James Evans: Border Lands November-December 2019

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

James Evans: Borderlands When I moved to Marathon Texas in December 1988 what appealed to me as much as the mountains and space were the people. A month before I had visited Marathon with a friend. He knew the cook at the Gage Hotel, and we went to see him. In that conversation the then cook, Phil Thomas, mentioned that they were looking for another cook to replace one that was leaving. I left with that information tucked in my brain. This was the third time I visited Big Bend, and I was already in love with the place. That week I met and partied with several locals. Uncle Joe, Aunt Roberta, John Suffaco, Susan Bryant, and a few names I can’t remember. I fell in love with them too, and on the way home, I asked my friend Clif Ladd if he would stop back by the Gage Hotel. I met the manager, Giddings Brown, and applied for the cooking job.

He asked if I knew how to cook, and I admitted that I didn’t. “But I know what taste good,” I said. He hired me, and I went back to Austin, began closing down my studio, and contemplating my new life.

Since I was 21 and picked up a camera, I knew I wanted to be a photographer. I devoured books on the subject. In Austin I was doing commercial work and making artistic images on the side. I was aware of my age, and where my photographic career was. So, when the cooking opportunity presented itself, I totally got what it would mean. I finally found it.

For the first six months I didn’t take a photograph. I would hike to a view and stay there all day, absorbing the light, the feeling, and the landscape itself. At that time the books of the area were mostly heavily filtered pretty picture books. Tourist directed taken by itinerant photographers, with no people. My strong suit was portraiture so I thought I would start there, and then learn how to photograph the landscape.

This work represents a small portion of portraits from a local resident building his life’s work.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Hallie and Dadie Stillwell (1/50), 1991 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 22 in Hallie Stillwell was a Justice of the Peace, and we worked together performing weddings – she officiating and me taking photographs. Dadie, her daughter was my surrogate mother. I loved these women, and in some ways, they were my role models for the independent life you must adapt to live in this region. These women owned and operated a ranch on the Mexico border until they died.

Hallie was quick witted, and to the point with answers when I asked her questions. Dadie was my mom. She took care of me when I visited with meals, direction, and hugs. If she needed anything done, I did it. In 1991 they opened the Hallie Hall of Fame Museum and I took this photo to commemorate the day. Of all my images, this is the only one I have on my own wall.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Hallie's Hands (5/25), 1996 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 24 in Hallie had fallen asleep in the chair and while I was setting up my camera to photograph her, she woke and surprised me with, “What are you doing?” So, I asked her to let me photograph her hands and she slightly complained, “I don’t know why you would want to photograph these old hands”, but deep down, she knew.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Vaquero (1/25), 2001 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 20 in I was on Bob Eppenauer’s ranch in Fort Davis. I spent the day making portraits of Bob and his crew of one. It was the end of the day, and this was the last image I made.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Burro Lady (Judy Majers) (1/50), 2001 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 20 in For years I would see Judy in restaurants and traveling along the highways of Brewster County.

Sometimes I would snap a photo of her, and then ask if I could take one. She would always say “No, thank you.” One day I saw her on Highway 90, heading east to Marathon from Alpine. I would drive ahead of her, make an image, and drive ahead again, make another. Finally, I just stopped and said, “Mam, I have seen you for years, and I think you are the most amazing person I’ve never met. When you get to Marathon would you please stop by my studio.” She did, and I asked her questions about all the rumors I’d heard. She mainly said, “yes” or “no”, but didn’t really open herself up to a fluid conversation or deep talk. (Like, what put you on the back of a burro traveling hundreds of miles and many years at a burro’s pace?) It was astounding. I made several photographs of her sleeping on the side of the road, and then this one as she was leaving town. Finally, and with her permission.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Friday at the Frontier (1/25), 1997 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 22.50 in There used to be this roadside bar on 118 South of Alpine, and we the four of us stopped in for a drink. Laird Consadine and Jim Hendrickson on stage were playing to an audience of one, the owner’s wife, who has her back to me. Ellen and Chris Ruggia are in the seat, and Amelie Goodwin is taking the image. I anticipated her flash going off and opened my shutter just a she snapped.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Zero (2/25), 1992 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 30 in I did a river trip on the Rio Grande and Zero, our shuttle driver, was taking us home. I kept staring at his neck and thinking this is what my neck is going to look like if I live here long enough – a topo map. I kept my camera to my eye until I saw mountains out the window.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Dancing Feet (1/50), 1993 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 20 in This image and "Bull Snake on Sofa" may very well be my masterpieces. I shot this at what was called “Good Neighbor Day�. Villagers would come across the Rio Grande and also from the U.S. side for the celebration. There was food, items for sale, and dancing on stage. This couple was about the same age, though the girl was bigger than the boy, and she led the dance. I just focused on their legs and made this image. They could not be more elevated without being off the ground. It has been a favorite among my musician friends.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Sisters, Boquillas, Mexico (1/25), 1995 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 20 in Before 9/11, I went to Boquillas almost every time I went to the park. I knew a lot of people there. I spent the night sometimes and made many images. I loved photographing the children and vendors. I made several images of a group of these children, but when I singled these two out, she got very protective of her sister.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Border Baby, Boquillas, Mexico (1/25), 1995 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 20 in This was taken for an assignment for Texas Monthly. Robert Draper was the writer, and the story was about the U.S. providing electricity to the small town. As it turned out, there were some protests and they didn’t get it for another 20 years. I had completed the assignment but had a brainstorm idea to photograph a man on a horse in the bar. I went over on a Saturday, and tried to persuade Francesco, the bartender, into letting me bring in a horse and rider. He was not seeing my vision, and I tried everything to convince him (i.e. bribing, making his portrait, offering to clean up anything, and being totally responsible). Still, it was a firm “NO”. I walked outside to regain my composure and think of a new approach, when a woman asked me if I would come photograph her baby. “Of course,” I said, and this image was waiting for me. You might say I was photographically fulfilled. I went back to the bar, shook Francesco’s hand, thanked him and went home.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Kickapoo Boy Swinging, Nacimiento, Mexico (1/25), 1996 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 20 in This image was taken during an assignment for Texas Monthly. Jan Reid and I worked on it for a few months, going back and forth to Nacimiento, Mexico. The kids were swinging on the rope and dropping into the water. They had no inhibitions or awareness of the camera, which makes for the purest images.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Santa Elena Canyon, Mouth of the Canyon (1/25), 2007 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 20 in I mentioned that I was slow to photograph this landscape. I think I gained full knowledge of landscape photography in 2015, but until then, I was still working on it. And I am sure I could still be surprised.

A friend of mine once told me there are 30 pictures of the park that everyone takes, and that has always been stuck in my crawl, and I too have taken those. It’s a barometer when I look at paintings or photographs of other people's work of the area. One of my first images of Santa Elena Canyon is exactly where Ansel Adams stood. I am guilty.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

Santa Elena Canyon, Looking Up , 2015 Photograph on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper 20 x 20 in For this series, I hired Desert Sports to take me and John Spong through the canyon. I wanted to see how the water was, and how my boatman was. I only took a point and shoot camera. The next day we did it again, but this time, I took serious camera equipment. I laid in the raft and shot up, as we went through the canyon. I made about 40 to 45 images. One side is Mexico and the other side is the U.S. The first day I went down there were clouds in the sky, but this day there were none, and it was so much better, photographically. I also have a panoramic of the whole Santa Elena formation that printed 40 inches tall by 39 feet long.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

I have a rewarding life. I have spent the best days of it in Big Bend. As I write this, I am looking out my window and clouds are breaking over the Glass Mountains, the mountains I’ve lived in front of for 30 years. The mountains I see today are the same as every human being before me has seen, and every human being after me will see. I have been in love with these people and this landscape since I found it. It is all I ever wanted. It is all I can be. My wish would be that you can feel that love when you look at the work.

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

James H. Evans (b.1954) James H. Evans is an American photographer, who after taking a hiking trip to Big Bend National Park, decided to drop everything and move to the small town of Marathon, Texas. Evans dedicated his life and work to documenting the Big Bend Area. His work encompasses traditional landscapes, nightscapes, portraits of the unique inhabitants of the area, and defining subject matter. Evans has released two books of photography and he and his work have been featured in numerous publications.

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights • Born 1954 • 1988, Moves to Marathon 1990, Becomes regularly featured in Texas Monthly and remains today • as a contributing photographer for the publication • 2003, Publishes Big Bend Pictures • 2008, Receives commission from the Westin Galleria Hotel, Dallas to supply photographs for their hotel.

• 2011, Publishes Crazy from the Heat Selected Exhibitions • 2019 Foltz Fine Art Houston, Texas • 2019 Foltz Fine Art Houston, Texas • 2016 Hunt Gallery San Antonio, Texas • 2015 Stephen L. Clark Gallery Austin, Texas • 2013 Stephen L. Clark Gallery Austin, Texas • 2008 Stephen L. Clark Gallery Austin, Texas • 2008 Art Museum of South Texas Corpus Christi, Texas • 2008 Al Rendon Gallery San Antonio, Texas • 2008 Stephen L. Clark Gallery Austin, Texas • 2007 Westin Hotel Dallas, Texas • 2007 Alpine Gallery Night Alpine, Texas • 2005 Adair Margo Gallery El Paso, Texas • 2004 Al Rendon Gallery San Antonio, Texas • 2004 Tadu Contemporary Art Santa Fe, New Mexico • 2004 Adair Margo Gallery El Paso, Texas • 2003 Stephen L. Clark Gallery Austin, Texas • 2003 Galveston Arts Center Galveston, Texas • 2003 Museum of the Big Bend Alpine, Texas • 2002 Adair Margo Gallery El Paso, Texas • 2002 Terlingua House Alpine, Texas • 2001 El Paso Museum of Art El Paso, Texas • 2001 Houston Center of PhotographyHouston, Texas • 2001 Afterimage Gallery Dallas, Texas • 2001 Anam Cara Gallery Ketchum, Idaho

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com

• • • •

2001 2000 1999 1998

Marfa Book Company Marfa, Texas Longview Museum or Art Longview, Texas Austin Museum of Art Austin, Texas Stephen L. Clark Gallery Austin, Texas

Collections • Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas • The Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas • El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas • Harry Ransom Center, Austin, Texas • Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas • San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas • Westin Hotel, Dallas, Texas • Wittliff collections, San Marcos, Texas

2143 Westheimer | Houston, TX 77098 | 713.521.7500 | foltzgallery.com