Here is a sampling of the seventeen images that make up the artist’s portfolio of Deep Wild 2023, a series of pen-and-ink drawings by Utah artist Margaret Pettis entitled “Drawing on the Utah Wilderness.”
“Learning to see, to observe quickly— then more deeply— teaches us to be an alert participant in the vibrancy of our world. Line, shape, shadow, and texture combine slowly into every portrait of the Wild. In seeing, rather than looking, we gather the details that are the essence of life around us. Through beauty, I hope to pass on respect for Gaia.” — Margaret Pettis
Margaret Pettis has taught outdoor drawing with found/natural stylus and ink in Audubon workshops, to Navajo middle school children, to state prison inmates, and in a senior center. For decades her illustrations filled the publications of the Utah Wilderness Association and High Uintas Preservation Council. A former Utah Poet of the Year and Utah English Teacher of the Year, Margaret taught freshman English for forty years. www.margaretpettis.com
The pen-and-ink drawings by Margaret Pettis appeared in her book Back Roads of Utah (2021). Some have previously appeared in the High Uintas Preservation Council publication The Lynx and in the Utah Wilderness Association Review.
To view the rest of Margaret’s images, and to read the 52 essays, poems, and stories appearing in the 2023 issue of Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry, visit deepwildjournal.com/subscribe
Deep Wild Journal 