Geoffrey’s talents in bronze casting, stonework, carpentry, and welding are truly exceptional in their diversity. Each feature of the pond and wetland was meticulously designed and crafted to be appropriate to the area as well as functional and durable over the long term. Although there was a rudimentary pond and wetland in the space, they were poorly constructed and had deteriorated beyond repair. Geoffrey considered all aspects, from mechanical to aesthetic, of how to create a new pond and wetland that would better serve their ecological, interpretive, and aesthetic purposes. He set to work and, regardless of the particular task or the tools needed to complete it, he did everything with precision, finesse, and a passion for creating something inviting and beautiful for the community.

Geoffrey carved and cast naturalistic bronze bas-reliefs of a red-winged blackbird and a great blue heron, applied a patina to them, and riveted them to boulders he shaped to frame the path to the pond and wetland. After excavating the pond with a backhoe and jackhammering the solid basalt at the bottom to deepen it, he used an excavator to position large, carefully-chosen boulders around the pond’s edge and to build the waterfall. Through the boulders at its base, he carved a channel to direct the flow of the waterfall to attract wildlife with its sound and for maximum aeration of the pond. He shaped the surface of the overall space into swales and slopes to hold stormwater runoff from the parking lot in the wetland and keep it separate from the pond, and a muddy shore to capture tracks of animals coming to the pond for water. Finally, he built a boardwalk with railing to provide a safe place to observe the pond close-up. Geoffrey also installed filters, pumps, and piping to keep the pond water fresh, and tweaked the system until the water stayed clear.

The pond and wetland are emblematic of the culture and spirit of our community, conveying a deep affinity for nature and encouragement of the curious child within all of us. As the first features people see as they approach the Environmental Education Center, they are a compelling invitation to pause, become aware of the surrounding environment, and explore the science behind it. Small signs linked to web pages explain the role both features play in ecology and conservation.

Geoffrey’s work interprets the natural world to visitors, cultivates an interest in science, and promotes conservation on a subliminal level. Because the park is free and open to everyone throughout the year, residents and out-of-town visitors can experience the pond and wetland at any time, based on their individual interests. Birders appear at dawn and dusk, seniors and dog walkers pause by it on their daily rounds, students read by the waterfall, and local families picnic on the boardwalk. International visitors appear now and then, having searched for a local park on their smartphones. The pond and wetland have become rare and treasured amenities for those who live in the surrounding underserved and student neighborhoods, and a consolation to the unsheltered who camp along nearby Sinclair Wash.

Yearly, over 1,200 children and adults will enjoy the pond and wetland as they participate in regular programs and special events at the Willow Bend Center. On-site programs include monthly Science Saturdays, such as the annual greater Flagstaff-wide Sustainable Buildings Tour, as well as workshops for teachers, classes for adults, and field trips for schoolchildren. Geoffrey himself leads wildlife tracking workshops for the Center. The eighty children who enroll in NAU’s two annual summer sessions of Bug Camp will especially appreciate the pond and wetland as places to observe and collect aquatic insects and larvae.

Geoffrey collaborated with the Willow Bend Environmental Education Center, Arizona Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Friends of Willow Bend Gardens, Brian Painter head of Northern Arizona University’s Sculpture Department and fellow County Parks staff on a vision for the AWWE project. Based on their contributions, he designed the pond and wetland and worked with the county wildlife planner to obtain Heritage Fund grants for supplies and materials to complete them as well as his related AWWE work. He welcomed help from volunteers, including the Friends of Willow Bend Gardens and the American Conservation Experience, on various aspects of the multi-year AWWE project.

The Outdoor Classroom and the Viewing Platform are two other AWWE features Geoffrey created in collaboration with Willow Bend educators, Friends of Willow Bend Gardens, and Tinkergarten’s Christina Molinaro. Inspired by the Children’s Nature Play Area at the Highlands Center for Natural History, the Outdoor Classroom is a wildlife-themed play space for young children and their parents. Geoffrey cast a naturalistic bronze raccoon, titmouse with a hidden nest of eggs, horned lizard, deer mouse, long-horned pine and Pinacate beetles with hidden larvae, and a roundtail chub—he carved a large stone bowl for the fish—for children to find as they explore the space. For their parents, he built a wooden bench using old-world joinery, and a shelf to hold natural objects such as wood blocks and pine cones for the children to use in creating imaginary habitats and other designs. He also pressed molds of wildlife tracks he made while exploring the area’s forests and wetlands into the classroom’s concrete sidewalk.

For the ADA accessible Viewing Platform, Geoffrey created a wrought iron, ornate railing to keep visitors safe and attached bronze casts he made of wildlife skulls and tracks to it. He pressed more animal tracks into the concrete of the platform itself.

Among Geoffrey’s other artistic contributions to the Habitat Gardens at Willow Bend are the bronze casts of wildlife tracks in the Ponderosa Ramada, the solid limestone bird bath ornamented with mosaic tiles, and the ever-fascinating sundial (also hewn from a block of limestone) with its intricate iron gnomon, cast Roman numerals, and perfect alignment that uses sunlight and shadow to accurately tell the time.

For the path to the playground in Archuleta County Park, Geoffrey designed and welded flip-frames for the Storybook Trail (which is a collaboration with the Flagstaff Literacy Center), created the sculptures Don Quixote and Ascent to Babylon, and made Legacy, a very large mosaic that covers the amphitheater wall.

Perhaps the most wonderful aspect of Geoffrey’s work is the way it captivates children and gentles busy and distracted adults, coaxing them to slow down and delight in the natural world. The pond and wetland have become the most admired of Geoffrey’s many works of art at Archuleta County Park, all of which he initiated and completed as labors of love for the community. His creation of the pond and wetland are yet another example of how Geoffrey goes far beyond the requirements of his role as Natural Resource Supervisor for the Coconino County Parks and Recreation Department.

This show brought together an invigorating and imaginative cast of performers from every corner of Flagstaff’s creative community to create a one-of-a-kind robotic, apocalyptic, sultry, and sensational experience. Android Dre hosted an incredible circus of robots that captured an unbelievable array of whimsy and talent, from spoken-word poetry, to alluring belly dancers, to aerialists delicately balancing one another on and through a rotating metal cube, to hypnotic poi, to the neon cityscape and live-painter framing the stage, singers, musicians, drag queens -nearly naked and painted silver, the list goes on. One nomination wrote “Robot Apocalypse brought tears to my eyes, joy in my veins and love in my heart!”

Photo by Jake Bacon

A graduate of Coconino High School, S.E. began playing blues in high school bands. He developed proficiency by playing in local and state clubs. He later joined Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste (original drummer for the New Orleans band, The Meters) for a 3-year stint playing New Orleans funk, blues, and zydeco. After that, he joined the Elvin Bishop band, touring nationally and internationally for 17 years. This band was named Band of the Year in 2015 by the American Blues Foundation in Memphis.

In Flagstaff, S.E. Willis has played an important role in providing platforms for blues musicians and educating audiences on blues form. In 1984, he joined Delta blues artist, Tommy Dukes, in launching Monday Night Blues, a weekly blues jam at the Weatherford Hotel that continued until 1992. He has also joined efforts with Flagstaff writers to form unique collaborations that feature original music and storytelling. As early as 1999, he began working with members of NAU’s Creative Writing program for performances featured during the Northern Arizona Book Festival and for other occasions. He branched out into collaborations for radio as a guest host for Sunnyside Radio’s Words and Notes, working with Flagstaff writers and Creative Writing students to produce several 2-hour programs that ran from 2019 – 2021 (the files for these programs are large but are available on thumb drive). In the summer of 2021, he, along with writer Ann Cummins, created a performance for Theatrikos Theater’s Live from the Theater Basement series (link provided).

Willis has been a permanent resident of Flagstaff since 2020. He plays regularly at Charly’s in the Weatherford Hotel and has been a featured player in regional music clubs for the last two years.

In 2022, S.E. won the Northern Arizona International Blues Challenge and reached the semi-finals nationally in Memphis in January, 2023. He was the headliner for the Flagstaff Music Festival in Heritage Square on September 10, 2022. This festival, the first in what promises to be an annual event, celebrates local musicians. He has been working with Dr. Bob Sellani, former president of the Northern Arizona Blues Alliance, in ongoing efforts to promote blues in northern Arizona; he regularly joins the Saturday Blues jam in Belmont.

Sonja is currently the band and theater director at Northland Preparatory Academy. During the pandemic Sonja coordinated an online portal for student learning and made herself invaluable in student successes.

In 2022 Sonja’s band students at NPA won first prize at Coconino Center for the Arts Youth Arts Battle of the Bands.

In Sonja’s words. “I live in two worlds of art. My day job as a band and theatre director in a public school and my second job as an artist and maker. Sometimes the two worlds collide and the art I make is for the stage play I am directing.”