Tough by Nature

A month or so ago, I went with my friend, Mary, to an art exhibit in Eugene on the U of O campus.

Tough By Nature

Lynda Lanker is a photographer, artist and story teller.

The farm and ranch women in her pieces are beautiful. 

Strong, gutsy, incredible attitude.

Hats, ropes, guns, horses, and ranch dogs.

One rancher carrying a calf through a barn door.

Committed to the land

and a way of life.

Tough by Nature Poster

My friend, Mary, who lives in the city, loved this exhibit just as much as I did.
We went through the exhibit first without speaking to each other.
Just looking at the women and reading their stories.
We went through a second time.
 This time talking with each other about what we loved about each portrait.
What made us laugh.  What stood out.

The 49 women featured in the exhibit are down to earth, a little timeworn.
Nothing real romantic about it,
Mostly a lot of hard work.

"When you live on a ranch, you don't have to worry about 'going to work' cause you get up surrounded by it...
Laundry is not high on my list of priorities.
You do that when you run out of clothes."
Mary Caldwell (born 1932)

"I love that tremendously intimate relationship with creation,
that day-to-day knowing the meadowlark song better than anything."
Sarah Shields (born 1968)

Tough by Nature
A celebration of western ranch and farm women.

I just saw that the exhibit will be at the Oregon Historical Society the first of the year.
I will go see it again.

Click here for a short Oregon Public Broadcasting piece on Tough by Nature.