A WONDROUS NOTE

In a love song to the American West, this visual series between cellist Russick Smith and photographer Ross Taylor reflects a journey of nearly 3000 miles across Colorado and Utah. The American West is particularly suspect to preservation challenges, from land control and management, to the devastating effects of climate change. The collaboration seeks to create a heightened sense of wonder, and respect, of such spaces. Each space and photograph was the sight of a performance by Smith. Smith has previously performed before Yo-yo Ma who called his performance “gorgeous,” and Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who has lauded him as “uniquely Colorado.”

Cellist Smith strives to bring the cello and his sense of style outside of traditional classical music spaces when possible, and has performed for audiences high above in trees and in rivers. Smith has handcrafted his own tree stand and leans on some of his prior experience as a crew member working on tall ships in the Atlantic Ocean as a guide to his climbing (*more information on this can be provided if needed). His juxtaposition of the cello in nature is intended to spark joy in others and serves as a counterbalance of sorts, to "fight cynicism with wonder."

"Many of the unexpected circumstances that we encounter throughout our lives are negative, possibly traumatic experiences," said Smith. "Those experiences have a tendency of mounting internally, fostering a cynical mindset that can ultimately become the default lens through which we view the world. To counter these negative surprises, and thereby the cynicism which they foment, my goal is to generate simple and meaningful moments to prove that the world can be unexpectedly beautiful - that to interact with the world-at-large does not just mean susceptibility to trauma but also vulnerability to joy."

Smith also unexpectedly lost his father recently, while hiking in Colorado. He often thinks of his father when he performs. "Once, as I sat up in an aspen grove, I played what I would’ve played if I could have sat with him and played him out. I had clipped a picture of him into a tree below, nobody knew it was there. It was the last thing I took out of his place when I cleaned it out. I felt like it was the first tree performance and he was looking up at me, still helping."

He continues, "When I am helping people see the beauty of this world, I am continuing his legacy. And when I’m playing, no matter where, I’d like to believe that the music is still reaching him; that maybe it finds its way to places at which I could only wonder, to wherever he’s hiking now. Doing these things, the way I’m doing them, I know that he was proud of me and, hopefully somewhere, still is."

More information about cellist Russick Smith, location/images, as well as information related to preservation and climate change impacts, can be provided as needed.