David Bristol was raised by a librarian, and the olfactory experience of entering a library still brings him comfort. A Vietnam veteran, he returned to Cambodia in the late 80s and early 90s as a veterinarian with the American Friends Service Committee to work on a cattle and water buffalo project. The love of nature–from lizards to the night sky–is in his DNA. Email: deardavid14@hotmail.com
Kevin Bishop is a builder from Houston who has lived in the Big Bend since 2012. He enjoys rock hunting, photographing old signs and riding mopeds. Email: woodinleg@gmail.com
Kleo Belay grew up on the coast of Maine and moved to Terlingua in 2003 where she first gathered her skills and passion for outdoor exploration. Since then she has lived and worked throughout the Big Bend Region and currently lives in Alpine. Email: Kleobelay@gmail.com
Rani Birchfield is a writer at large in the Big Bend region. Born in Kathmandu, she inherited the wanderlust of her parents and loves travel, food and wine exploration, and meeting odd folks of the planet.
Judy Eron has lived for 25 years in the off-the-grid house she helped build on Terlingua Ranch. She and her partner Charlie are two-thirds of “The Terlingua Fill-Harmonic Symphony” that entertains there. They escape the desert heat by migrating yearly to the ocean in Washington state where their band “Double J and the Boys” performs. She is the author of What Goes Up: Surviving the Manic Episode of a Loved One. Email: judyeron@yahoo.com
Danielle Gallo is a writer who is proud to be the editor-in-chief of the Cenizo Journal. She came to the area in 2002 and currently lives in Marathon with her family. E-mail: editor@ cenizojournal.com
Robert Haspel is a retired commercial photographer whose enthusiasm has been rekindled though his recent adoption of digital photography. He is happy to both show his work, and to talk photography with those so inclined. He offers one-on-one assistance with photography. 713-557-4147. E-mail: robert@roofusworld.com
Sharon Haney moved with her husband, Don, from Fulshear, Texas, to the Big Bend area three years ago after they drove through Alpine and fell in love with the climate and desert environment. She is an artist and shows her work at CatchLight Art Gallery in Alpine. An accomplished cook, she also enjoys writing and exploring the natural surroundings of this astonishing part of the world. To see some of her artwork go to SHaneyArt.com. Email: sharonhaney@gmail.com.
E. Dan Klepper is an photographer based in Marathon, Texas. His photographs have been featured in books and magazines including “In Sight”, the online photography magazine for The Washington Post and his large-scale works of photo-based art can be found in collections across the state. Klepper’s book of photography and essays, titled “Why the Raven Calls the Canyon”, is available from Texas A&M University Press. His work, represented by Foltz Fine Art in Houston, can also be found at his gallery in Marathon at Klepper Gallery, 105 N. Ave D, (432) 386-6789 and at www.kleppergallery.com.
Tom Curry was born and raised in Coleman, Texas. An army veteran who traveled all over Europe, he moved to Austin in 1975 and became an award-winning illustrator. He and his wife Susan moved to Alpine in 1993, where he began working with papercrete in addition to his illustration work. He and Susan work out of their papercrete studio on Murphy Street in Alpine TX when they’re not enjoying their cabin near Terlingua. Email: tomcurrystudio@gmail.com
David Winslow is an Alpine artist with an eye for landscapes and architecture. Most of the photographic images he takes are from the Southwest Texas area and around his other home in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. His work can be seen at his gallery in Alpine, Galeria Manana. E-mail: dewinslow@aol.com
Jerri Garza holds a B.S. in Range Animal Science and MEd In Counseling from Sul Ross State University. She has written stories, essays, and poems since 1964, and is a member of the Texas Mountain Trail Writers. Jerri is a retired university archivist and taught at the university level and public schools. She enjoys local historical research, art, and photography. Jerri lives in Alpine, Texas with her husband. Email: atalkingwolf@yahoo.com
Joseph R.M. Longo is Curator and a former Archive Committee Chair for the El Paso County Historical Society. Born and raised in El Paso, he does research and lectures about El Paso history and writes for the Password, the publication of the El Paso County Historical Society and El Paso Herald Post.Com. A former member of the El Paso City Historical Landmark Commission, he holds a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Museum Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Carolyn Brown Zniewski started publishing at age nine, with a neighborhood newsletter called The Circle. From 1992-2006 she wrote a recipe column for two newspapers in Minneapolis, MN and from 2013 to 2019 was the publisher of the Cenizo Journal.
Becca Bright is a writer and student currently living in Iowa City, Iowa, but was born and raised in Austin. Her parents moved to the Fort Davis area about five years ago, and she spends much of her winters and summers there. Her poems, “Postcards from Agave,” are based on the writing style of postcards. She considers her lines as small love letters to, and from far West Texas. Email: labeccabright@gmail.com
Jeff Lynch is a commercial, landscape & nature photographer and author based in Fort Davis, Texas. He enjoys sharing his passion with groups of enthusiastic photographers each spring during the Texas Landscape Safari workshop. Jeff’s work can be found gracing the pages of his blog: Texas Landscape Photography and in his first four books; Hill Country Landscapes released in 2009, Landscapes of the Texas Plains and Canyons released in 2010, Landscapes of the Davis Mountains released in early 2015 and Big Bend Landscapes released in late 2015. Jeff’s work has also been featured Texas Monthly, San Antonio and Cowboys & Indians magazines and in the book, Canon Powershot G10/G11: From Snapshots to Great Shots, published by Peachpit Press.”
Tom and Anne Weeks live in Columbus OH and for about 15 years have spent their winters volunteering in national parks, mainly in the southwest and Florida. Parks they have volunteered at include Pipe Spring Nat’l Monument (AZ), Everglades, Carlsbad Caverns, Kingsley Plantation (FL), Theodore Roosevelt NP, (ND), and Gulf Islands Nat’l Seashore. Email: tomweeks@aol.com
Shawna Graves had a hot spell cast upon her by the Chihuahuan Desert a long time ago. She has been wandering in its vast escapes since 2013, studying people, plants, critters, and science in remote outposts under twinkling stars. e-mail: shawna.reporter@gmail.com
Benjamin Nash has lived his entire life in Texas and has enjoyed his visits to West Texas. He has had poems published in the Texas Observer, VOLT, Voices de la Luna, Huizache, Pilgrimage, and other publications. Email: ben7nash@aol.com
Zach Wells has lived in West Texas since the age of five. He has always been interested in trying new things artistically, and when he becomes adept at one medium he starts learning another. He lives in Alpine with his family and two pet boas. Email: zach@rmwells.com
Glenn Dunn is a retired police captain from Detroit, MI. A self-taught photographer, he began developing and processing his own photos in a makeshift home darkroom when he was twelve years old and has been enamored with photography ever since. He and his wife, Carol, paid their first visit to the Big Bend in 2005 and have returned many times to what is, without doubt, their favorite National Park. Currently living in Lansing, MI, they travel throughout the U.S. with their RV and write an illustrated newsletter of their travels for the delight of family and friends. Email: gsdix@aol.com
Andy Morgan Born and raised in Maine, I’ve been taking photos for as long as I can remember. In 2017, I had the opportunity to spend the summer in the Fort Davis region as a volunteer at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute. It was here when I fell in love with the West Texas landscape. I have since returned multiple times continuing to photograph, explore, and try to capture this stunning region. I specialize in landscape and wildlife photography. My work can be viewed at: www.andymorganphotography.com, The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, Fort Davis, Texas and at Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery in Ochopee, Florida.
Leslie Hopper discovered her love of natural darkness as a Quaker Boarding school teenager, where the tactical disadvantages of flashlights and hazards of night blindness passed as peer wisdom between students alongside the liberating traditions of walking fearlessly and completely alone through darkened woods and across star-lit meadows. Leslie’s appreciation of the Big Bend’s diabolical climate and vital biodiversity involves nurturing gardens to thrive under the influence of seemingly endless supplies of wind and late freezes, and helping its wilder spaces remain so. Email: grantsmanship101@gmail.com
