Join Four Corners School in Utah in Celebrating 20th Anniversary
The unique Four Corners School of Outdoor Education, located in austere Monticello, Utah, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with five noteworthy events, scheduled between September 26 and October 2—created to make the occasion even more memorable.
First join Craig Childs and Bruce Hucko for a Southwest Ed-Ventures river trip through Ruby and Horsethief Canyons of the Colorado River. This six-day (September 26-October 2) river trip ends in Denver, so guests can attend Four Corners School’s October 2 party at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The river trip focuses on art lovers, a land and river opportunity with ample opportunities to advance writing and photographic skills. These two nationally recognized artists—a writer and a photographer/author—are a key component of the itinerary; the two work with participants in creating personal writing and/or by a small portfolio of photographs that bind them to this place.
Next join the school at four fun educational events held on October 2 at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science October featuring authors Ellen Meloy, Craig Childs, Robin Blankenship and Bruce Hucko.
First, Ms. Meloy will conduct a writers’ workshop called The Colorado Plateau: Habitat for the Humanities. More than any other region, the Colorado Plateau has ignited words of passion and activism, a place-based literature that holds landscape as integral to community and culture. Join writer Meloy for personal insights into the ways that writing reflects and influences our interactions with the natural world. The session will involve participants in discussion and simple writing exercises. Bring pen and notebook, poetry and prose—samples of personal writing or other writing that inspires.
In the afternoon Craig Childs and Bruce Hucko will present a workshop called Perception and Landscape. Drawing on their years of personal work on the Colorado Plateau, Childs and Hucko will discuss topics such as portraying landscape, a short history of writing and photography as related to the Colorado Plateau; how those early writers and photographers influence perceptions to this day; the evolution of perceptions of “beauty” as relate to the plateau; the ethics of writing about and photographing landscape; developing a sense of place, interpreting the human elements of landscape; and the influence of writing on photography and vice-versa
Robin Blankenship will conduct an all-day workshop on Stone Age Living Skills for Families. Learn the daily life skills of ancestors and their connection to the natural world. Learn and practice how people made fire to cook, keep warm or use as a tool. Learn and practice how to make string and rope from plants and bark and learn to weave a container or sandals. Create stone knives by hitting two rocks together. Make earth paints and practice nature-based art techniques. Learn to understand early life skills, thought processes, and preoccupations that defined human cultural beginnings through hands-on experiences.
The evening of October 2, there will be more authors’ presentations and a celebration in the Northeast Atrium of the museum. Aldean Ketchum, a Ute, will play his flute and describe his Colorado Plateau. Aldean will introduce the authors and each author will read an original 15-minute piece that speaks to how they reached their Colorado Plateau. Join Four Corners School for these wonderful 20th Anniversary Humanities events. To find out more call 1-800-525-4456 or visit www.fourcornersschool.org
July 30, 2004
Posted in: United States NorthWest