VIL feb 09 GRID.indd - Tubac Villager

Graham Bell Gallery- Authentic Cowboy Spirit
presentation, and as Charlotte says, tucked away as it is, it takes
some time for people to fi nd the gallery, but once they’ve found
it, they come back.
Charlotte is the main decorator for all the displays.
Charlotte’s family were true pioneers. “My grandmother, whose
father was a Southern cavalryman, was born in old Fort Lowell,
Tucson, where she died about 1955,” Charlotte explains, “she was
born in the late 1800’s, and she used to tell me stories of how the
Indians would come and steal bread from an open window sill.”
Th e east walls of the gallery display the photography of Louise
L. Serpa, the fi rst woman photographer allowed in the rodeo
arena to photograph bull and bronc riding. Th ese astonishing
rodeo photographs reveal all the impossible force and speedy
momentum of bucking broncs, contorting cowboys and bulls
chasing clowns right into your lap. Quoting the New Yorker,
writing in regard of Serpas’s images, “It’s hard to believe your eyes
when you fi rst see how wild in form her pictures are - both the horses
and the cowboys take on shapes so free from gravity that if you didn’t
know better you’d think they were made of rubber or were products of
trick photography.”
Now 83, Serpa is highly regarded in the photography and rodeo
world and her life’s work has been recognized by the National
Cowboy Museum. Charlotte knew Louise back in her own rodeo
days of barrel-racing and calf-tying and the Bells feel honored to
carry her spectacular images. Charlotte, Tucson rodeo queen and
Miss Rodeo AZ in 1963, competed in rodeo at the college level
for the University of Arizona.
Most of the images in the gallery are by Scott Graham Bell.
He received formal training and graduated from Th e Brooks
Institute of Photography in California. For 18 years, Scott
has been working on the family’s ZZ Cattle Ranch while also
recording the images of the lives of the cowboys he works with.
He currently lives at the ranch with his wife and two children.
Scott Bell’s artist statement reads:
I have lived, worked, photographed and experienced cattle ranching
near the Mexican border. Th e cowboys I work with are older, wiser
and much more experienced than I am. Th e cowboys have a rich
knowledge of the ranching life and of the natural world in general.
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I feel honored to have had them accept me
and my camera into their realm. I hope
this collection of photographs adequately
expresses the deep respect I have for the
individuals and traditions that are part of
the cattle ranching experience in Southern
Arizona.”
Th e images are of real moments on the
ranch. Cowboys under trees on a real day
of real cowboy work, which these days
is rare, but continues on at the ZZ with
cowboys of experience enough to earn the
admiration and respect of others who work
cattle.
An image of cowboys on horseback in
silhouette takes on a new meaning when
you know that a cowboy took it at the
moment before sunrise. Th e genuineness
of the images is unmistakable. If you want
to know Southern Arizona ranch life,
Bell’s images do it with a dignifi ed subtlety
that seems almost reluctant. It’s good stuff ,
recording a way of life that is disappearing
elsewhere but thrives along the border.
Similar to Edward Curtis’s intentions of capturing the vanishing
ways of life of Native Americans, Scott Graham Bell’s work
could be said to be preserving the heritage and culture of the
cowboy, but diff erent from the Curtis’s vintage photogravures,
also available on the Graham Bell Gallery’s back wall, much
of Scott Bell’s work appears focused on candid and unposed
moments, capturing instead of creating.
Th e Graham Bell’s ZZ Ranch runs a large cow calf operation,
employing 4 permanent cowboys and hiring on extra cowboys
as needed from all around Santa Cruz County for round-ups.
In operation since 1938, the ranch belongs to the two Graham
Bell families of Tom and his brother George and consists of
approximately 100 sq miles along the border of Mexico, from
Nogales to Bear Valley. Th e land is some of the most beautiful
and rugged terrain you can imagine, where a couple head of
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LUXURY TOWNHOMES
30-DAY CLOSE OUT SALE • TUBAC EMBARCADERO
Townhomes located adjacent to the Artisan Village of Tubac.
Pricing available, January 21 through February 21, 2009 only! • For more information, call Tubac Homes at (520) 398-9670
Model Price CLOSE OUT PRICE Lot #
Allcante $279,500 $169,500 79
Allcante $279,300 $179,300 69
Cordoba $297,680 $197,680 117
Cordoba $301,800 $201,800 92
Cordoba $307,100 $207,100 88
Cordoba $320,500 $220,000 1
Th e ZZ Ranch House. Photograph by Scott Graham Bell.
cattle headed the wrong way up a canyon can cost you all day
and, as Tom says, “You know you’re going down hill ‘cause your
horse’s tail comes over your shoulder.”
You can get a feel for the ranch’s coverage by driving the Ruby
Road and looking south from the highest pullout on Atascosa,
which appropriately translates into “barrier.” Th is is the edge
by anyone’s defi nition. It’s as far as our civilization has made it;
beyond lay a labyrinth of canyons and a rumple of mountains
where jaguar still roam and forsaken mine shafts breath bats into
the desert night.
Th e lush and protected, unparalleled biodiversity of Sycamore
Canyon slices through the ranch. Th e whole of the land is an area
of constant beauty, and where Chuck Bowden was referring to
when he wrote about the Importance of Being Nowhere. Edward
Abbey watched over this terrain in 1968 while employed as a
fi re look-out in the cabin on top of Atascosa. You can read those
journal entries in Abbey’s posthumously published journals,
Confessions of a Barbarian.
Model Price CLOSE OUT PRICE Lot #
Allcante $272,300 SOLD 93
Allcante $307,880 SOLD 112
Delicia $350,600 $250,600 85
Francesca $356,000 $276,000 116
Granada $400,000 SOLD 17
Granada $423,000 SOLD 39
The above prices are subject to change without prior notice.
Most models include fabulous upgrades. For information, please consult our new homes representative
at (520) 398-9670 or toll free at (877) 398-2802. • www.TubacHomes.com