Culture Surfing - Road tripping with Holt Webb

Vanishing America author opens show at Roswell gallery

Arts Culture3 1 08 2
Photo credit: Kim Bly

When Holt Webb leaves the opening reception for Vanishing America, his new exhibition of photographs at Ann Jackson Gallery in Roswell, he’s likely to climb aboard his Winnebago, where he’ll live on the road for the next five years. Webb plans to spend the time criss-crossing the country continuing his search of the people, animals and ecological environments that are fading fastest from America’s landscape. He’ll collect the final results of his vision quest in a book, but this weekend’s show (opening to the public Sunday, June 29) highlights his journey so far.

Jimmy Buffett: “Musicians are artists as much as a painter is an artist. And Jimmy has led a wonderful life full of exploration, experimentation, trials and tribulations. His ‘live every day as if it’s your last’ outlook is one of my primary goals in life.”

How to Win Friends and Influence People: “Everyone in the world should read Dale Carnegie’s book. It teaches you how to listen, how to understand others and how those two things can help you achieve anything you can dream of.”

Southern Oregon coast: “I plan on going back to the tiny fishing villages along the back river roads. Despite their near abandonment, having been crushed by commercial fishing, you can still sense the determination and spirit of the few old-timers left behind. It’s both sad and inspiring at the same time.”

The Airplane Graveyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (Tucson, Ariz.): “I was able to move amongst the discarded aircraft at the local scrap yards, but my goal is to move amongst the thousands of decommissioned military aircraft somberly awaiting their destiny in the dry heat of the Arizona desert. Oh, the stories that they could tell ...”

The Downtown Connector: “I stay off of freeways if I can, wherever I am. Traveling the back roads can be so soothing, and it allows you to see things you’d never see zipping down an interstate at 80 miles per hour.”

Google Maps: I’ve gotten lost so many times using anything else, including my own GPS!”