It's hard to capture in words what Joseph Sanchez captures in his paintings. Energy? The power of nature? Things we don't see? How the hell do you write a story about that?
Joseph Sanchez, the 70-year-old painter from Santa Fe, New Mexico is in Lac La Biche for a week of workshops leading to the grand opening of a permanent museum featuring his work at Portage College.
An interview with the man, who is one of just two remaining members of the 1970s Indigenous art think-tank known as the Indian Group of 7 - is an experience in detail, spirit and passion. It's also really hard to put into words. When we introduced Sanchez to the community leading up to his visit in a recent article-we didn't do it justice. How could we? The man is a walking dreamscape. Anything you write to try to explain him or his inspiration sounds more like a Jim Morrison lyric.
The tonal textures of shadows moving micron by micron over the sun-ravaged, age-old red rock walls of an Arizona desert canyon? What? How can you describe anyone who thinks like that?
This is a man who pictures the slow-motion drops of rain splashing one at a time onto the leaves of a small plant, sending some particles into the air to evaporate and be re-born while others trickle down the stem and nourish the unseen roots. He sees, feels and paints the energy of the ocean's waves, hidden from view in the swirling cycle of the current beneath the surface.
The man simply sees things that we don't - And then he paints their meaning.
Even if some of us are fortunate to once in a while snatch a thought about some of these things, we're nowhere as 'in touch' with nature as Joseph Sanchez. Most of us would be lucky to have the same natural awareness as a single hair in his crazy, cool curled moustache.
During last week's interview with the POST, he spoke of the fire and the water of life; the core creations and being 'at-one' with all that surrounds us.
Ten minutes before the interview, I was having real trouble deciding between a 3-cheese Pizza Pop or the Deluxe.
This guy has been seeing ... no, feeling art, his entire life.
Is he solving world famine? Curing a disease? Creating a new social awareness?
No ... Well, maybe .... I don't know.
But he is creating thought. Exactly what that means isn't clear - but it doesn't have to be. Like his paintings, his meanings can be up for interpretation, or hidden from view until a certain angle of light brings it to life.
Brilliant, refreshing, eye-opening, weird ... Not only do the works of Joseph Sanchez create a wide range of thought, so does the artist.
After you've met him or spoken to him, you can't help but see the artist in the art. It's like hearing a Rolling Stones song. You might not know all the words, but you can imagine Mick Jagger singing them. The artist is the art and the art is the artist. Whoa. Maybe some of the Sanchez world is rubbing off. And that's a good thing.
It's all part of the mystery and brilliance of art that we so rarely get to experience.
As a reader, you aren't going to really appreciate the work of an artist by the attempts of a writer to translate the findings from days spent in desert canyons or months spent with six other artists perfecting and sharing a communal Indigenous spirit. Like the artist himself, it is too complex of an issue.
You have to see it to ... well, to see it.
Check out the permanent exhibition of the Indian Group of 7 at Portage College. You won't have to capture any meanings, but like the artists themselves, they might capture you.
