Create Award Residency 2021-22
Art Gym Denver April 21, 2022 through May 15, 2022
I had the honor of being a recipient of Art Gym Denver’s 2021-22 eight-month Create Award Residency. My work for the “Not About” exhibition is an attempt to immerse viewers into my experience of walking 200 miles on the Camino de Santiago, The Way of St. James pilgrimage in Spain. Each piece serves as imagery along The Way, portraying a rich and diverse culture, terrain, and a sense of continual movement.
Each print was created through relief printing methods by carving the images onto linoleum blocks.
"A Long Road Ahead": It's day 2, and the longest distance planned for our trip, roughly 20 miles. Yesterday we left Leon and walked about 10 miles, or 17 km, and everything was flat. We are still figuring out the pace of our group of 13. The first two hours were flat with just a straight endless road surrounded by grass, farms, and power lines. On the horizon were dark storm clouds, and we soon found ourselves in a torrential downpour surrounded by lightning and finding shelter in a barn. Thankfully the farmer welcomed us with open arms and let us wait out the storm. Despite starting the day with some misfortune, we were greeted with refreshments from David’s Fruit Stand just before reaching Astorga! The guidebooks talked about him, and much to our surprise, he does exist, along with the free homemade cake, fruit, and hammocks.
“Walking Sticks to Rabanal del Camino”, Day 3, walking 19 km: At the start of our day we could see the mountain range we would eventually cross. Being from Colorado, I felt good about hiking with some elevation gain, but others in the group were beginning to feel sore from yesterday. Some have a few blisters, but nothing tape and blister bandaids could solve. As we walked through small mountain towns, we came across several walking sticks for pilgrims. We soon all had our walking sticks and began to tackle the incline step-by-step. When we finally reached Rabanal, we met some pilgrims in our Albergue from Switzerland, did our laundry, and laughed around the dinner table before listening to Gregorian Chanting at a local church in town.
“Lay It All Down At The Cruz de Ferro”, Day 4, walking 25 km: The day started slow and late. Just 7 km into our walk, we reached the highest point of the French Way at the Iron Cross, Cruz de Ferro. Surrounding Cruz de Ferro is a mound of rocks. The tradition is pilgrims will carry a rock on their back from their place of origin to lay down at the cross to symbolize their journey. So I added my rock from home to the pile. Spirits were initially high for our descent down, but my pace slowed when I chose to walk with some in the back. The day was getting later and later, and suddenly we were caught in a thunder and lightning storm mixed with some hail. We had no option but to run down the mountain as fast as possible. That night we became a Camino family. We laughed off the day in our albergue bunk beds and realized we still had a long and exciting road ahead.
"Finding Rest in Villafranca", Day 5, 30 km: We learned our lesson from yesterday and started today walking at sunrise, like most pilgrims. We had our cafe con leche and bread for breakfast in front of a Medieval castle in Ponferrada, and before we realized it, we were already at our next albergue. After a quick nap, we scrapped our plan, got ice cream, and took a taxi about 10 miles to Villafranca so we could take the next day off to rest and enjoy the town. We stayed at one of the best albergues! We learned that the owners of Albergue Leo once lived there, but after they lost a child, they turned their home into a place for pilgrims. It was a special and restful place for us to be.
“At the Heart of O Cebriero” Day 7 of walking, 28 km There was something special about Villafranca that made it hard to leave. We met up with our Camino friends we walked with since Rabanal. We exchanged hellos with various pilgrim friends from Germany, Malta, California, and Eastern Europe over dinner. We were sad to leave this place but eager to reach O Cebreiro and see the oldest church along the French Way. Legends of miracles and centuries of history made O Cebrieiro feel set apart from other places. It was small yet felt special. Reaching the village of O Cebreiro meant climbing another mountain to the region of Galicia, the region home to Santiago de Compostela.
“Albergue A Roboleira” Day 8, 19 km We are almost out of another mountainous region, but we are staying in a town called Triacastela. Cattle in fields surround us at Albergue A Roboleira, which has a palloza! We learned pallozas are unique to Galicia and are oval-shaped structures with straw-like roofs. Dinner in the palloza was the best meal we experienced. It was one big community dinner shared at a long table with people from all around the world. We learned the owners built the structure by hand as we shared a traditional Galician stew with wine.
“Samos Reflections” Day 9, 11 km We took the optional route to Samos to see one of the largest Benedictine monasteries in the world! As we walked into the valley from dense trees, we saw Samos beautifully surrounded by green forests, hills, and a calm river. We walked across a bridge with shells that welcomed us into the town. Before dinner, our group took time in silence to sit by the river and reflect on our trip. We shared some of our reflections throughout the pilgrimage over dinner and enjoyed each others company.
“The Noise in Portomarin” Day 10, 22 km The theme of today is distractions. Every morning our group started walking with two hours of silence, which helped us all find our groove for the day and gave us a chance to walk alone in our thoughts. Now the trails are packed with people, and there is noise everywhere. We only have a few days of walking left before we arrive at Santiago for the feast day celebration of St. James on the 25th of July. Today is the 20th of July, and the trails will only be more packed than at other times of the year because of the national holiday. Tomorrow is a new day, and maybe we will switch up our walking routine to beat the crowds and noise...I now understand the advice against being a negative veteran pilgrim.
“Just After Sarria” Day 11, 12 km As we prepared to walk to Sarria, we heard a tip from a Camino guidebook. Essentially the advice was to have patience and not be grouchy veteran pilgrims to those starting in Sarria. Sarria is the minimum starting distance for the Camino to receive your Compostela, the accreditation of the pilgrimage to the Tomb of St. James. A few requirements go into acquiring a Compostela, and the minimum distance is 100 km on foot or horseback. To track distance, pilgrims collect stamps and dates on the Credential del Peregrino, a pilgrim passport. You receive stamps at churches, restaurants, monasteries, cathedrals, and when checking in at albergues along the routes. Starting the Camino in Sarria draws hundreds more people, meaning having loud, crowded trails... we tried our best not to be grouchy veteran pilgrims amongst them.
“Into Ribadiso” Day 13, 26 km We walked about 25 km from Portomarin to Palas de Rei yesterday and made our dinner in the albergue for the first time during our trip. Today we walked 26 km to Rivadiso, and it was by far the hottest and hardest day I’ve experienced for myself. The heat and fatigue slowly got to me, despite being used to walking. My ankle injury from a few months ago was beginning to act up, but just as we were approaching Rivadiso, we saw people standing in a creek below a bridge, laughing and talking. A woman from the Netherlands who had been carrying her cello and a group from England. They told us the water was ice cold, and we immediately dropped our backpacks off in our albergue, put our sandals on, and went to the creek to ice our feet.
“All Roads Lead to Santiago de Compostela” Day 15, 19 km ¡Buen Camino! Today is the day we made it to Santiago de Compostela! It’s the 24th of July and the day we made it to Santiago! I never imagined being here on the Camino or, let alone, walking this with little distress and no blisters. I am still in disbelief that we finished today and walked about 19 km in about three hours! We walked the last kilometer barefoot as a group and saw some Camino friends we thought we said goodbye to days ago. We are all smiles now as we marvel at the beauty of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and the experience as a whole. The city is preparing for the national holiday tomorrow, and we can’t believe we have our Compostelas in our hands; we officially walked 304 km across the French Way!