Interactive Exhibition:
700 Inches
Come write or show us your experience with the massive snowfall in 2023. A section of the gallery wall has been dedicated to showcase all our thoughts and feelings about the snow.
Mammoth Lakes received over 700 inches of snowfall between November 2022 and March 2023, leaving its residents struggling to find a sense of normal and dig out from under the weight of winter.
Visitors were stunned to find the town buried upon their arrival. Many residents are still digging out while spring is teasing, daffodils peeking out, but snow keeps falling and now snow keeps melting. Mono & Inyo County brace for ‘The Great Melt’.
Please take a minute to share your story and add to our Community ‘Time-Capsule Wall’ which strives to share experiences from this winter by residents and visitors. Feel free to write notes and pin on the wall, write on the wall, email a photo to the Mono Arts Council to print ... or just take a moment to find community in this shared winter experience.
700 inches of Snow
equals
60 feet of Snow
equals
10 people tall
And also equals
6 feet Deep of Water
ready to melt
Be Patient, be Kind
I wake up, roll tired and sore –
not sure; I snuggle
deep into flannel sheets,
unseen to hide.
This morning, a hot
depression makes me forget
how to ski Chair 3, vinyasa,
stamina and rhythms lost –
authentic chaos,
a gaping collapse.
A caldera of responsibility
consumes me and I wonder:
Will school
be cancelled again?
Which foods
should we choose?
What mayhem will my passion
for community enflame?
Are my neighbors
OK?
Will it be safe
to drive?
How fast will the day
fly by?
I don my dented plot armor,
clamber to my instant coffee
and squint in the menacing light.
A flicker visits my deck
railing and for a moment
I am still
and watch it take flight.
Snow spews diagonal
across the window blind
and sets an impermeable
cross-hatch. The only color left
that of the evergreen boughs
waving as they shed their share.
During its winter reign
the Weather weighs with water
and threatens – strength
of snow slides and ice.
Menacing cornices
creep to hang,
frame eaves.
Roofs cave.
Listen.
Look up.
My spirit crushed
by the site of colossal
snowbanks.
They shapeshift
with the temperature, change
the nature of neighborhoods,
and create
pervasive
blind
spots.
Self-care is a burden but I gather my gearand move towards The Mountain.I breathe in the cold smoke and admirecrystal ice rime on white bark pine.
A cloud descends, clobbers;
alters up and down,
my momentum. I’m lost
in a frozen desert; inverted
twice and battered,
I give up
and hike back.
A pandemic and a generational
depth of snow for a young family
connected to the world by one
unreliable artery
is a thru-hike.
But we assent
and muster sweets
for snow farmers,
shovelers, plow drivers.
Inside,
we strive to get by.
I try to remember to make my way
down grade to a remote campo
and creek to feed mud hens,
ducks, feel sun on cheeks,
search for parks to entertain
and unburden.
The tap of vitality is tactile
and yet town bounds,
each one mile,
two kids,
four
unstable schedules,
the work of becoming workers,
the work of sustaining days...
limit ambition.
A maze of white bleu walls
nearly tunnels, caves,
confuses me. Coyotes
wince in the wind. I wear
sunglasses in the storm
for some sense of
definition and I
can barely find my way
to my privileged
tiny home where
weekend warriors
celebrate,
adjacent.
I put wood on the fire
and absorb
the reliable
unpredictability
of the fuel,
+ oxygen,
+ heat.
It is March
but common
to not know
when spring
will alight.
Written by PAR, Mammoth Lakes, CA
Donate to MAC
Friends of the Arts - $150
Friends of the Arts is our donor level for all patron and arts supporters. We need 250 Friends of the Arts for our after school programs, community outreach, and gallery maintenance.
Patrons - $500
Our Patrons donor level helps provide foundational funding for our student Scholarship program and our Summer Art Camp. We need 25 Patrons.
Dreammakers - $2,500 to $5,000
The Dreammakers donor level will help launch our Music Program and provide continued support for our new Digital Arts program. $50,000 annually.
Guardians
Our Guardians provide the core funding for our faculty, staff and facilities providing arts programs to the community throughout the year. Please contact Kristin Reese (kristin@monoarts.org) for more information.