MILLS CANYON BOTTLE
2018
Mills, New Mexico
Three hundred miles west of Amarillo, Texas and one hundred and eighty miles east of Santa Fe, New Mexico lay the Kiowa National Grasslands. Amidst over a hundred thousand acres of grassy bluffs is a red rock canyon with a river running through it. On this third trip to the canyon (and second build, see Mills Canyon Urn) I ventured the farthest. As my truck rumbled up and down the steep riverbanks and through fields of cacti, the river finally crossed decisively from one side of the canyon to the other and blocked my truck's path. I chose a build site near the river, and a primitive campsite. I spent ten days camped by the Canadian River, and went days without speaking to other humans (far out of cell service, or even SAT phone service). I mixed the three ingredients of my clay from a powder with water from the river and salvaged clay that I had abandoned from my last build, a mile up the canyon. I mixed clay and dried it in the sun, until it was ready to become the next coil of my bottle by the river.
The finished vessel was eight and a half feet tall and weighed 400 pounds.