81 Janet Winbourne, Dorie Stolley, and Eric Walberg stayed with me on Muley Point. Janet, Dorie, and I first met in a rainforest research station on the Osa Peninsula and then again when we kayaked the Sea of Cortez together seventeen years ago. It was a delight to catch up and reforge our friendship. I did not spend all thirty-two weeks camping. I was fortunate to be offered a cell at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, where the Benedictine monks, though sworn to silence, gave me Christian hospitality, spiritual solace, and good food. I also became an artist-in-residence at Mesa Verde National Park, where I lived in a delightful octagonal hogan under the kindly eye of Coella Dreske. In Zion National Park my accommodation was a rusticated stone cottage conveniently close to my painting site, under the auspices of a residency organized by Lyman Hafen. Gerald Peters Gallery, which represented me at the time, was closely involved in this project. It is rare for a commercial gallery to offer practical support by providing a house when I passed through Santa Fe and the occasional use of a four-wheel-drive truck. Although an infrequent bird of passage, I knew I could always count on the gallery’s support. Gerald Peters was a most subtle éminence grise. Without his support this exhibition could not have happened. I would also like to thank Abigail von Schlegell for her constant friendship, advice, and help. I bombarded her with an enormous variety of requests and demands, and she responded to them with great good humour and generosity. She knows and loves the country where I worked, so her advice and enthusiasm were invalu- able. She organised the horse packing in Canyon de Chelly, where Terrill guided us through the complexities of the landscape and Navajo lore. We were joined by Cathy Notarnicola, curator of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Santa Fe. She provided valuable insights and knowledge in curating the cultural artefacts that accompany the exhibition. If I have managed to complete my project without offending tribal and religious sensibilities, then it is thanks to her deep understanding of the issues. During our journey down the San Juan River, Jane Woodward developed an extraordinary vision. She recognized that this exhibition is unusually coherent in that it is concentrated on a small geographic area and has a strong underlying concept. She understood that my journeys over the years, each of which includes many paintings and souvenirs, are one of the import- ant distinguishing aspects of my work as an artist. She therefore decided to purchase the entire Sacred Places exhibition in order to keep it intact and to place it in the public trust. She has created the Foster Art & Wilderness Foundation, the purpose of which is to “use the power of art to inspire reflection, discussion, education and action to protect the world’s wild places.” A particular focus of the foundation is to keep my current and future exhibitions united and made available to museums and other venues. With the help of my supporters and collectors, we hope to reunite past work to also serve this purpose. I would like to express my profound gratitude for Jane’s friendship and her faith in my work. I would also like to thank my other long-term and committed collectors, who generously agreed to stand aside and allow this important development to proceed. Setting up the foundation has required calling on the skills, goodwill, and hard work of a wide variety of people. This publication is not the arena in which to name them all, but I would like to take the opportu- nity to thank those most closely involved in organis- ing the exhibition: in particular Heidi M. Hackford, the foundation’s director of operations; Julie M. Muñiz, curator; and Dan Saal, design director. Together they have worked tirelessly and with great enthusiasm to establish the extraordinary physical space that is 940 Commercial Street and to install the exhibition with its contextualising materials. That it is so beautifully arranged is a tribute to their single-mindedness and attention to detail and to their collaboration with Mark Sabbatino and his extraordinary team from Gizmo. They brought verve, professionalism, and practical can-do to the entire process. Dan Saal also designed this unique publication and saw it through to completion. Everyone involved was immediately captivated by his concept. I hope that his acute understanding of the multilayered elements involved in my work will bring joy to those who delve into its contents. Most people underestimate the constant barrage of administrative work that besieges the contemporary artist. Were it not for the steady and intelligent support and commitment of my assistant, Sally Cannon, I would surely sink without a trace. My work takes me away from our Cornish home for many months a year. My wife, Ann, an artist herself, understands the joys and anguish of the creative process. She gives me the strength to leave home and the desire to return. Tony Foster Cornwall, 2015
