Into The Lost Canyon

Into the Lost Canyon

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Some of the material in Archive Number Three is from Pete’s master work, “The Lost Canyon Trip”. Other works in the third archive will give us a look into the deeper, and darker corners of Pete’s inner world. 

I am not sure exactly how this particular box of stuff came together. As I’ve mentioned before, we had very little time to clear out Pete’s apartment and storage unit. We did the best we could to box up loose materials, sort things, and keep stuff organized.

The “Archives”, as I call them, are merely the individual boxes of Pete’s artwork. Pete put together some of these boxes himself; other boxes were assembled as we sorted through things in the apartment and storage.

In Archive Three, there is a stack of miscellaneous paintings, a box of “Lost Canyon Trip” paintings, a manila envelope with a large stack of cloud and sky sketches.

I thought I was pretty much finished with this box once the Lost Canyon pictures were photographed, and catalogued. But there was a black plastic trash bag in the box that had somehow escaped my notice until I went to pack things up.

 In the black bag I found three folios.

One is labelled: “Sketches and Story Script /Lost Era/ Lost Canyon Trip /and The Chase Story “

The second folio: “Ideas/ Written Information/ Clippings/ Old Flyers for Lost Canyon Trip.”

The third folio: “Pictures of Horror Stories/ Bad Dreams I’ve had.” Of course, we’ll get to this one. (Fasten your seatbelt.)

So, just like exploring some archaeological find, it turns out that this chamber has a few secret passages. I’ve leafed through some of these writings, pictures, and sketches; there is some amazing stuff, here.

 We’ll get to them soon, but for now we’re going to spend some time in the canyon.

So, what, exactly, was “The Lost Canyon Trip?”

The Lost Canyon Trip was Pete’s original creation, a multi-media  slide show presentation of his artwork,  with narration, music, live sound effects, and even smell effects. Pete tells the story of how he discovered a deep, north-facing canyon in the Whittier Hills.

 He was so profoundly moved by the beauty he found there that he created the show to bring that beauty to the world. He built a small hut along the canyon wall, and used it as a refuge, a studio, and a classroom from which he could study the wildlife in the canyon. He frequently spent the night in his secret campsite.

The show is the story of Pete, and his friend Jeff  having an overnight camp out.

  They have a night full of spooky encounters, and strange dreams  in the hut. 

The Lost Canyon Trip in Pete’s own words:

Notice the reference to "The late Elvis Presley" That would put this from sometime after 1977. 
More on this next week. Stay tuned. 

Next: Deeper into the Canyon>