From the 1920s to 1960s, Basque immigrants herded sheep in the Sierra Nevadas.  Lonely for their homeland (and often isolated for days on end), the immigrants would carve pictures into the aspen trees.  The drawings of animals, stars, and nude women documented their days.  The Nevada Historical Society in Reno is displaying muslin rubbings of the art through April 7. The exhibit's curator tells us what this aspen art reveals about the Basque people, and why so many of the trees have disappeared.

 

 

GUEST

Sherry Hayes-Zorn, Acting Dir and Curator, Nevada Historical Society in Reno