saturday, September 25^th, at 2pm the public is invited to the Wild Rivers Recreation Area Visitor Center, where the event will begin with Lynne Hull’s presentation “From Lascaux to Last Week”, followed by the opportunity to participate in creating one of her sculptures and an evening celebration with food, a campfire, live music and outdoor short film screenings. Please bring your own chairs for the campfire and drinks and dessert to share. Camping is available at Wild Rivers for $7 per night. On Sunday September 26^th, the public is invited to visit the new art installations and participate in other planned activities to explore the Wild Rivers Recreation Area. NeoRio events are free and open to all. Come celebrate art and nature and explore the Wild Rivers Recreation Area on September 24^th, 25^th and 26^th! For a google map to NeoRio locations click here.

To find out more about attending NeoRio 2010, to register for the artist workshop on September 24^th or to become involved as a volunteer, contact emailforleap@gmail.com or call 575-586-2362.

*Installation in the Presbytere tower of nesting boxes and roosts in the tower, a secret dialog between artists and owl. The ladder on the outside of the tower as metaphor for the meeting between the species. The meeting is difficult.

I’ve just updated the NeoRio 2009 page! Check out photos and documentation from NeoRio 2009 by clicking here.

May the skies be clear, the mountains high

and the possibilities stretch as far as the eye can see.