From the late 19th to mid-20th Centuries, herds of sheep roamed the High Sierra meadows, managed by sheepherders; most of them were Basque immigrants. The sheepherders eased their boredom by making their mark on the landscape: carving symbols and artwork on aspen trees where the sheep grazed. I was recently given the opportunity to discover some of this artwork, known as arborglyphs, with two passionate devotees to the art.
Nancy Hadlock’s mother is Basque, but she didn’t dive into Basque culture until she attended the University of Nevada, Reno, home of the Center for Basque Studies and a Basque line of books published by University of Nevada Press. Richard Potashin is an artist who was interested in calligraphy and human-made art found in nature, such as pictographs. When he was a ranger at the Manzanar National Historic Site near Lone Pine and she was a ranger at nearby Death Valley National Park; they met at an arborglyph gathering.
“It brought us together and for 16 years we have been pursuing this passion together,” said Hadlock.
I met Hadlock and Potashin on top of Monitor Pass on a late spring morning. The pass is a beautiful wind-swept expanse of sage, grasses and scattered groves of aspens. While spending a few hours here is a relaxing experience, I could see how spending a few months might get tedious.
The artwork we found on the trees included caricature-like carvings of faces, calligraphic cursive of the artists’ names, carvings of hands wrapped around trees and odes to boxers. There were also quite a few expressions of loneliness in the form of a seductive woman, a couple in an embrace and this message under someone’s name: “No mas Nevada.”
Hadlock and Potashin view the artists as old friends. Several times they noted the work of the same artist 1 mile apart. They could tell who it was because of his style. The sheepherders would come to America on a contract over several years and would often return to the same locale year after year. While many of the Basques would say, “No mas Nevada,” after a few years, some remained in the region, as evidenced by the Basque restaurants throughout western Nevada and the prominence in the region of the Laxalts, a Basque family whose members include former Governor Paul Laxalt, who was also a senator; a writer, Robert Laxalt, who started University of Nevada Press, and Adam Laxalt, the current Nevada Attorney General.