Pastoral

Andean alpaca herds so carefully and lovingly shepherded by their colorful humans, the daughters, sons, mothers, and fathers working together in a modern pastoral life high in the Andes mountain range, adorned still partly with traditional clothes, nearly theatrical within the raw elements of the landscape. Tending the herds, sheering traditionally with rudimentary knives or shears, one by one, they release and gather the fleeces gratefully. Unceasingly working the fibers spinning with the simple wooden spindles, dyeing from natural plants over a wood fire, skillfully weaving warp and weft together on their back-strap looms, knitting needles too, through sunrise and sunset, with the simplest of equipment and expertly trained hands over countless generations, essential functioning works of living art are created from the landscape. From the pastures of heaven, the fluffy alpacas of the Andes are calling to me once again.