‘Arteries of the Earth’

The first time Colt Maule burned into a wood board, he visualized each delicate curve of the river, pretending that he was paddling his boat. Although driven by memories, none of the blue arteries he imprinted into the wood’s surface were made to be maps of specific waterways. Instead, the pieces became long-lasting daydreams about the wild places the river transported him — made to share with all who laid eyes on the artwork.

“I wanted to incorporate all kinds of different rivers so everybody has an opportunity to take a river home that inspires them of their previous journeys outside, or the future journeys that they're dreaming about,” Maule said.

The loose twists and turns of the local artist’s watercolor and oil rivers are meant to encourage viewers to go outside and conserve the last of the planet’s wild places. More than 100 of his pieces, a body of work he calls the “Arteries of the Earth,” will be on display at the Gunnison Arts Center over the month of June.

During the summer, Maule works as a sawyer and cuts down trees for fire mitigation. In a culture Maule believes is full of waste, he wanted to use some of these reclaimed materials, including beetle kill, as his medium. Although the trees were often already dead, he found beauty in their natural form. The eye wanders the rivers that dissect each piece of wood, some accentuated by rivulets of color, while others are surrounded by gentle curves of topographic maps.

Maule, who is originally from southern California, spent his childhood exploring the edges of the map by mountain bike with his brother. To him, bikes were his escape, and he eventually became a professional athlete — chasing that feeling of freedom he knew so well as a child.

But after a while, the freedom of being on the road for five years and riding bikes didn't feel quite the same, as burnout crept in. In his travels, he rode the Monarch Crest and returned to the region many times before finally settling on a piece of untouched land near Pitkin.

He was enamored with many places, but none like the Gunnison Valley. It was here Maule wanted to place his roots and reinvent himself. He had always wondered what the view looked like from a river, and decided to become a raft guide at the age of 30. Even though he was the oldest guide in training, Maule quickly realized he had found what he was looking for.

“It was that pure wilderness experience, where every moment that you're living, all you're focused on is just that moment, nothing else,” Maule said.

Although he was new to  navigating his own boat, he felt like he had been doing it forever. The rivers he went on to explore would take him through some of the country’s most pristine wilderness, still mostly untouched by the human hand. To him, following natural river corridors was an ancient experience —shared with many before him.

“As we paddle our way down this meandering serpentine of time, we give thanks,” Maule wrote in his artist statement, which hangs on the gallery wall. “Without the forethought of conscious humans who came before us and understood the importance of protecting wild places, we wouldn’t be presented with the wonderful opportunity to view these pristine landscapes sculpted by eons of time.”

It was these same landscapes he hopes are preserved for future generations, he said. Maule created the exhibit to fund an expedition to the Arctic, where he plans to create a film to promote conservation awareness. A portion of the proceeds will also be donated to American Rivers, a nonprofit that protects rivers from the impacts of climate change, pollution and outdated policies, as well as to the Gunnison Arts Center.

Maule’s slogan is “hang a river on your wall, save a river in the wild.”

“I'm hoping people will be inspired and be able to take this art home because they understand how important it is, what it meant to me and hopefully what it means to them,” he said.

The show is one of the Gunnison River Festival’s sponsored June events, and was supported by grants from the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, and donations from numerous local businesses. Part of the Upper Gunnison’s mission is to celebrate the valley’s rivers through recreation and through art, which made Maule’s show an “obvious choice” to add to the festival lineup, said Festival Director Cheryl Cwelich.

“This just offers another way to celebrate the rivers and the water in our area,” she said.

(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com.)