↑ Redwoods by Joshua Koza
It was the fall of 1999, shortly after I had moved out West, where I would live for roughly a decade. A friend and I were on our way from Washington to Arizona. We stopped at Redwood National Park. It was my first visit.
We hiked across the park to camp overnight. When we arrived at our remote site, we were greeted by an enormous herd of Roosevelt Elk. They didn’t seem to mind us, and we sat there with them for a good 20 minutes before they decided to move on.
I remember being awestruck by the sheer magnificence of the place and the beauty of those trees. Redwood National Park remains my favorite place on Earth.
While this artwork represents a very early stage in my artistic development, I did begin experimenting with approaches and techniques in this piece that helped lay the foundation for many of the methods and aesthetics that I continue to use 16 years later. This piece, and the experience of making it, marks a profound transition for me in both my life and my work.