TURQUOISE BEADS, composed of landscapes from the cities of Chaco Canyon and New York after 9/11, is portrayed in a meditative manner. Chaco Canyon was a major center of a thriving Indian culture from AD 850 to 1250, where turquoise, a stone mythically born from the marriage between sky and earth, was traded extensively. The complexity of its community life, the high level of its social organization, and its far-reaching commerce created a cultural vision unlike any other seen before. David Stuart's anthropological argument in Anasazi America claims that today's American society has similar patterns that existed in Chaco's Anasazi community before its final collapse.

("Stuart cogently distinguishes between powerful societies, which gain power by using resources inefficiently, and efficient societies, which run frugally but sacrifice wealth and power to do so. The latter societies, he argues, are more resilient when environmental changes or other challenges appear."- Booklist)

It took more than seven centuries to lay the agricultural, organizational, and technological groundwork for the creation of classic Chacoan civilization, which lasted about 200 years - only to collapse spectacularly in a mere 40 years. Reasons for its demise: When continuing drought lead to mass famine, its society, composed of an elite class and underling farmers, was locked in formulaic response versus practical solutions. Stuart writes: "The larger the society, the less capable of its carrying on after losing a moderate percentage of its critical resources."

TURQUOISE BEADS was inspired by one archaeologist's tale: Upon excavating an abandoned kiva, turquoise beads were found scattered over the floor. Because of the range and pattern of the scatter it was surmised that the beads had been assembled on a necklace strand and were "popped" apart during in a ritual of final departure. Many kivas (circular underground chambers used by the community for ceremonial meetings) were burned as a way to "close" them when Chaco was abandoned in the thirteenth century.