Recalling the experience behind the composition, the artist wrote, “While camping in Utah’s Canyonlands, MarCyne and I came across a wide, overhanging shelf in a rock formation. We ducked under it to get out of a passing thunderstorm and discovered a spring which nourished a maidenhair fern. Wandering back to inspect it, we looked up to find that the ceiling and walls were covered with handprints of all different sizes, surrounded by a storybook of pictographs. Obviously this had been the home of a family or tribe. I filed away this intimate experience for future use: what better backdrop for showing the winter shelter of succeeding generations of man?”

PROVENANCE
Yturria Collection, Brownsville, Texas

LITERATURE
Susan Hallsten McGarry, West of Camelot: The Historical Paintings of Kenneth Riley, Eiteljorg Museum and Settlers West Galleries, 1993, p. 102-03, illustrated
Susan Hallsten McGarry, A Poetic Spirit: The Enduring Art of Kenneth Riley, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 2003, p. 54, illustrated