Bonne chance. Bryant, a dear and generous friend, rented a spacious stone house in the small Provençal village of Pernes les Fontaines to celebrate his 50th birthday. Revolving guests came and went for three weeks. Each day began with the early risers filling the breakfast table with presents from the local patisserie. Chocolat du pain, almond and raisin sweets, croissants, and some baguettes for dinner. Coffee was French pressed of course...
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Zodwa Maphumulo practices izimbenge, a form of basket-weaving using coiled telephone wire, in her native South Africa. Zenobia Paricela, a young Quechua woman from Peru's windswept Andes weaves narratives into her embroidered textiles. Agnes Papatit fashions brightly colored beads into art and everyday objects in her Maasai village in Kenya. And Rangina Hamidi, originally from Afghanistan, has established Afghans for Civil Society to share weaving techniques and ideas among the artists of Kandahar.
For the past six years, women like Zodwa, Agnes, Zenobia and Rangina have traveled continents to participate in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. They are just a few of the women - and men - whose lives, families and communities have been transformed through their art.
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Each year, nearly five million people visit the Grand Canyon. But few experience its stark beauty - and solitude - like one extraordinary man. A native of Würzburg, Germany, Gerd Nunner may have logged more miles on foot in the Canyon than any man since its discovery by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. Beginning in 2001, Gerd has crossed the Colorado River (at the Canyon's base) 164 times and completed 25 rim-to-rim-to rims (in a single day traveling from the top of one rim to the top of the other - and back - a distance of roughly 44 miles).
Gerd has been living and hiking in the U.S. since 1990, the last 14 years in Santa Fe, New Mexico. To better understand Gerd's motives - and passion - I sat down to talk with him about where it all began, and his singular ambition.
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The warm summer months in the northern hemisphere typically bring a wealth of theater productions and festivals, often staged outdoors or in appealing venues. From Shakespeare in Montana and New York, to dance in Spain, to Oscar Wilde in London - a sampling of festivals this summer throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.
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