The title for Land of the Stratus stems from a conversation I had with the then, eighty year old gentleman by the name of App Applegate. During our conversation, App prosaically described the landscape around as " land of the stratus." Stratus refers to class of clouds characterized by a gray, horizontal layer with a uniform base, found at lower altitudes usually below 8000 feet.
I first met App in 2000, on Orcas island, where he was then in the process of building a 100 foot steel Barkentine sailing ship on the side of a mountain (his third-the first was built in New York). App is idealistic, and embodies a rugged, back to the earth individualism. Born in Washington state close to the turn of the last century, he is not easy to label. He is not hippy (different generation); a socialist, not a libertarian (he is a subscriber to Grandma, the Cuban Newspaper) and well educated (a retired chemistry professor, Whitman College graduate, and in his 60's, a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana) to be categorized as a western, working class stereotype, such as a redneck or cowboy. App is basically a composite of a free thinking individual.
Since first meeting App around 2000, the US experienced terrible acts of terrorism, multiple wars, and a collapse of the world economy, fueled in part, by short sided human greed. On the brighter side (we) the United States elected its first African American president, the Human Genome was mapped, and the World Cup was hosted in South Africa.
Soon after meeting App, I married my wife Jesica, who first introduced me to him. Jesica also introduced her mother, Rivkah, to App in the mid 90's, and they have been partners since. Jesica and I had two sons, moved across the country for various educational and teaching positions including in New Mexico, Arizona, Indiana, New York, and Orcas island. From 1997-99, we were fortunate to live full time on the island where spent two years building a house, making art, playing, organizing a school, and being a family.
Land of the Stratus conceptually began that day first day I met App. The photographs for the project have taken on many forms, ideas, processes, tools, conversations, experiments, failures, and learning. Orcas Island has served as my muse and home, both real and imagined. I want to thank App, who is now in his 90's, for his inspiration. I also want thank all those who have supported me with this project including, most importantly, my family.
-Dennis DeHart, 2012
