Art challenges Desert Rock

Fighting the power plant

Show features artwork opposing Desert Rock projectWith titles like "Downward Spiral," "Short-term Gain" and "Do Not Build on the Sunflowers," the hostile sentiments of artists are obvious.

Their voices are expressed in "Connections: Earth + Artist = A Tribute Art Show in Resistance to Desert Rock," which will open Sunday at Center of Southwest Studies.

"It's a reaction to the power plant," said Julie Tapley-Booth, event coordinator/office manager for Center of Southwest Studies.

Desert Rock Energy Co., a subsidiary of Sithe Global Power, has proposed to build a coal-fired electric power plant south of Farmington on the Navajo Nation. Opposition to the power plant runs high, and this art show grew out of the need to voice this defiance.The best of the show:The best-of-show award went James Joe's oil on canvas, "Bleeding Sky," and can be seen on the promotional material for the show's opening. His painting features a Navajo family with backs against two metal monsters (electrical towers), standing alone against change. Joe, a Navajo from Shiprock, said in his artist statement that his piece is a depiction of the worst-case scenario if the coal plant were built.