Cotopaxi – The artists Christo and Jeanne- Claude, as you most certainly know by now, want desperately to stretch gigantic, billowing panels of loosely woven, aluminum-coated translucent cloth across the Arkansas River.
They call the proposed project “Over the River,” because, they say, the name perfectly captures the “genesis” of their vision.
Rancher Denzell Goodwin, who has run cattle along the banks of the Arkansas for 60 years and is a man who does not waste words, has an even shorter name for the planned art extravaganza: “that thing.”
Goodwin, who lives with his cows along the river near the town of Howard, said two things worry him about the project.
“First of all it’ll cause unbelievable traffic, and we just don’t need it around here. The other problem with that thing is the bighorn sheep and the deer and the elk. They come down to the river every night to drink. You got those … those sheets hanging over the river flapping around, it’s going to upset all those animals. Gonna confuse them. That’s about all that thing is gonna do.”
It’s like that around these parts. The people of Cotopaxi and Howard and the neighboring river towns of Coaldale and Texas Creek live here because of the rugged, rocky beauty of the land, the simple life and, of course, the Arkansas.
The river springs to life beneath the Twin Lakes reservoir south of Leadville and comes roaring through their towns – bringing cash. In the spring and summer, it’s filled with people who pay good money to sit in a rubber raft, slam into rocks and get soaked with cold water. It’s also a favorite place of fly-
fishermen. And frankly, if a guy is willing to pay $40 for a handful of small fishhooks covered with fur, imagine what he’d pay for lunch.
The people around here seem to like things the way they are. Suspending 962 sheets of fancy, gauzy, reflective fabric 10 to 20 feet above the river in seven separate sections covering a total of about 7 miles of the river is, well, just not the kind of thing that makes its way onto their wish list.
The proposed project would be on display for two weeks in 2008, at the earliest, if the artists can get the necessary environmental permits. Construction of the project along U.S. 50, a mostly two-lane road that snakes alongside the river, would take months.
Officials believe the exhibit would draw tens of thousands of viewers.
“Imagine the traffic problems,” said Bill Edrington, an avid fly-fisherman and co-
owner of a fly shop, Royal Gorge Anglers in Cañon City – a business that depends on anglers having easy access to the river.
Twenty-five miles to the west, in Texas Creek, Wanda Tezak doesn’t know what to think. She and her husband, Jim, own the El Carma Rock Shop, which could benefit from a bedazzled throng of Over the River gawkers with cash in their pockets.
“I hope it happens,” said Tezak. “I guess people would come to see it, but I don’t know why. That Christo, he believes in this project very strongly for some darn reason. It’s all very puzzling to me.”
Kevin Champion, who owns a construction company, stands inside the Cotopaxi post office and smiles at the mention of Over the River.
“The traffic would be a problem,” he said. “As to whether it’s art, well, who knows? I am not an artist-type person. Hanging colored sheets across the river, well, it might be art for all I know.”
It’s a question, of course, that has no answer. Art is art. Or not.
Take, for example, the woman who works at the deli counter of the Cotopaxi Store, “Linda M,” who was making sandwiches last week.
“Sheets across the river, that’s not art,” said Linda M, who asked that her last name not be used. “Now wolves. Wolves are art. I like wolves. I have wolf pictures, wolf puzzles, wolf drinking glasses, wolf plates. Anything with wolves on it. My husband said if I buy one more thing with wolves on it, he’s going to divorce me. And then at Christmas he buys me something with wolves on it.
“But hanging sheets across the river, it’s stupid is all it is.”
Staff writer Rich Tosches can be reached at rtosches@denverpost.com.
