A Sunday Walk in Thomson Prairie

Fluff Ball

Prairie Fluff © 2013 Bo Mackison

…the joy of prairie lies in its subtlety.  It is so easy—too easy—to be swept away by mountain and ocean vistas.  A prairie, on the other hand, requests the favor of your closer attention.  It does not divulge itself to mere passersby.
~ Suzanne Winckler, Prairie: A North American Guide (2004)

For this week’s hike, I walked the Thomson Prairie. One does not “hike” in a prairie, especially if it is a wild prairie –  no paths, no guided signs describing the view or the habitat or the inhabitants. This is how a prairie should be, it appears from afar to be a landscape of emptiness, but instead it is a land of thick, twisting plants, stretching tall.

Wading through these tangles of thick grasses and flowers in this mostly native prairie is pure delight, but it is not a casual stroll by any means. More a picking your way through a maze of vertical growth, choosing the way that appears to have an opening, though truly, in a wild prairie, there are no openings. Every space filled with that which grows tall, reaching towards the sun.

Thompson Prairie

Prairie in June © 2013 Bo Mackison

The land is not the setting for the work but a part of the work. ~ Walter de Maria

This is prairie in mid-June. In another month or so, the view won’t be of the far away farms and the gently rolling landscape of the non-glaciated western half of Wisconsin. It will be of grasses that stand taller than most humans, flowers that bloom high over our heads.

I’ve never walked through a wilderness prairie fully grown, one untamed by the hands of humans, but I am looking forward to the experience in another month.

Thompson Prairie Prairie in June

How High is the Prairie Grass in June? © 2013 Bo Mackison

It seems to be a constant contradiction of itself.  It is delicate, yet resilient; it appears to be simple, but closer inspection indicates that it is extremely complex; it may appear monotonous, but it is diverse and ever-changing throughout the seasons. ~ James Stubbendieck

Thompson Prairie

Daisies in the Prairie © 2013 Bo Mackison

Without a complex knowledge of one’s place, and without the faithfulness to one’s place on which such knowledge depends, it is inevitable that the place will be used carelessly and eventually destroyed.
~ Wendell Berry

Thompson Prairie

Weighed Down Thistle © 2013 Bo Mackison

That was my country—Terrible winds and a wonderful emptiness. ~ Georgia O’Keefe

Thompson Prairie

High Winds and Yellow Hawkweed © 2013 Bo Mackison

On the prairie, what you are left with is the bare truth, the land pared down to the bone, the basic dirt and grass and sky that shape the lives that play out upon it. ~ Tom Groneberg

A prairie walk is a fine way to explore the earth. Grasses shine like flickering lights, waxing and waning as the sun slides in and out of the scattered clouds.

With so little prairie remaining — Wisconsin’s original 10 million acres has been whittled to  a mere 12,000 acres by farming and other land uses — it is a rare enough experience. Pure prairie pleasure!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck  of Wisdom Cards. The first set, the Desert Wisdom Cards, feature a Sonoran Desert theme. Now she is getting re-acquainted with the prairie and grasslands in preparation for the next featured habitat.

Magic Wand, Anyone?

Fairy in Light II

Fairy in Pink Light © 2011 Bo Mackison

Being in a place of uncertainty and edginess can be transformative. Stay with those feelings, even for a moment, it is actually a genuine act of kindness to ourselves. Though being compassionate enough to accomodate our own fears takes courage and feels counter-intuitive.  ~ Pema Chodron, from The Places that Scare You

The week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day has become less of a resting space (as I had envisioned in my fantasies) and more of a deep-breathing-keep-calm-and-keep-moving-forward space. As the above quote states so very clearly, “being in a place of uncertainty and edginess can be transformative.”

Transformation sounds good. I decided to work on some organization during this less hectic time and made progress. I worked on the new timeline on Facebook, and surprisingly, I like the new feature. I’m not an advocate of most of Facebook’s improvements, but this seems to make things more orderly instead of more confusing. I spruced up my Seeded Earth business account on Facebook while I was there. Good.

Then I cleaned up my Twitter account. Removed dead accounts, added some exciting new ones to match some of my developing interests. Changed the background while I was changing everything else. Good.

Anticipating the change from 2011 to 2012, I made new photo sets in Flickr for the 2012 calendar year, moved older sets to a less visible place. Cleaned up some misfiled photographs and added tags to a few forgotten photos. Flickr is one of my most viable vehicles for new business, and so I keep my finished photos up to date. Each photograph is in an easy-to-find organized set. Good.

Late yesterday I opened my folder for art festival applications and took a deep breath. New rules. New definitions of digital vs. photographic art. Changed and now conflicting show dates. Show information that requires corrections and back and forth, back and forth emails. I started in on the paperwork.

Almost immediately I hit a brick wall. I must pick 3 to 5 photographs of my art to submit with the written applications. The photos are the primary source for the jury to judge the hundreds or even thousands of applications.  Those few photographs need to capture the essence of my art, and are ultimately the deciding factor whether I get an invitation to the shows this summer or I am told “sorry, please apply again next year”.

Of course, my inner critic needed to speak up. “What if the only jury liked last year’s photography?” “What if they don’t like the newer photos?” “What if there is too much digital manipulation?” “What if the jurors collectively despise the color red and two of the chosen photos feature red?”

Hmm. It’s like a game. I have to choose the application photos, and then be done with it. Once the apps are out the door, the decisions are out of my hands. Good.

But I’d thought the pressure and the to-do list was going to lighten this week, and that didn’t happen.

I console myself with the fact that I am doing what I love — taking photographs, creating art, showing it at festivals, talking to art enthusiasts about my techniques, adding new collectors. All jobs, including the work of artists, have the fun parts and the not so fun parts. So it’s time to pick out those photographs and get those applications off my to-do list. Summer will be here before I know it!

p.s. In the post I linked to my Facebook, Twitter and Flickr accounts. If you want to connect via Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr, feel free to follow any (or all) of the links. Thanks.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is in super-organizer mode during this short work week, and nothing — not even dreaded paperwork — will slow her down!