» Peter Walker talks ‘media that matters’
Peter Walker talks Digital Media Art
‘Iwant to make media that matters,” Peter Walker, the current chair of University of New MexicoTaos’ Digital Media Arts Program, likes to say. For the past few years, Walker has brought this department to the fore at UNM-Taos. The program leads to an associate degree, and its curriculum prepares students for their bachelor degrees. The department’s relationships with media giants, Canon and SONY have resulted in state of the art equipment allowing Walker and his students to tackle ambitious projects including the one they are currently engaged in.
“Río Grande Serenade” began as a traditional documentary but has evolved into a series since the pandemic began.
Walker spent much of his childhood growing up in Arroyo Hondo and later near Arroyo Seco. He recalls his late father setting up his 35-millimeter slide projector and “casting images on our wall. It was like magic to me,” he says.
“On Saturday nights we would pile into the back of the pickup truck with blankets and head to the drive up movie theater where the Walmart is today. We saw ‘Watership Down,’ ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Bladerunner.’ Pure magic! Me and my friends would be electrified by the images, sounds from the metal speakers and the super intense stories on the massive screen in front of us. Stars overhead.”
Fast-forward to high school and his Spanish teacher assigned a group project – a Spanish horror movie. “Our Spanish was pretty bad and so was the short film, but I was hooked,” he recalls.
“Years later I decided I wanted a more formal education in filmmaking so I bought a one-way ticket to the Asian Academy of Film and Television in New Delhi, India.” An avid traveler as well as a filmmaker, Walker continued to explore and work on film projects in Asia, including a documentary about Bhutan’s transition to democracy.
“After three years doing freelance media projects in South East Asia I was ready to get back to the mountains, the change of seasons and my friends and family,” he explained.
Tempo caught up with Walker by phone last week.
Tell us what you have been up to since the pandemic began – how it’s impacted your department in all aspects, from teaching to the size of the classes themselves.
It honestly feels like another lifetime that we were going about our daily routines in the pre-pandemic world. As for the college vibe around the University of New Mexico-Taos, we were having a blast – making and filming a mural on Klauer Campus, hosting Cañon workshops, doing portrait photography in the mountains, filming a documentary on the Río Grande, traveling up to the (Taos) Ski Valley and filming a series on their B-Corp community efforts, trips to Santa Fe and Albuquerque for New Mexico Film and Media Conferences, and taking advanced students to the annual Telluride Mountain Film Festival. All that came to a screeching halt in March of 2020 and we’ve been teaching online ever since.
Fortunately, our Digital Media Arts program has more students than ever and that is partly due to the online accessibility from anywhere. We just started our spring semester and we have nine courses taught by five instructors with over 100 students. Our Animation and Video Production classes each have over 30 students. The other exciting news is that we are now part of the Department of Fine Arts and Digital Media, unmtaosart.com. Due to the outstanding leadership at UNM
Taos, the pandemic has been an opportunity for restructuring and re-visioning what’s possible. Times of crisis seem to foster creative innovation and with nothing else to do and nowhere to go, we are riding that wave.
In the past you always traveled extensively between teaching or film projects – you did an artist residency in Peru – can you talk about that and how you coped with the literal lockdown, along with personal tragedy: losing your dad?
In 2018 I was accepted to the Arquetopia Artist in Residency in Urubamba, Peru. It was a childhood dream of mine to visit the snowcapped peaks of the Andes. I spent six weeks with artists from all over the world and wandered around the rugged landscape feeling both awe and admiration for the complex cultural heritage of modern-day Peru. At the end of my residency, If I had waited one more hour to depart, I would have been trapped at 10,000 feet in a transportation strike where the driver unions literally put rocks and boulders across the roads until they get their demands met. They don’t mess around when it comes to protecting their livelihoods. 2020 was a year of loss for me personally. I lost a partner and friend, Morgan Sanders, to the depths of depression and the gorge. Her big smile and energetic personality are missed by so many in this community. I lost my dad, Gary Walker, to aggressive stage four cancer. He had a great life here in Taos as a woodworker, softball player and artist. I know so many people who have lost loved ones and it seems almost like a miracle that we collectively survived such a tumultuous year. I really need to give a huge bow of gratitude to Ted Wiard and the Golden Willow Retreat Center. Ted was there for me to light a candle for the people I love and lost. Thank you!
I’m also deeply grateful for our Aikido Taos Kijon Dojo run by Craig Dunn Sensei who moved here from his training in Japan more than 35 years ago. Following the guidance of the state, staying open when we could, we have been able to continue our Aikido Martial Arts training with weapons (sword andstaff)tomaintainsocialdistancing.Traininginthis lineage has been my anchor in both good times and bad and provides an ongoing exploration of body, mind and spirit.
Prior to this crazy time we are living through, you were on the verge of completing a documentary on the people who live along the Río Grande. It’s now a docu-series, and we will be featuring characters from the series here at Tempo, monthly. Can you tell us how this project has evolved due to the closures?
A series of web videos will be released this spring featuring the iconic leaders of our watershed here in Northern New Mexico. We filmed most of the documentary in the big water year of 2019 and releasing these stories now feels like good timing as we collectively organize ways to preserve our cultures and precious water resources.
You’ve had some time to get used to teaching online but for you, I imagine it wasn’t as difficult as for some. You have just started a new semester – how are you approaching the classes this time around?
Teaching online takes a lot of pre-production organization. I have curated 16 weeks of media links, discussions, book chapters and production assignments. Zoom helps connect face-to-face, but we still have a screen between us. I am looking forward to live-action classes again where we can laugh and make art together.
Being that cutting edge media is your job at UNM-Taos DMA, what new media trends do you see on the horizon?
This question makes me laugh because although we live in scary times at least there is dark humor to be found. For example, you know those annoying “prove you’re not a robot” pop up screens before you login to various websites? The ones where you have to select the traffic lights, buses or motorcycles. Well, guess who we are proving our human authenticity to? Robots!
Going forward, what excites you the most?
Rivers, mountains and live music!!!
For more see taoswalkerphotography.com and visit unmtaosart.com.