Rio Grande Healthy Living Park
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| Agua Es La Vida, oil on linen, 16 x 20 |
Rivertown
I am honored in creating a painting
that promotes the attributes of the Rio Grande Healthy Living Park in my
Rivertown- Alamosa, Colorado.
The park will evolve on the site that belonged to the
local school district- almost 40 acres. On a small section of the land, a
school once stood- now torn down.
I have a history with this school. It was named after local
educator Margaret Polston. I went to school with her daughter.
My daughter, in turn, went to Polston Elementary School.
There are towering cottonwoods outlining the playground that were planted by a
friend to shelter her son when he went to school there. Local gardeners made
plots and a greenhouse and the kids learned that you can eat what you grow- and
that freshness is an unparalleled treat.
There are many such stories in this town.
But the school only took up a small part of the property.
Enveloping the school and playground was and is an alfalfa field. There is an
abandoned river meander that is fed by a distant warm well that affords all the
wetland plants and animals a home. And next to the meander, separated by a dike,
is the Rio Grande. The Rio runs through this property.
For a while it looked like this remarkable real estate would
transfer into private hands. After a Rivertown kerfuffle which exposed some
deep feelings below the veneer of civility, this land will once again be by and
for the community people- if the funds are raised to purchase it.
The Rio Grande Healthy Living Park is a complex and
invigorating menagerie best explained by the architects of its creation. https://www.facebook.com/healthylivingpark?fref=nf
One of the features that I am looking forward to is the restored wetlands-
removing non-native plants, encouraging wildlife friendly practices and making
it a continuing educational feature to Rivertown. It will educate and nurture
both children and adults.
Some notes about the painting-
I chose the vantage point from the elevated river dike
looking east towards our all-star mountain celebrity- Mount Blanca. It looms
over us most days when not obscured by storms- it winks at you from out of the
corner of your eye.
The wetlands are indeed a treasure. This slough drains into
the river and is fed by a warm well coming from the community artesian swimming
pool. In the winter this warm stream offers open water in a land that at times
has none elsewhere.
One winter I was perplexed to spot a Great Blue Heron at
this open ribbon of water. I had only recently started learning about birds and
had seen these large birds in great numbers in Florida. But here, in the San
Luis Valley- in the bitter sub-zero weather that persists for weeks on end-
what was this bird doing here? Then I saw the heron deftly jab into the water
and spear up a minnow. These fishies thrive in the warm winter water- and
sustain these large elegant birds in the cold of winter.
The moon reminds us of the subliminal and massive natural
rhythms that, although we try, cannot for long be ignored. The rythms are there
whether we acknowledge them or not.
Then there is the water. Agua es la vida. In the desert, the
oases that the Rio creates is life.
Alamosa and the San Luis Valley prosper because of our
engineered rerouting of the Rio Grande. We convert the Rio into sustenance that
feeds thousands- waterfowl, livestock and crops. This tradition will continue
with the Healthy Living Park.
My wish is that my inspired painting will inspire you to
help as well. To give your support go to https://www.healthylivingpark.org
