By BETSEY BRUNER
Arts, Culture & Community Editor
Sunday, February 01, 2009

A Kokopelli-like figure plays his flute, horned animals cavort through fields, a warrior pulls back the string on his bow. Although drawn on solid rock, the images depicted dance with the lightness of air.

A new 2009 calendar, "Sedona Rock Art," by Sedona photographer Susie Reed, is one of the loveliest calendars to grace bookstore shelves in years.

"I think art is important," Reed said in a phone interview Thursday. "I think art adds beauty and healing to our world. It uplifts our spirits. I feel really moved to photograph the rock art. Some of it was really calling out to want to be seen."

ROCK ART FRAGILE

The calendar has been selling out at venues in Sedona. It is also the best-selling calendar at the Museum Shop and Bookstore at the Museum of Northern Arizona, said Kelly Baxter, who manages the bookstore here.

All sites recorded are in the Sedona area, Reed said, although she has started to document Picture Canyon rock art in Flagstaff.

"There's a problem with archeological sites; whenever someone goes in them, it deteriorates rock sites," she said. "My photos make a good way for people to not have to go into these fragile archeological sites. I think they were spiritual gathering places. I like the idea that with the calendar these images can be seen all over the world."

Reed said she submitted photographs of flowers, fruit and other standard calendar fare to the publisher, The Time Factory, in Indianapolis, Ind., but also threw in a rock art image.

"They gave me a list of subjects, and I just added that with what else I was sending," Reed explained. "They mainly do NASCAR, so I was really surprised. They loved it."

FADED TO VIBRANT

Reed has been photographing for more than 30 years.

In spring 2008, the Sedona Arts and Cultural Commission awarded Reed a $5,000 Artist Project Grant to photograph rock art (verdenews.com, Dec. 8, 2008) and work on other rock-related projects.

The Sedona artist, who hails from Denver, graduated with honors from the San Francisco Art Institute and spent many years in the Bay Area, beginning in the late 1970s.

Today, she has a studio in Uptown Sedona where she also does promotional and portrait work.

"Part of what I do with my work is license my photos for companies to use on their products," she said.

The rock art is all shot on location, using a Canon digital camera.

"Some of the photographs I've worked on for a long time," she said. "There is something kind of magical that today's technology lends to the process."

She manipulates images that may appear faded and subtle and tries to bring up more detail and vibrancy in the original pictures.

"I do interpret them with my photographs, but I'm literally taking what's there," Reed said. "When I adjust the photograph, I try to bring out what's left to be see. I kind of work like painter. I get the rock art to look more vibrant. Rock art was jumping up that I've never seen before."

Where to purchase "Sedona Rock Art" calendar.

In Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona, bookstore

In Sedona: Chamber of Commerce, Pink Jeep Tours, Walgreen's, Bashas' and the photographer at www.susiereedphotos.com
(link to rock art calendar, top of home page)

Cost: $13.99, plus tax, at all locations