Palo Duro Canyon Soil Used to Create Pigments for New WT Art Exhibition

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, [email protected]

CANYON, Texas - Ancient Japanese art techniques meet an even more ancient natural marvel in a new art exhibition opening Jan. 20 at West Texas A&M University.

In Nishiki Sugawara-Beda's "Geologically Human: Travel Through Times and Cultures with Earth's Materials," the artist paints with pigments created with soil from the floor of the canyon - primarily, the same chestnut red tones that inspired Georgia O'Keeffe during her time as an art instructor at the then-West Texas State Normal College.

The exhibition will hang through March 13 in the Dord Fitz Gallery in Mary Moody Northen Hall on WT's Canyon campus. An opening reception is set for 5 p.m. Feb. 5.

Sugawara-Beda, previously a visiting artist with WT's art program, was invited to create an exhibition inspired by the canyon by Jon Revett, head of WT's Department of Art, Theatre and Dance , and Deana Lowe-Craighead, curator of art at Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum .

"Connecting across space and time, Nishiki experiments in ancient Japanese materials and techniques including Sumi ink, Kakejiku landscapes and rice paper to merge them with abstract expressive forms familiar to the modern Western aesthetic," Craighead said.

Sugawara-Beda toured the canyon several times in 2024 and 2025 with Revett and WT art students before creating the works, which are part of her "KuroKuroShiro+" series.

"The day we visited happened to be a day after a heavy rain, therefore everywhere we went, our footsteps were the first ones to create marks, except for some racoons' lovely marks on the ground," Sugawara-Beda said. "The river appeared to be very red with washed out red sandstone against the clear blue sky. This redness and the redness of the cliffs significantly impacted me. I found myself relating to Georgia O'Keeffe and how she responded to the canyon's red hues in her paintings inspired by her stay in Canyon."

O'Keeffe lived in Canyon and taught at WT from 1916 to 1918. Her time here made an impact on her artwork for the rest of her life.

Sugawara-Beda said her own experience in the canyon was overwhelming.

"There are so many things, literally millions of things, to observe and capture, from small grains of sand to insects, from trees that had caught grasses on their branches because of the flash flood to the burning red of the massive cliffs in the canyon miles away," she said. "I opened my sketchbook and started sketching whatever I saw and felt."

Just as impactful: A visit to the information center in the state park, where Sugawara-Beda found a diagram that showed just how old the canyon is.

"In the deepest part of the canyon is earth formed 250 million years ago from the Permian Age Layer. 250 million! Not 250 years, but 250 million years ago," she said. "Compared to the earth's history, we are just a speck! I immediately felt so small, and our human history was also made smaller."

Sugawara-Beda, the Cox Family Professor of Painting and Drawing and director of graduate studies at Southern Methodist University, worked with WT students to create the exhibition, which also is accompanied by special music created by experimental musician and composer Shoko Nagai.

The duo's work will be jointly featured in a March 12 event for The Arts at WT: A Subscription Series . Subscribers will view a short documentary film about the project, enjoy a live performance of Nagai's composition, and watch live performances inspired by the canyon and the exhibition by students from WT Theatre and WT Dance .

Memberships are still available for the subscription series.

"The 'New Views on the Canyon' event is a full spectrum collaboration between the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities and the museum, resulting in creative new interpretations of Palo Duro Canyon," Revett said.

Fitz Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and by appointment Fridays and Saturdays. Email [email protected] .

Fostering an appreciation of the arts is a key component of the University's long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World .

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign, which is now winding down, has raised more than $175 million.

About West Texas A&M University

A Regional Research University, West Texas A&M University is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor's and master's degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men's and women's athletics programs.

Top photo: "KuroKuroShiro+ MXIV" is one of several works featured in visiting artist Nishiki Sugawara-Beda's "Geologically Human: Travel Through Times and Cultures with Earth's Materials," opening Jan. 20 in the Dord Fitz Formal Art Gallery at West Texas A&M University.

-WT-