Practice and Process: Prints and Writings in the Mountains

On August 2nd and 3rd, as part of the Parsons Memorial Lodge Summer Series, poet Gary Snyder and woodblock artist Tom Killion presented their work to a captive audience. Several staff members from The Ansel Adams Gallery ventured up to the lodge, which sits on the far side of Tuolumne Meadows, to partake in Practice and Process: Prints and Writings in the Mountains.

At the lodge, the audience was able to listen to beat poet Gary Snyder read from both recent writings and older works, including poems written in the 1950’s when Snyder worked on the trail crew in Yosemite National Park. Artist Tom Killion presented a slide show of his beautiful woodblock work in addition to giving the audience an in-depth look at exactly how each of these prints are created.

Back in 1995, Gary Snyder and Tom Killion combined efforts to publish a hand-printed book titled The High Sierra of California. The book, which couples Killion’s woodblock work with Synder’s poetry, was published as a trade edition in 2002. Currently, the two are working on their second book together titled Walking Tamalpais.