2009 10 22

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Sopris Sun THE

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 37 • OCTOBER 22, 2009

Fading Reflections

Saying goodbye to Elliot Norquist’s “Yule Lakes” By Rebecca Young

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From top: “Yule lakes” at anderson Ranch, elliot Norquist and detail from “Yule lakes.” Photos by Rebecca Young

lliot Norquist is fascinated with interfaces. His art is an endlessly playful exploration of juxtaposition, placing clean geometry in the untamed shapes of a landscape or framing a view in steel, then delighting in the interaction. Now, a long-lived outgrowth of Norquist’s artistic sensibility is slated to be dismantled. Twenty-seven years ago, Norquist created “Yule Lakes” at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. With a turnover in land ownership the piece will be removed, and its passing has drawn Norquist to revisit the work, its place, and the interaction between the two. Norquist arrived in Carbondale in 1970 as a teacher for Colorado Rocky Mountain School, and was known for his charismatic, engaging instructional style as well as his offbeat sense of humor.With a wide ranging set of passions, he embodied the central philosophy of CRMS in the 1970s – to explore with enthusiasm, apply raw work to the mission and engage fully with life. He taught both art and outdoor education, and was a competitive Nordic skier and an irrigator for the Perry Ranch south of town. Holding sculpture degrees from both the University of Oregon and the Kansas City Art Institute, Norquist produced steel works in those years that expressed machismo, humor and a jolt of the unexpected. He welded discarded machine parts into a junkyard dog, and

won an Aspen public sculpture competition with a large, elegantly balanced, spinning silver disc named “Baring Face.” In 1978, Norquist moved to Santa Fe to immerse himself in the vitality of its erupting art scene. He built a house and shop, taught at the College of Santa Fe and as an outdoor education instructor, worked as a steel fabricator. Defining his own visual voice as a Santa Fe artist was yet another exercise in juxtaposition – the integration of the outdoorsman’s love of landscape, the irrigator’s understanding of water, and the sensibilities of a well-schooled artist. His work evolved into landscape installations built to interact with their surroundings. Minimalist and evocative of zen gardens, the creations became a part of the landscape and a counterpoint and statement, as well.

Building “Yule Lakes”

Returning to the valley in 1982 to teach a two-week site-specific workshop at Anderson Ranch, Norquist brought his new artistic perspective back from Santa Fe. His students lent their physical assistance as he orchestrated the bulldozing, form setting, concrete pouring, sod installation and artistic frenzy of creating “Yule Lakes” at the art center. Norquist’s vision for the piece was the introduction of“a viewfinder to interface the sky and the earth. I wanted to Yule lakes page 10


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