PRAIRIE AESTHETIC

aes-thet-ic: noun, adjective: concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty

 Growing up in the Great American Desert also known as the Colorado prairie and being a depression baby has greatly influenced my aesthetic as to what is beautiful. 

 I'm sure that is why I'm so attracted to wind-ravaged old, timber structures; dilapidated fences; and piles of rocks.

Even as a child, I was fascinated with the local structures built of rocks -- the building material so widely available on the prairies.  

My first attraction to rock buildings was, as a grade-schooler, our local swimming pool bath house.  This was my first interest in architecture also --- how can they build a structure out of rocks, my second-grade mind wondered?????

Rocky Ford swimming pool - 1940s

Today, I like to search out the WPA projects that provided work for the unemployed of the depression era in the 1930s.  To me, the rock fences and structures they built are amazing.

Rock wall and maintenance shed,
 Lake Side Cemetery, Canon City, Colorado

Orator's stand at Hillside
Cemetery, Rocky Ford, Colorado

Mineral Palace Park, Pueblo, Co.  Rock bridge
built by WPA project in 1938

When we owned this house as adults, I could look out every day and see this pillar.

Pillar entrance to Reservoir Hill, Rocky Ford

Rough timber structures and fences, peeling paint, and old iron fences from another era can still be found today.  Amazing that they have survived the wind and dirt for this long.

Royal Gorge History and Museum Center
Canon City

Original school building from 1877
Rocky Ford

Greenwood Cemetery, Canon City

These very old structures were found on my family's 1880 homestead. 

Out building

Abandoned sheep wagon

Original corral fence.

Adobe structures are interesting because of the different colored soils of the area.

Painted adobe original homestead cabin

Garden Park adobe schoolhouse, Fremont County

WPA project horse barns, Arkansas Valley
Fairgrounds, Rocky Ford

These are just a few of the thousands of photos I have taken starting in 1991 of my prairie aesthetic.  My aesthetic also extends to the beauty of God's magnificent creations and man's architectural wonders.  I'm intrigued with the juxtaposition between His creations, the work of my predecessors, and my meager efforts. 

I'm blessed to find such joy in my time and place!

That is me playing in the dirt and rocks
 discovering my aesthetic- 1939.  
I'm not sure I was too excited
 about the dirt; but, oh, those rocks!!!