ARTISTS AGAINST THE WALL

Let us gather and create an archive that speaks to what could be lost, shaping works and moments that honor the sacred land in its wholeness, its beauty, and its fragility. Our creations will stand as both memory and offering, expanding the list of what is at stake, resisting erasure, and giving voice to the lives and systems bound to the sacred course of the Rio Grande.

Artists are invited to engage in whatever way feels natural — whether creating in solitude, exchanging ideas and inspiration, or collaborating in the open air. For those who seek guidance or shared experience, gentle prompts, meditations, and rituals will also be available. You may reserve a tent campsite if you wish to stay with us overnight. We will be staying in Rio Grande Village at Group Campsite D, click here for more info on the campsite.

To bear witness to the Big Bend landscapes and ecosystems within a critical, precarious moment. To create an archive that speaks to what could be lost, and add new layers of history by making art that celebrates the Big Bend at its most alive, whole, and vulnerable. Our acts of creation will expand the list of what’s at stake upon the destruction of this sacred land, naming and honoring forms of life and culture that are threatened by heedless political decisions. The works will function both as testimony and as a counter-memory — an accumulation of beauty intended to resist erasure. Ethics and urgency guide this practice. We aim to collaborate, to listen, and to make visible the voices and species most at risk.

By attending this event, you agree to the following:

2. I will leave the land as I found it. No art, trash, or trace left behind.

3. If I bring paints, adhesives, or other corrosive or messy tools, I will bring tarps or drop cloths for protecting the ground, I will bring separate vessels for cleaning brushes so I don’t damage the water, and I will bring cardboard or other items to prevent wind from spreading chemicals or debris.

4. I will honor the space and those around me by not being too loud, obnoxious, or intrusive.

5. I will honor the 10 pm - 8 am quiet hours.

6. If I partake in drugs or alcohol, I will do so with care and moderation.

7. I will not invade anyone's private spaces without express consent.

8. If I bring children, I will not lose track of them or leave them by themselves. I will ensure they are safe and accounted for at all times.

9. If I bring a dog or pet, I will keep them safe at the campsite for the entirety of our stay.

Food, plenty of water, sunscreen, bugspray, and art supplies: if you’re bringing paints, adhesives, or other corrosive or messy tools, you must also bring tarps or drop cloths for protecting the ground, separate vessels for cleaning brushes to protect the water, and cardboard or other items to prevent wind from spreading chemicals or debris.

Hi, I’m Hannah-Kate Schaeffer, an artist and organizer hailing from Alpine. I am a painter, graphic and theatrical artist. Before I moved far out west, I had been working for about a decade in and around the Texas state capitol as a public servant, advocate and organizer. You can see more of my work on instagram @designbyhannahkate.

As we raise our voices against the proposed border wall in Big Bend, we stand in a long lineage of artists who have stepped beyond the studio to protect land, culture, and conscience. From the forest occupations at Hambach Forest resisting coal expansion, to the encampments of the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, artists have long gathered in nature as an act of creative defense. More recently, artists joined the water protectors at Standing Rock Indian Reservation opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline, and organized through movements like Occupy Museums to challenge systems of power from within cultural institutions. Creative resistance is a living tradition. In choosing to defend this desert landscape, we are in powerful and ongoing company.

There will be an “ARTISTS AGAINST THE WALL” stamp to go on the back of your artworks if you so choose. If there are enough interested parties, we will collect opinions/votes to decide the ongoing path of the works — whether they journey onward as an exhibition, an offering in support of No Wall, or a bound collection/publication, for example.