Filled with gratitude for colorful harvest days and family reunions🍁 . Grateful for the support and freedom to live my expression. Everyday has its challenges and it’s triumphs⚡️ . Thanks to @missvelvetcream and the team at @amandasagecollection for making everyday I get dressed colorful and meaningful💫💓 . #vinotok #equinox #crestedbutte #mom #amandasagecollection #indiedesigner (at Crested Butte, Colorado) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoSIutdhYds/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1pqsj1et6jhp0

Happy harvest full moon🌝 Selfie taken in front of art by @josephrobertmerritt with scarf hood by @shabnamq_ made out of fabric by @amandasagecollection ✨ #vinotok https://www.instagram.com/p/CUEq0KtLJSz/?utm_medium=tumblr

The fall equinox has passed with great festivities and fires. I’ve been so involved in a variety of things that posting hasn’t been on my mind. I’ve been where I am, enjoying the land, human, animal and planet interactions directly as the seasons change. . Vinotok is a community passion play that goes on for a full week and has been practiced for 34 years in this watershed community of Created Butte, Colorado. The photos here are of the Grump, the effigy that @josephrobertmerritt builds each year symbolizing an oppressing Force that the community is challenged with. . This years Grump was the Clown of Commodification, symbolizing the exploitation of land, animals, humans, plants minerals and waters... as well as the attention that is time that is our very lives. . This is a spectacle of engagement where the Grump is put on trial and then burned at the 4-way with hundreds of the towns grievances tied into it. . It is a wild procession and wild fire as one of the founders, Marcie Telander reminds us to be “More Wild than Good”. . Vinotok is not something I am sharing about to encourage you to attend. Unlike so many other “festivals” and gatherings this town is not interested in more spectators, this is a ritual for this place and those that live here. I am sharing this though to hopefully inspire you to look into your own watershed and find the story and time of year to get involved, revive and create tradition that the community can partake in. . The value in such gatherings goes beyond the commodification of life as it strengthens our relationships. It is of great great value to remember our roots while collectively celebrating and grieving. . Follow #Vinotok if you are curious to see more and find Marcie’s TedX talk about it online. . Now time to go harvest the potatoes🤘🏼🌱🔥🎉 . #fallequinox #clown #commodification #crestedbutte (at Crested Butte, Colorado) https://www.instagram.com/p/B24ZUKgnSJp/?igshid=14pauyu2uegyy

#vinotok #crestedbutte #livelifegivelife #livingaspen (at Crested Butte, Colorado) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoDjwyfFKVX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1gh4ivblnhn3m

Vinotok is a special harvest festival... one of a kind. Over 30 years of consistent tradition in the town of Crested Butte, Colorado. Stemming from the eastern European roots of the miner families that settled this valley and stayed year round. Now hundreds of years later this tradition is a valuable community tool in bringing people together and releasing their grievances through week long activities and events ending in the Trial of the Grump before the first snows come. Little do many people know that some of the roots of Burning Man originated here at this community fire. I am so proud of my love @joebobmerrittart who is the Grump Master and builds an incredible effigy every year that is burned in a great spectacle. 🔥🔥🔥 Shout out to the 100+ volunteer cast that puts this week long cultural experience on... you guys are amazing!!! 🔥🔥🔥 Wild, communal, powerful and such a meaningful radical ritual. I feel honored to know this, experience it, be involved with it and share it with you all! There should be more such local festivals all over the world more like this - that connect us with our ancestors, the earth and each other ✨🌎🌍🌏💓 #vinotok #crestedbutte #burnthegrump #radicalritual #colorado (at Crested Butte, Colorado)

Well I couldn't move on without posting the burning of the grump. Burning the grump represents a cleansing, a moving on, and shedding what may have been making you grumpy. There is now light and balance ! #crestedbutte #vinotok #colorado #fall (at Crested Butte, Colorado)

All right - trying to feel and show the bigger picture. That's Miss Bailey H. She drummed longer than I thought humanly possible tonight and when I was cold and tired and had more than enough - She was still drumming ❣️#badass #vinotok #crestedbutte #colorado #fall #fallequinox (at Vinotok)

So - in general I feel good when it comes to taking portraits and people. The hard part for me is the bigger picture. The wider view. I know I know this is still a portrait but it's betraying a feeling that encompasses Vinotok and I like that. #vinotok #crestedbutte #colorado #fall #fallequinox (at Vinotok)