This oil on canvas titled "Shaman Rock" depicts a sacred outcropping of ancient Aztec Sandstone rock formations called the "Little Red Rocks" as they are near the famous Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area, located west of Las Vegas, Nevada. Early Native American petroglyphs can be found on these rock and one in particular seems to depicts a Native American Shaman or Holy Man. This painting was on exhibit in former Senator John Ensign's Russell Senate Building office in Washington D.C. from 2002-2007, was on exhibit in the Nevada State museum in the Springs Preserve and featured in an ABC Channel 13 news segment on August 4, 2004.
This ABC Channel 13 Las Vegas news segment originally aired August 4, 2004. I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for 16 years, from 1990 until 2006. During that time, I witnessed the methodical destruction of prehistorical and historical sites, throughout the vast semi-virgin desert regions of the outlying Las Vegas valley.
One particular prehistoric site, that is in the cross-hairs of developers, is the Little Red Rock formation that borders the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. I would go hiking many times throughout the ancient Anasazi Sandstone formations and view with amazed reverence, the many natural caves that were once inhabited by early Native Americans and their timeless and unique petroglyphs they inscribed into the sandstone rock faces, as a record of their lives and presence within the Little Red Rocks.
Sadly, upon my picturesque journeys throughout the Little Red Rocks, I would come across, with gut wrenching horror, garbage, burned out vehicles within the rocks and paint maliciously thrown and sprayed upon the ancient petroglyphs. They were scenes of complete desecration of Native American sacred sites within the Little Red Rocks and would bring tears to anyone's eyes who has a compassionate soul and reverence for the natural and cultural world.
After viewing such disturbing scenes, I was inspired to produce a series of three paintings depicting the Little Red Rocks, in all their natural glory, in a time when Native Americans called that region of the Las Vegas valley home. The three paintings are titled "The Heights at Little Red Rock", "Shaman Rock" and "Escape from the Slavetraders"...all of which can be viewed on my website. My hope, in producing the three paintings, was to bring public awareness to the plight of the Little Red Rocks and to pressure the corporate owners of that land to do much more to protect and preserve the Little Red Rocks and to conserve the damage that was callously inflicted on all those rare and sacred Native American sites of that region.
All this said, I ultimately was moved to contact one of the local news stations in Las Vegas, ABC Channel 13. I called and spoke with a representative of the station on the morning of August 4, 2002, told them my story and the destruction that was taking place at the Little Red Rocks and they arranged to send a news reporter to meet and interview me near the Little Red Rocks around noon, to inform the general public what was happening to the natural jewel at their doorstep. ABC Channel 13 even sent a news helicopter to fly over the Little Red Rocks to capture all the vandalism for posterity and to expose it for all the world to see. My interview at the Little Red Rocks was aired that night of the evening news on ABC Channel 13. (The video can be viewed in my videos section).
This painting "Shaman Rock" was purchased by the City of Las Vegas, Nevada and now included in their permanent public art collections.
This oil on canvas titled "Shaman Rock" depicts a sacred outcropping of ancient Aztec Sandstone rock formations called the "Little Red Rocks" as they are near the famous Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area, located west of Las Vegas, Nevada. Early Native American petroglyphs can be found on these rock and one in particular seems to depicts a Native American Shaman or Holy Man. This painting was on exhibit in former Senator John Ensign's Russell Senate Building office in Washington D.C. from 2002-2007, was on exhibit in the Nevada State museum in the Springs Preserve and featured in an ABC Channel 13 news segment on August 4, 2004.
This ABC Channel 13 Las Vegas news segment originally aired August 4, 2004. I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for 16 years, from 1990 until 2006. During that time, I witnessed the methodical destruction of prehistorical and historical sites, throughout the vast semi-virgin desert regions of the outlying Las Vegas valley.
One particular prehistoric site, that is in the cross-hairs of developers, is the Little Red Rock formation that borders the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. I would go hiking many times throughout the ancient Anasazi Sandstone formations and view with amazed reverence, the many natural caves that were once inhabited by early Native Americans and their timeless and unique petroglyphs they inscribed into the sandstone rock faces, as a record of their lives and presence within the Little Red Rocks.
Sadly, upon my picturesque journeys throughout the Little Red Rocks, I would come across, with gut wrenching horror, garbage, burned out vehicles within the rocks and paint maliciously thrown and sprayed upon the ancient petroglyphs. They were scenes of complete desecration of Native American sacred sites within the Little Red Rocks and would bring tears to anyone's eyes who has a compassionate soul and reverence for the natural and cultural world.
After viewing such disturbing scenes, I was inspired to produce a series of three paintings depicting the Little Red Rocks, in all their natural glory, in a time when Native Americans called that region of the Las Vegas valley home. The three paintings are titled "The Heights at Little Red Rock", "Shaman Rock" and "Escape from the Slavetraders"...all of which can be viewed on my website. My hope, in producing the three paintings, was to bring public awareness to the plight of the Little Red Rocks and to pressure the corporate owners of that land to do much more to protect and preserve the Little Red Rocks and to conserve the damage that was callously inflicted on all those rare and sacred Native American sites of that region.
All this said, I ultimately was moved to contact one of the local news stations in Las Vegas, ABC Channel 13. I called and spoke with a representative of the station on the morning of August 4, 2002, told them my story and the destruction that was taking place at the Little Red Rocks and they arranged to send a news reporter to meet and interview me near the Little Red Rocks around noon, to inform the general public what was happening to the natural jewel at their doorstep. ABC Channel 13 even sent a news helicopter to fly over the Little Red Rocks to capture all the vandalism for posterity and to expose it for all the world to see. My interview at the Little Red Rocks was aired that night of the evening news on ABC Channel 13. (The video can be viewed in my videos section).
This painting "Shaman Rock" was purchased by the City of Las Vegas, Nevada and now included in their permanent public art collections.