MVA Logo
Issue 94
May 2016
In This Issue
Artist in Residence Susan Madden
Photographer Gregory Spaid - Mesa Verde Artist in Residence May 16-27, 2016
Mesa Verde National Park Trip-Planning Services Available at Colorado Welcome Center in Cortez
Mesa Verde Historic District Walking Tour
Four Corners Lecture Series comes to Mesa Verde
Mesa Verde Stainless Steel Thermal Travel Mug
Quick Links
Find Your Park
NPS Centennial
Mesa Verde Museum Association
Join Our Mailing List
About Us
The Mesa Verde Association is a joint membership program of the Mesa Verde Museum Association and the Mesa Verde Foundation. Your MVA membership supports both of these 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.
 
The Mesa Verde Museum Association (tax ID 84-1404606) provides educational and interpretive material to visitors of Mesa Verde National Park through an active publishing program and the operation of retail bookstores online, in the park, and in Cortez, CO. Our services enhance the visitor experience and promote stewardship of Mesa Verde's world-renowned archeological resources and natural landscapes. Proceeds from all Association operations are donated to the park's interpretive, research, and education programs.

Mesa Verde Foundation (tax ID 84-046967)
funds capital improvements, projects, and programs for Mesa Verde National Park. Our projects include partial funding for the new Visitor and Research Center at the park's entrance, rehabilitation of the horse facilities at Morefield to support the park's historic horse patrol, funding for important stabilization work at Cliff Palace, and funding of a Lecture Series at Mesa Verde.
 
You are receiving this email because you are a member of the Mesa Verde Association or because you purchased a product from the Mesa Verde Museum Association. To ensure that you continue to receive emails from us, add info@mesaverde.org to your address book today.
Welcome to "Verde Views," the e-newsletter for Mesa Verde Association members and friends. This periodic publication will keep you informed about Association news and events, park happenings, new products and special sales.
Artist in Residence Susan Madden
Participants at Susan Madden's AIR Program
Susan Madden, Mesa Verde's first Artist in Residence of 2016, had a wonderful time and a well-received public program. Susan says, "Thank you to everyone who made this happen. It was a very positive and transformative experience for me. I began 3 new quilts while I was there. One I designed from a sketch I did in Cliff Palace. The second is a small piece showing light pouring through a T-shaped doorway, and the third is a larger piece of Square Tower House in evening light. The hogan is a wonderful space, and the light on the worktable from the skylight is absolutely gorgeous, the kind of light artists yearn for. I just wanted to move in and never leave! I hope the next artists this year will love it as much as I did."

Susan's program had about 20 attendees, who were able to create their own quilt blocks using bleach pens on fabric to draw petroglyphs inspired by Mesa Verde's Petroglyph Panel.

Also in attendance were a reporter and film crew from CBS Sunday Morning who filmed her program and interviewed Susan about her residency. The interview will air later this summer in a series CBS Sunday Morning is doing about the National Parks.

The AIR program is managed by the nonprofit Mesa Verde Museum Association, the park's innovative educational partner that inspires life-long stewardship of the Mesa Verde region's cultural and natural heritage. Through MVMA's operation of park bookstores, free or low-cost seminars, workshops, and special programs, visitors of all ages gain a new, behind-the-scenes understanding of Mesa Verde. Proceeds from all association programs support Mesa Verde National Park. Learn more at www.mesaverde.org or by calling 970-529-4445.
Photographer Gregory Spaid - Mesa Verde Artist in Residence May 16-27, 2016
Juniper in Rocks, Brush Creek Ranch, Saratoga, WY, archival ink jet print, 2015
Mesa Verde National Park welcomes photographer Gregory Spaid as its second Artist in Residence of 2016. Gregory will present "The Tree is a Camera", an illustrated talk, for visitors at Mesa Verde on Friday, May 27, 2016 at 7:00pm in the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum auditorium. This presentation will explore the ways a tree is like a camera and will feature tree photographs taken throughout the United States.

Gregory, who is from Ohio, is currently working on a project called "Witness," focusing on the role trees play in our lives, and what they can tell us about our relationships with nature and culture. "[Trees] give to our lives metaphors for wildness, resilience, balance, endurance, vulnerability, fragility, shelter, grace, grandeur and majesty. They measure time in units that help us think far into the future and deep into the past," Gregory said. His photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institute, the International Museum of Photography, and the Getty. Gregory teaches photography and studio art at Kenyon College in Ohio. His time at Mesa Verde will primarily focus on capturing the images of the trees scarred by forest fires in the park and the relationship of trees to the archaeological sites in the park. Gregory will be in residence from May 16 through May 29, 2016.

Mesa Verde National Park's Artist in Residence program offers professional writers, composers, and visual and performing artists the opportunity to pursue their particular art form while being surrounded by the inspiring ancient architecture of the Ancestral Pueblo people and the sweeping natural landscape of the park. This year's Artists in Residence were selected from 64 applicants by a jury consisting of Mesa Verde National Park staff and local artists and residents. Other 2016 Artists in Residence include environmental writer Bronwyn Mauldin, landscape photographer Kit Frost, painter Joyce Heuman, and landscape quilter Susan Madden.
Mesa Verde National Park Trip-Planning Services Available at Colorado Welcome Center in Cortez
Please help us spread the word that a full range of trip-planning services including tickets for ranger-guided cliff dwelling tours are now available at the Colorado Welcome Center (CWC) at 928 East Main Street in Cortez! The CWC is currently open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It will be open daily for extended hours from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from May 24 through September 5.

Tickets are available now for Balcony House and Long House tours at Mesa Verde National Park. Tickets for Cliff Palace tours will also be available for purchase when the site opens for tours on May 27. Tours are $4.00 per person, per tour; purchase your tickets up to two days in advance at the CWC or at the park's Visitor and Research Center (VRC) located just off Highway 160 at the park entrance.

In addition, the CWC offers a broad selection of information, maps and publications about the park as well as the many recreational opportunities and visitor services available throughout the Four Corners region. Knowledgeable local residents staff the CWC's Mesa Verde Park Store and the Welcome Center information desk. Cliff dwelling tour ticket sales have been sold at the CWC seasonally since 2010 as a convenience for visitors and local residents. The CWC also offers ample car, RV and bus parking and large, clean restrooms.

Additional Colorado Welcome Center information may be obtained by calling 970-564-0780. Additional information on visiting Mesa Verde may be obtained by visiting the park's website at www.nps.gov/meve or by calling the park's main information line at 970-529-4465.
Mesa Verde Historic District Walking Tour
The Old Ranger Dorm on Chapin Mesa
This is a 1.5 hour, easy walking tour of early park buildings, and highlights how archaeologists, rangers, and New Deal Laborers created the first cultural national park in the United States.  From the Antiquities Act of 1906 and the NPS Organic Act of 1916, to the New Deal and into the 21st century, hear the influences that have shaped the first century of Mesa Verde National Park.  These ranger-led walking tours will begin on May 29th, and be held every day until September 5. There is no fee and will be open to anyone interested. The tour will start at 1:00 p.m. in front of the Chapin Mesa Museum. 
Four Corners Lecture Series comes to Mesa Verde    
Join us for another incredible summer of educational and enlightening programs with the free Four Corners Lecture Series.  Numerous programs are scheduled this summer at locations throughout the Four Corners region. 

The series will come to Mesa Verde on May 20 at 7:00 p.m., when Donna Glowacki will be at the Chapin Mesa Museum Auditorium and will speak on the topic "The Making of a Village: Growth and Change at Spruce Tree House".

Upcoming lectures:
 
Ren and Helen Davis
Landscapes for the People: George Alexander Grant, First Chief Photographer of the Nat'l Park Service
June 3, Friday, 7:00 p.m., Chapin Museum, Mesa Verde National Park
 
Scott Ortman
Re-Balancing the Narrative of Spanish Colonization in New Mexico
June 8, Wednesday, 7:00 p.m., Crow Canyon Archaeological Center (hosted by SCCA and CCAC)
 
Grant Coffey
Creating Symmetry: Building Social Landscapes in the Central Mesa Verde Region
June 9, Thursday, 7:00 p.m., Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
 
Ruth Van Dyke
Aztec in the Chacoan World
June 11, Saturday, 7:00 p.m., First United Methodist Church, Cortez (hosted by Hisatsinom Chapter/CAS)

We hope you'll join us for all of these free programs! The full lecture series schedule can be found here.
 
This lecture series is generously sponsored by Mesa Verde Foundation, Mesa Verde Museum Association, and Mesa Verde National Park, as well as the Anasazi Heritage Center, ARAMARK Parks and Destinations, Bureau of Land Management, Cortez Cultural Center, Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum, Fort Lewis College Office of the President, Department of Anthropology, and Center of Southwest Studies, Friends of Cedar Mesa, Hisatsinom Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society, KSJD Dryland Community Radio and the Sunflower Theater, and the Southwest Colorado Canyons Alliance.
Mesa Verde Stainless Steel Thermal Travel Mug
Celebrate your love of coffee (or tea) and Mesa Verde with our new 16 ounce stainless steel travel mug.  The mug is double wall vacuum insulated with a leak proof threaded lid and will keep your beverages hot for 6 hours or cold for 12 hours!  The matte black finish is imprinted with a colorful image of the towers of Cliff Palace on the front and the NPS Centennial logo on the back.  The mug has a low profile lid and compact size that fits standard car cup holders.  Hand washing recommended, however our sample mugs have held up to repeated cycles through the dishwasher with no ill effect.  This mug quickly became a staff favorite during our long snowy January commutes - it is simply one of the best insulated travel mugs we've found!

As always, members will receive a discount with the use of your discount code, and proceeds from your purchases support Mesa Verde National Park.

Not a member yet? It's easy to join! Just click here or call us at 970-529-4445 for assistance.

Misplaced your member discount code? Just call or email us at info@mesaverde.org and we'll be happy to provide it to you!