Greetings!

After our return from San Francisco in mid-December, we had looked forward to a quiet holiday and and a period of several weeks during which we hoped to take time to reflect on past work, and to plan new experiments. As all of you must have been, we were shocked an saddened by the tragic events in Tucson. Congresswoman Giffords was not only our representative, but a friend. Ron Barber, her Tucson District director was someone with whom we worked closely on a number of issues. Along with many citizens throughout the nation, we added our thoughts and what might be called an offering of peace and hope to the shrine outside the University of Arizona University Medical Center. I was moved to hear from the Congresswoman's mother who offered this message which so resonates with Gabby's spirit: "I have loved the stars too deeply to be fearful of the night."

Gregory McNamee, a friend of ours and a co-author of Steve's, has written a commentary on the Tucson shootings on his Encyclopaedia Brittanica blog. Simmons Buntin, editor of the online magazine Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments, has also written a response to the tragedy in Tucson on the magazine's blog.

The February - March issue of the online photography magazine, F-Stop: a photography magazine, with the theme of "Abstraction" will include 4 of Steve's images in the group show. Move down the matrix to the s's to find them.

On February 12, 2011 the Writer's Round Up will be held again in Cady Hall in Patagonia. Steve will be there along with many other regional writers to sign books and talk with visitors. Copies of Earth Forms and Observatories of the Southwest, as well as his earlier books, will be available for purchase. Steve will be delighted to talk with you and sign his books. This event is organized by the Friends of the Patagonia Library to support the library.

Steve and Karen have been invited to donate new works to the University of Arizona Museum of Art fund raising auction, Fresh Paint. The auction will take place on February 26 from 6 - 9:30 pm. The silent auction begins at 6 pm. The live auction follows at 7:30 featuring the items with the 5 highest bids at that point. There will be drinks, appetizers and live music.

Steve and Karen were invited to take part in an exhibit, Family Ties, an exploration of artistic families, at the gallery at Tohono Chul Park. This show opened on January 13^th and will run through April 3. The reception was very well attended and we enjoyed discussing our images with many of the attendees.

Karen's image, Breakfast at La Chiusa, appears in the Urban View/Rural Sight show at the Minneapolis Photo Center. The show opened on January 7, 2011 and will run frothrough Feb. 21. An excellent review of the show was published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Karen's image was placed at the top of the page in the paper edition.

Steve has 3 images accepted into the 2011 Juried Exhibition at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA. Two of the images are shown in the CPA gallery with the third included in the online exhibit. The opening reception was held January 22 and the show will run in the gallery through March 31. We attended the opening of this fine show in Carmel and had a chance to talk with many of the photographers who attended.

Steve and co-author Douglas Isbell will serve on a panel with University of Arizona astronomer Chris Impey at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 12.

Karen and Steve will have a joint show at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA, opening March 24.

Steve and co-author Laura Tohe (Tséyi: Deep in the Rock, Reflections on Canyon de Chelly) will give a presentation from their book including Steve's images of Canyon de Chelly at the Tucson Lit Press Fest at the University of Arizona Poetry Center on March 26, 2 - 6 pm.

Karen has just learned that she will have a solo show of works selected from her Illusions of Reality and Architectronics portfolios in September in the Porter Hall gallery at the Tucson Botanical Garden.

To order the books through Amazon, click on the book cover.