Photographs of Dwellings and Rock Art expressing the home landscape of the ancestral people who once lived in a land I love.  The photos are complemented with a text that includes contemporary poems, interviews with selected archaeologists and other "guides," as well as facts, figures and issues of the heart, ethics, and preservation.  I anticipate this being an all B&W book, but have not excused color imagery.  This body of work has been exhibited numerous times and is available now.  

See the galleries section for imagery.

This is a collaborative project with poet David Lee, first and former poet laureate of the State of Utah.  David's "nature" poems speak to the changing seasons, times of the day, life and death, hope and beauty.  Toned B&W photographs complement the written word.  Premier exhibit scheduled for April 20 - June 1 2007 at the Salt Lake City Art Center/Finch Lane Gallery.

The following is the opening poem:

Aubade Paean
Fanfare for the Uncommon Man
-  after Aaron Copland

A soft spot
in the cloud rips
Streamers of light
spill
glistering the buttes
until the cloudseam heals

Then the redarkening
around dawnseep
trickling through
a notch in the horizon

A pinon
stuffed with song
joyance
of white-crowned sparrows

A crepitant windchime
erupts
into a geyser
of quarter notes
filling the sky

Glory

(for Leslie Norris)

There are those people among us who have a natural affinity for large portions of landscape. Though they may not own and are often not employed as a ranger or administrator who governs it, these individuals feel a strong responsibility to care for it. We can learn from their thoughts and deeds. This project includes portraits and short audio interviews produced as radio documentary with real people of the West who naturally care for landscape. The portraits are complemented by a small portfolio of the surrounding landscape/area of concern. The first piece in this series is a portrait of rancher Heidi Redd who runs the Dugout Ranch on Indian Creek in San Juan County, Utah. Her portrait was commissioned by the Nature Conservancy of Utah as part of the Utah exhibit of In Response to Place. The exhibit image is a triptych with her hand-written statement integrated with the photographs. I plan to create an exihibit sized body of this work.

Inspired by the Jackson Brown cover of "I Am a Patriot," and the words of American Indian activist/actor/spoken word artist John Trudell, I have been gathering images of the American Flag where it is displayed in non-traditional ways.  When possible I interview those involved about their notion of patriotism.  When does being a patriot (one who offers allegiance to the land) come into friction with being a good citizen (one who offers allegiance to a government)?

I have been known as "the Art Coach!" since the 1980's when I first started teaching art on the Utah Navajo reservation and among the pueblos of northern New Mexico.  Two great books came out of that experience.  A Rainbow at Night: the World in Words and Pictures by Navajo Children was first published by Chronicle Books in 1997.  It received a notable book award from Smithsonian Magazine and a Parent's Choice Award.  Where There Is No Name For Art: the Art of Tewa Pueblo Children was published by the School of American Research Press in 1996.  It received a 1998 Southwest Book Award and the 1997 Carey McWilliams Award from Multiculture Review as "the best book on the US experience of cultural diversity."  I am very proud of both.

Since then I have conducted dozens of school and community residencies and have led many community projects.  Here in Moab, I teach children's art courses at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center, conduct an annual Young Naturalists Creative Writing and Illustration Project with our 6th grades and have led the creation of 2  community mural projects and one sculpture project.  And there is more to come!

In addition to the great time and energy I receive, working with children in art hones my understanding of basic visual concepts, which I apply to my photography with a greater sense of play than I might otherwise have.

If you are a Utah school or arts organization interested in a Bruce Hucko residency click here to visit the Utah Arts Council Arts in Education Program.  If you are a non-Utah organization interested in a residency please email me and we can start talking!

Voices of Youth - Moab (VOY) is an interactive, community-based creative radio documentary course and project.  It is designed to place area teenagers in closer touch with the history, people, and issues of their immediate surroundings.  The results are fantastic.  Our stories range from Rockland: a visit with polygamist leader Bob Foster by Chase Clyde to The Sponge-Bob Incident by Keegan Stewart.  Voices of Youth radio is a winter trimester course at Grand County High School. Ten students selected by application learn the art and craft of audio production using iMac computers, Protools audio editing software and Marantz flashcard field recorders.  The winter course is followed by a summer radioWORK experience sponsored by KZMU.  Five selected students work for $7/hour for up to 100 hours making short radio features about their community.  All VOY programs are first broadcast on Moab's KZMU radio.

VOY-Moab has been featured on KUER-FM 90, the NPR affiliate in Salt Lake City, Public Radio Exchange (PRX) and Generation PRX.  VOY has received awards from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, The Third Coast Radio Festival and a 2006 Silver UBEE award from the Utah Broadcasters Association.  VOY-Moab also won a 2006 Gold Award frm the Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.  

Visit KZMU to hear all of our work -

www.kzmu.org/voicesofyouth

Visit Generation PRX for lots of youth produced radio -

www.generationprx.org

Voices of Youth began at the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada (1999 and 2000) and has conducted the program in Fresno, CA (2002, 2003).  I am able to conduct short-term audio-residencies for schools, libraries, museums, youth centers and other community groups. Contact me for detailed information.

Wanderlust radio came about due to my friend and mentor Jack Loeffler, with whom I created Voices of Youth.  I found that I was having great conversations with many of my clients/friends about related ideas and projects and decided to add another creative outlet to my repertoire!  Stories and commentary laced with natural sounds, sound effects and music can sometimes complement and exhibit in a way that captions can't. 

My first project was to create the audio portion of my exhibit A Gesture of Kinship.  A second project, an audio portrait of friend and rancher Heidi Redd was recently completed.  (In the future I'll offer audio on this site.)  I am trying to gather the resources needed (financial and institutional) to start producing pieces reflective of the four corners region to be called The Stories That Live Amongst Us (title "borrowed" from student Malia Groesbeck), and hope to work with area libraries, museums and other groups to fund this work.

Do you have an audio-idea or want to talk to me on tape.....er.......flashdisc?  Contact me.