(Flagstaff, Ariz.)—The higher reaches of Arizona come into focus at the Museum of Northern Arizona’s new exhibit Arizona: A View from the Mountains, opening Saturday, September 4 and running through April 17, 2005. Seventy-six landscape images by Flagstaff photographer Michael Collier represent ten Arizona mountain ranges and the diversity of the state’s well-known vistas and lesser-known parts. Text by Flagstaff author Rose Houk accompanies the exhibit, telling the story of people who have shaped the land and how the land has shaped them.
The exhibit displays many of the images from Collier’s twelfth book, The Mountains Know Arizona: Images of the Land and Stories of Its People, published by Arizona Highways in 2003 and recently selected as one of the top ten Southwest Books of the Year. Collier and Houk set out to capture the essence of the mountain ranges that ring the edges and rise from the interior of Arizona. They traveled more than 30,000 miles in two years around the state, letting serendipity guide them much of the way. The pair wandered through aspen groves on the San Francisco Peaks, walked in canyons around Navajo Mountain, and explored Mount Trumbull in the Uinkarets. Their goal was to convey the idea that Arizona is a mountain state connected by stretches of lowland desert, not the other way around. The images offer a view from a fresh perspective, the words spark the imagination and allow the reader to tag along.
Collier has rowed boats commercially in Grand Canyon, is trained in geology, and has written several books on the geology of national parks. He also works as a family physician in Williams. Houk first came to Arizona as a ranger-naturalist at Grand Canyon. She writes on natural history, history, archaeology, and travel destinations and is a frequent contributor to Arizona Highways magazine.
The Museum of Northern Arizona sits at the base of the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountains in Arizona. As the gateway to understanding the Colorado Plateau, it provides changing exhibits that reveal the artistic traditions, Native cultures, and natural sciences of the region. The Museum is located three miles north of historic downtown Flagstaff on Highway 180. It is open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Admission is $5/adults, $4/seniors, $3/students, $2/children (7–17), and always free to members.