Yesterday was my husbands birthday. He asked me to take the day off and spend it with him, so we could go explore an Arizona ghost town called Cochran out in the desert of Pinal county. So, we began our little adventure early in the morning and drove as far as we could on paved roads. We did have to drive for quite a while on dirt roads though. 
Spring in the desert is beautiful and the landscape was scattered with patches of brightly colored wildflowers. It was gorgeous! 
My husband found this info on ghosttowns.com... "Cochran's post office was established January 3, 1905 and discontinued January 15, 1915. Cochran was a mining camp but also served as a stop on the Sante Fe, Prescott, Phoenix railroad. The town supported about 100 people and had a general merchandise store, boardinghouse, and many other establishments. Today all that remains are the coke ovens across the river. The town was named for John. S. Cochran, the first postmaster."
These are the coke ovens. They are really strange looking out in the middle of nowhere!
We tried to get to the kilns, but weren't interested in trespassing across the fence below, or wading the river. Next time we will go prepared. We definitely plan on returning. 
We walked along this neat little path for quite a while, wondering if we would ever get to the river, but eventually we found water!
This is us at the Gila river.
On our trip we also found this mine near Winkelman, AZ. It looked like a man made grand canyon, it was SO huge. 
This is us inside the shovel of the tractors they use to mine. The tire was three times the height of our car.
Chrysocolla is one of the things they mine there. 
It was a really fun trip and nice to take a day off!
This semester I have been taking a printed textiles class and have been loving it! This was my first ever screen print on fabric. Here are some progress shots. I started out with white cotton and printed a simple shape and repeated it randomly in varying colors. 
Then I added some larger shapes. 
And some dotted outlines...
Here is the final product! I added some profiles and silhouettes. 
Yuma is a really great Symposium and I am already looking forward to next year! 
Well, if you read my previous post, I'm sure you all can see how much fun the pin swap is, but there are so many other things to tell as well!!
The 3 day art symposium takes place in old downtown Yuma. Mostly we hang out a lot at Lutes Casino (not a real casino) and the old theater...
This was some of our crew this year...
From left: Jonathan, Ellie, me, Jim, Flavia, and Jacie.
Almost all of us shared a hotel suite, and just in case you were wondering, 7 people in one suite is too many!
But, we had a GREAT time!
We were espcially glad that Ellie, a woods grad student, came along to join in the fun!
One of my favorite parts of the symposium is the pin auction. Each year an auction is held to raise money to keep the symposium going. I always try to buy something, but this year I got to donate a piece as well. I scored this amazin ring by awesome metalsmith 
I was a little sad to see it go, but was happy that it went to such a good new home. This sweet girl from Cabrillo College will take good care of it I'm sure!
Another highlight of the symposium is the saw file solder sprints. Here we are getting pumped.
The saw, file, solder sprint is a relay race for metalsmiths. The object is to make a simple band ring. ASU has won several times. Each team competes for artist made trophies. Our studio has a whole shelf of trophies, but there is always room for more!
Then I went and had to file and form the ring.
Victoria went last and had to solder. We didn't win this year, but are already getting ready to reclaim our title next year.
It was a ton of fun and I am already looking forward to next year! My next post will be about all the presenters and artists that I saw/met at the symposium, so check back! 
