Adventures at Mule Creek

An earthwork is art in or on the earth. It works with nature and can disintegrate as soon as it is made. The purpose of this assignment is to meet the other students in our classes on an informal level. So, we gathered on a warm September afternoon after connecting on Group Me. I chose a spot up Manti canyon for the project. It's near a stream and can be washed away if we get any rain.  The group was excited. They're so young. I call them my grandchildren. We brought them apples and cookies. Only J wanted to eat. He's the same boy who told his future date he is bisexual. I asked him if things worked out with the date. He said it's better than he ever imagined. Good for them! We decided to create the face of a young woman in the sand. We used sticks for her hair. J got really upset that we hadn't chosen a color pallette. He was worried we would send it into the gallery and they would want a color palette. I assured him we were okay. We worked ...

  Probably the most iconic building in the Sanpete Valley is the Manti LDS Temple.  Sitting on the brow of a hill and visible for many miles, it presides over the valley with quiet dignity.  It was completed in 1888 by early Mormon pioneers.  It was built on what was at the time described as a "rattlesnake infested" bluff.  Just behind the temple, there is a replica of a dugout home that represents the difficult circumstances the pioneers lived in while building this beautiful building. Last week we visited the temple on a cloudy, breezy afternoon.  We climbed the hill and walked around to the rear, east side of the building.  This provided a different perspective than the more often photographed northern and western sides.  From the east, it is easier to see the temple's relationship to the farming community below and to imagine what it might have been like in the 1800s.