This show featuring the panoramic images of Orah Moore and Rett Sturman is a tribute to what is epic, interwoven and enduring in the American experience; but what is also paradoxically now all too fragile and fleeting.

Excerpts from Stewards of the Land by Orah Moore:
"The years 1984 and 1985 found me working as a publicity photographer on a PBS miniseries, The West of the Imagination, a history of the American West through the eyes of its painters, sculptors and photographers.

On one segment of the project, I was working in Nevada City, Montana, before sunrise, on the day I was to fly back to my then home in Los Angeles, a cattle drive came through the only street in town. I heard the bawling animals from my bed. Looking out of my cabin window, I saw that the cattle were accompanied by whip-snapping riders.

Quickly I ran outside... It was freezing cold and barely light. I had only two rolls of slow film left. My pink tennies were getting smeared with manure. I was scared of cows. I was the only one on foot. It started to snow... I loved every minute of it.

From interviewing and photographing ranchers, I observed that these people value their freedom and independence more than anything else. I could also see that ranching as a way of life was slowly being eroded by tax-dodge ranchers, insurance companies and big business. Many ranchers wonder if the next generation will be able to or even want to carry on with the family ranch."

Rett Sturman, Bringin' 'em in (detail), oil on canvas, 72 x 16", not for sale