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“The River” Nooksack Valley Regional Middle School
The inspiration piece is the Nooksack River itself. Like the regional Middle School, the River unites the area, starting at the base of Mt Baker and winding down to its mouth at Bellingham Bay. Notable to me is that Nooksack remains a free-flowing river, with no dams.
The area is also notable to photographers and historians, as one of the homes of the photographer Darius Kinsey who chronicled the Northwest in the first part of 1900’s. The conditions of the natural landscape we see today are stunningly different that what existed in the 1800’s. Where huge forests stood, we now see fertile fields and second or third growth Alder and conifers. As the area continues to change what is photographed now will be the classic shot of the past in the future of the students attending this school.
I started by photographing, following the water sources down from Nooksack Falls and Lower Racehorse Falls. Then from there through Deming on to Lynden, and ending at the Lummi Reservation. The images try to make accounting of the many vistas, moods and details of the water course.
I would like to place the mural on the wall above the landing of the main south stairwell. The piece is a tapestry of images with Nooksack Falls in the center, to the left and right are glimpses and details of the river winding through the region, emphasizing the idea that the Nooksack is a free-flowing River.