RANCH

Marjo Wilson Jensen:
A Tribute to Ranchland Art & Music

By Marjo Wilson Jensen & Marian Prentice Huntington

Art has a way of preserving the history of human culture in concert with Nature on every earthly continent. I’m grateful to live, paint, and sing here in Round Valley, Mendocino County alongside a mix of ranching families, Native Americans, and a diverse group of soulful people who have followed the winding river road to the Wild West that remains here today, miraculously, in these modern times.

Round Valley is also the longtime home of the Native American “Round Valley Indian Tribes Reservation” originally comprising different tribes from near and far—as many as 11 tribes or possibly more—that were forced to live together by the U.S. Government beginning in 1856. Today, there are only seven officially recognized tribes living on the reservation: Yuki, Wailacki, Nomlacki, Littlelake, Pit River, Concow, and Pomo.

As an artist and woman who has grown up among local Native Americans, I’ve always felt respect and reverence towards the pristine natural land and Native Peoples who have lived here for thousands of years prior to the arrival of colonists, explorers, and conquers from other countries. The history of how non-natives arrived and how they wielded wreckage upon the land and local Native Peoples is a dark, disturbing truth that remains etched in the minds of multi-generational families living here today. The history of conquest across all the Americas is tragic and real—an echoing darkness to this day.

How can modern day people heal these wounds? All my life I’ve yearned for a world instilled with respect and harmony, honoring Natural Truth. Can people ever truly heal from multi-generational war?

I don’t know how to heal the past other than to try and heal it in the present moment in every way possible. What frightens me is that those of us living here are continuing to experience a rapidly disappearing lifestyle—a lifestyle close to Nature, close to us, as we live and work in connection with wildlife and livestock.

A bit of the Wild West still stands here, and we believe it deserves recognition so that it doesn’t disappear forever! Hoping to preserve our historic way of life, I’ve invited my ranching neighbors to demonstrate our devotion to the land in a traveling collective art show titled Ranch Art Nurturing Cultural Heritage (R.A.N.C.H.) opening in June 2024 at the Grace Hudson Museum.

My wish is to use our R.A.N.C.H. show:

• to elevate fellow ranchers as photographic artists skilled with the shutter and lens, capturing the shadows and light of their rigorous daily lives
• to present our shared landscape as the source of inspiration for their photographs, as well as my paintings and drawings
• to encourage the public to preserve this place—and other ranchlands throughout the American West

Those participating in R.A.N.C.H. have visually recorded long rides on horseback, working with cattle near old barns and fields of hay, roundups in the mountains, and roping in the corrals. There are views from the saddle, along ridges, across fields, and through riverbeds.

My hope is to help viewers share our care for Nature’s immense beauty and our relationships with animals, domestic and wild. Perhaps viewers can gain a better understanding of the preciousness of our ranchlands and the need to preserve them and the natural environment.

Participating Artists

Marjo Wilson Jensen, R.A.N.C.H. Founder and Curator: It’s an honor to join my local ranching photographer friends to show our love of the land visually, in deeply personal ways. Centered in Covelo, we share a reverence for the great outdoors animated by the seasons and animals. To live alongside others who can relate to the day-in-and-day-out of unending hard work, the extreme remoteness of this valley, and the history and soul of this place feels like a rare gift. I’m astonished by the artistic eyes of my fellow ranchers—their photographs have become more intricate and sophisticated as the years pass by. And they’ve been generous, inviting me to paint from their photographs while encouraging me to keep on “catching the light” with my brush and canvas “catching the beauty of the moments.”

Featured Ranch Photographers:

1. Susie Rohrbough
2. Randall Vann
3. CHelci Barney (Milsap)
4. Kristi Thieman
5. Sarah Daniels
6. Vonnie Daniels
7. June Marie (Bauer) Drewry