ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the history of the Land Arts of the American West (LAAW) program at University of New Mexico or one specific example of how a field program comes into being and evolves. It traces the development of the LAAW program from its inception in 1999 to its form in 2016, many of the issues raised by the program directors in the previous interviews section will reappear. The initial concept consisted of a place-based program situated in the Chihuahua Desert, Great Basin, and Colorado Plateau dedicated to providing a multicultural investigation of Land Art practices and extended time in remote locations in which students could work in direct response to site. Native American potters are place-based artists who derive all the materials needed for their process from their local environment. LAAW began its exploration of the physical United States–Mexico borderline in a partnership with photographer David Taylor and the United States Border Patrol.
