Chris Engholm is an author, photographer and instructor who lives in Northwest Arkansas on a farm near the headwaters of the White River. He is the author of 11 books, an exhibited photographer, and an experienced seminar speaker. His workshops (described at RoadOfAwe.com) are designed to share with other creative people his experience interacting with native communities around the world. His complete bio is here.
P E R S O N A L S T A T E M E N T
"With my books, film work, and photography, I explore the lives and customs of indigenous peoples and try to interpret their myths and rituals. I describe these cultures so to give audiences living in the modern world an awareness of non-western ideas and practices that can enhance their personal and creative lives."
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~ Chris Engholm
Mural of Father Kino in Magdalena, Sonora Mexico.
The Latest...
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February 2, 2012. The 2012 RoadOfAwe.com brochure of transformative travel is now viewable here. [Load in a separate window for better viewing.] It features a new tour during the Mayan 'end of bak'tun' ceremonies in December. We'll be photographing sacred ritual sites on the Ruta Maya and learning about Mayan spiritualism first-hand..
January 25, 2012. Chris Engholm is now represented by the 124 Studio/Thomas Merritt Gallery in Bentonville, Arkansas located near the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The Gallery is searchable on Facebook.
November 9, 2011. Great news! Chris has teamed up with the Museum of Ozark History in Northwest Arkansas on an exciting gig to create, White River Memoirs, The Spoken History of a Liquid Legend. There's more on his 700-mile expedition down the White River and this book/film/exhibition on the Ballad Hunter blog.
August 31, 2011. Now settled in a new spread in the Ozark Forest, Chris is completing his book, The Maya Garden, and preparing for an expedition down the length of the 720-mile long White River. For updates on this project, please enjoy: the Ballad Hunter blog. February 28, 2011. Chris and his family have returned from Guatemala; Chris is completing a book about his experiences investigating sacred sites in southern Mexico and Guatemala, titled The Maya Garden, for which his wife is creating the illustrations. We are currently setting up a new studio in Northwest Arkansas, in the beautiful Ozark Mountains near the renown art town of Eureka Springs. For details about our return to the American farm, please The Island Farm blog. We'd love to hear from you! September 19, 2010. Chris and family are now settled in Guatemala on the shores of Lake Atitlan for an extended stint of fieldwork. Chris is best reached by email at chris@chrisengholm.com. Please see and comment on the family website at The Maya Garden blog.
August 29, 2010. Yesterday, Chris met with medicinal plant expert, Chacho,
in the colonial town of Alamos in Sonora, Mexico. Chacho is a well-known medicine man in the area and
provided a tour of his mountaintop forest of healing herbs, cacti, and trees that he has planted over the past 40 years. The photographs will appear in an exhibition of Sonoran Flora next year. The video interview will be edited and linked here soon.
August 22, 2010. This week we are packing up for an extended stay in Central America. Chris will be working on a series of book projects and photography while living on the shores of Lake Atitlan in the beautiful highlands of Guatemala for the next several months, and setting up an office for his tour company, RoadOfAwe.com there. The adventure can be seen, heard, and read about at www.themayagarden.wordpress.com.
August, 2010. Last Saturday we participated in a benefit auction to raise money for Spencer Fox, a Cardiff, California teenager who suffered a spinal cord injury last winter. The auction hit its target of raising $12,000 and Chris' print sales made up over $6,000 of the total. Spencer is an inspiration to us all (he's already walking again) and we look forward to another chance to help later this year.
 July, 2010. Our seven weeks in New York City was a blast
by any measure. Many new friends and great experiences. I am adding a photo workshop called "Native New York," to be held later in the year through RoadOfAwe.com. Right now I'm preparing for an auction of 100 of my prints at a benefit on July 31st for Spencer Fox, the son of a friend of mine injured in a skiing accident earlier this year. We are expecting a large turnout and it should be great fun for a great cause.
June, 2010. My family and I are
currently spending the better half of this summer in Manhattan, New York. At this moment I'm sitting in the beautiful New York Public Library (where they filmed part
of The Day After Tomorrow), doing research for a book project. New Yorkers have changed since I last spent time here--more mellow, agreeable, and well, 'workin' class.' (Aren't we all?) We will be roaming the museums, parks, and galleries here until July 27th.
May, 2010. Chris has been hosting a photography and writing trip to Guatemala from May 16-29rd. The group met with community leaders and elders in Panajachel, Antigua, Santiago de Atitlan, Momostenengo, Chichicastenengo, and in San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico. In Guatemala, we spent time with RoadOfAwe.com partners, Oscar Palencia, Manuel Barrios and Nicolas Chavez and various organizations regarding the "Voices of Santiago Project" (see below) as well as future workshops and tours to be held in the country by RoadOfAwe.com.
April, 2010. Chris is spending most of this month organizing a "Writer's Journey" program for RoadOfAwe.com featuring
TV/Film writer, Michael Berlin, and a photo workshop called "Mayan Vision Quest," to be held in Guatemala in July. Please see
RoadOfAwe.com for details. March 30-April 4, 2010. During Holy Week, we traveled through Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa, Mexico in search of local ritual and indigenous dances. Up in the town of Cusarere in the upper reaches of Copper Canyon, I was able to photograph and videotape Tarahumara villagers celebrating with drumming dances and ample amounts of local brew. From there we stayed in El Fuerte and visited various Mayo communities and finally, the Yaqui people further north. During a short stay in Alamos, I recorded local musicians using a portable sound studio, the results of which will be released soon under the title, Alamos Unplugged. April, 2010 . I have been invited to Yuma, AZ to show a collection of prints and to conduct of photographer's workshop on April 10th. Here is the brochure... March, 2010 . Early in the month, I conducted a workshop at the Casa de Cultura in Nogales, Mexico (see notice below) along with other culture shooters including Robert Rink and Richard Speedie. The Mexican audience of serious amateur photogs was wonderful---appreciative and attentive. I presented the third module of my three-part photographer's workshop called "Light, Line and Emotion" -- the part about how to create photographic story. During the week in Mexico and Phoenix at the Native American Art Fair held at the Heard Museum, I also hooked up with the fantastic Navajo photographer, LeRoy Dejolie and a good social documentarian shooter, Mike Hyatt.
From the Nogales Nuevo Dia newspaper---
February, 2010 . Last week I led a small group to experience the annual chicha festival in Panama's Kuna Yala, a vast archipelago of tiny islands and home to the Kuna people. I will post an article with photos here soon from this adventure. January, 2010 . This month I have been roaming Arizona, walking historical and sacred sites in Sedona, Tucson, and in northern Sonora, Mexico. I will run a photographer s workshop in Nogales, Mexico on March 5th and attend a photo exhibition there on March 6th that features some of my images from Alamos, Mexico. I am also promoting the travel/workshop/tours viewable at www.roadofawe.com. December, 2009. Chris Engholm's "RoadOfAwe.com" is now live at www.roadofawe.com, offering "Creative Journeys for Photographers, Writers and Artists." Please check it out. December, 2009. We have just posted our brochure for guided workshops and tours for 2010 at RoadOfAwe.com. Please check it out. The dates for each tour will appear there soon. December, 2009. Early in the month, Chris traveled in New Zealand to meet with members of the Maori community. You can see some of the images on this site (see navbar at left). November, 2009. The Day of the Dead in Alamos, Mexico proved to be a photographic inspiration. It so happened that the moon was full during the same three days and rose after sunset above the Sierra Madre east of the town's beautifully manicured cemetery. You can see a batch of shots here, and read about the Alamos travel experience. I have been asked to show prints in a Photo Exhibition there on November 20th, and to plan a larger show there in the future. Please see my blog to get stoked about visiting this tranquil and soul-refreshing "pueblo magico." September, 2009. Chris filmed in Antigua and Santiago de Atitlan, Guatemala as part of The "Voices of Santiago" Project. This is a non-profit media project that aims to create a 50-hour oral history of "one of the last remaining traditional Mayan communities." Click to see the Voices of Santiago demo. |
...a special thanks to all who visited
our "Legends of Guatemala" event earlier this year...
...and thanks to everyone who visited
our show last November as well...
"Your art bridges the gap between how people see in bits and pieces of beauty to an experience of the whole picture; a picture which is a story that teaches the spirit of awareness, adventure, and life on our awesome Earth." ~Richard Carter
"I really like your 'eye.' Thank you for sharing." ~Janet Schorle
"Great photography. Incredible composition." ~Tasha Lewis
"The images of the Esperanza Fire are really beautiful. Thanks!" ~Mary McAlers
"An excellent show! Great work and presentation. Pure art!" ~Jeff M. Lewis
"Very impressive." ~Barney Engholm (my dad)
"Really beautiful! Poetic captions." ~Nancy Woolsey
"Nice work. Wonderful art. ~ Marie Roberts
"Every picture tells a story. It's a gift." ~Petra Tucker
"Great images!" ~Emit
"Amazing work." ~Leah Koeng-Natindad
Live from the BEA!
I recently attended the national bookseller's convention in Los Angeles and posted a list of the "most anticipated new photo books," which you can see on our blog here.
