You may have seen the beautiful Red Hill piece below by Bailey Haines. In addition to sharing the print, she opened up with us recently about how the land inspires her work and what it means to have protected open space.
Bailey came to Carbondale after graduating from Colorado College in 2003. Always drawing and painting as a hobbyist, Bailey honed her skills after joining the team at DHM Design, a local landscape architecture firm that often works closely with AVLT. Here, she was mentored for 10 years by one of the principals, David Carpenter. He nurtured her graphic eye and taught her to “really see” and observe her work with critical curiosity.
In 2014, Bailey took a weekend printmaking class and fell in love. Bailey describes nature as her church, and printmaking is how she processes and shares her experiences. "Whether I am on a quick hike up Red Hill or on a long traverse, my heart and mind are lit up and overwhelmed by awe and gratitude."
Through her prints, Bailey explores the interplay of color and form. While Bailey works, she thinks about the way the light moves across the landscape, obscuring and revealing the shapes of mountains and valleys. She thinks about how the same mountain can be ever-changing with the weather, the angle of the sun, her mood. She thinks about how we are all connected and how we color each other’s lives. “And when I say all, I mean you, me, the wild things, and the things that sit so still, we do not think they move... but they do. We are inextricably connected with our environment and the health of all living things is reflected in our own well-being.”
Since 1976, Aspen Valley Land Trust has worked to permanently preserve open lands for agriculture, wildlife habitat, scenic enjoyment, and recreation in the greater Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys. Check out their good works at www.avlt.org.