The Arizona Republic, Sept. 18, 2003
Women of the Ranch
By John Carlos Villani
On the 1960s television show Bonanza, the domestic chores at woman-free Ponderosa Ranch were handled by Hop Sing (Victor Sen Yung). But in today's ranches, where Chinese Housekeepers are as rare as a milk-producing bull, women handle not only domestic duties but also a surprising amount of the ranch work once done exclusively by men.
"Hard Twist: Women of the Ranching West," an exhibition of black-and-white images by New Mexico/Montana photographer Barbara Van Cleve, examines the this remnant of traditional Western life in a sequence of 40 images. The show remains at Prescott's Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., through Monday. Van Cleve will present a lecture at 1 p.m. Saturday at the museum.
The women Van Cleve photographed are not manicured weekend cowgirls who lord over 35-acre rural ranchettes on summer weekends between their long stretches in suburban gated communities. These are women whose tanned faces and well-worn leather work clothes reflect long hours spent branding cattle, shearing sheep and delivering calves.
In the Valley, Van Cleve's work is represented by Amore Mills Gallery, 7116 E. First Ave., Scottsdale; (480) 421-6644. Her bestselling book, Hard Twist: Western Ranch Women, was released in 1995 by the Museum of New Mexico Press. Her latest book, Holding the Reins, was published by HarperCollins.
"I became aware early in my life of who does double duty on a typical family ranch: the women - mother, wife, widow, daughter, sister or aunt," says Van Cleve, a lifelong photographer who was raised on the Lazy K Bar ranch near Melville, Mont.
"So many of the ranch women whom I knew growing up worked outside. They milked the cows, helped put up hay, helped with the fencing, drove the team to feed cattle in the winter, rode, helped work cattle, and sometimes even roped," she says. "They did all those chores in addition to all the housework of cooking, cleaning, ironing, and, very often, bookkeeping."
Details: 1-(928)-445-3122.
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