Blogs by Thor Sigstedt
Thor Sigstedt is an artist in wood, words, cameras, bronze, cast iron, glass, notes and steel; a homesteader from Spirit Valley specializing in forest diversity and “land ethics” and a dabbler in practical and non-practical non-zero new paradigm complexity in the multiverse.
Topic: Thor’s Hammer
Having been given the gift of being able to lead a life of varied interests and experiences that relate to a large number of practical, philosophical and political subjects, I intend to write about the subjects that are closest to my heart, which are also often controversial and many based on an intimate relationship with the land and the landscape of New Mexico. I have lived here for nearly 45 years; my family first moving here as artists in 1951 and have homesteaded a beautiful 40 acre parcel along ½ mile of Galisteo Creek for over 30 years and I have tended to the tasks of caring for the land, animals, children and family, the watershed in intimate ways in an experimental life that also includes an abiding interest in a wide range of subjects and having written about them and told stories about my experiences and thoughts, weaving them into a world view that is colorful, thoughtful and interesting and definitely New Mexican in its flavor and love of the physical and spiritual landscape. Hold on to your hats as I weave my thoughts and attempt to elucidate some new paradigm thinking and some down home observations. I went to St. Johns as a freshman, UNM as an architectural student, Northern New Mexico Community College as a draftsman, Highlands as an art/bronze casting student, Santa Fe Community College for glass casting, Donkey College for the school of grazing, hard knocks, wood butchery and heavy equipment and trips to China, India, Canada, Norway, Italy, England and Mexico, New Zealand as well as many other countries for that worldly education and I presently waltz and 2 step at every opportunity and watch the watershed with a keen, loving gaze. I guess you would have to admit that I am a sort of Renaissance man with a large shop, a country gait and a camera, a guitar, a pencil, a computer and a Leatherman tool always near at hand.
March 20, 2013 at 8:27 AM
Keith: Rebuilding (first draft)
“Cooking soup with stale words and fresh meanings; it tastes so good.”
December 4, 2012 at 4:17 PM
"I often think about the donkey out there on a brutally cold winter’s night in the ice, mud and snow and the open sky and stars above..."
August 16, 2012 at 1:11 PM
"One person stood out far and above the average dancer in almost every way"
July 24, 2012 at 2:55 PM
"...there is a cultural landscape that I envision; one that does not need many years to recover and be beautiful again"
April 5, 2012 at 1:45 PM
"...there is no better place to be and not much more fun to be had anywhere"
January 17, 2012 at 1:48 PM
"...the plants, native and non-native, have a lot to teach us About diversity..."
December 8, 2011 at 3:17 PM
"I am still amazed at how the world works and what triggers us to make those around us heros"
October 17, 2011 at 10:49 AM
Dirt Road Decorum: What Happened to the Drive-by Wave?
"When I first got here many years ago, I developed a system of "waving" based upon some subtle observations..."
September 8, 2011 at 12:55 PM
"I have never had a rattlesnake strike at me in all of the years I have been catching them for myself and other neighbors"
August 22, 2011 at 12:56 PM
"The line between “outsider” art and the rest of the art world is often quite blurred ..."
August 10, 2011 at 10:10 AM
How to Save the World One Sign at a Time
"Now I have spent lots of my 'valuable' time semi-obsessing about street signs..."
July 27, 2011 at 11:41 AM
"When I visited your home and your country a few years ago I was struck by the advanced thinking that the people were involved with..."
July 26, 2011 at 12:50 PM
"Just had two flashfloods in the last two days..."
July 13, 2011 at 5:14 PM
Dancing the Two-Step and Other Steps Too
"What does, say, Thor's Hammer have to do with dancing, you might say. Well, here goes..."
July 1, 2011 at 1:01 PM
"We need more environmentalists who know how to use a chainsaw and a bulldozer properly."
June 6, 2011 at 11:52 AM
Valle Grande Hot As Caldera Cools
“that place is so amazing and beautiful and so comprehensive the way it just lays there like a beautiful southwestern style oil painting…"
June 6, 2011 at 11:34 AM
Now This Is Just What I Wanted to Say
my neighbor smelled smoke and thought maybe there was a fire nearby...
