Join SVMoA for an in-person talk with novelist, Judith Freeman, whose essay accompanies Jim Mangan’s photographs in the book, The Crick. Freeman's talk will explore the history of Colorado City, formerly known as Short Creek or “The Crick,” founded in 1913 by an offshoot of the Mormon Church whose members refused to give up the practice of polygamy and instead created their own isolated community. Set against the stunning red rock country on the border of Utah and Arizona, the town forms the backdrop for Jim Mangan’s remarkable photographs depicting the lives of a group of boys who grew up in plural families and created a kind of band of brothers, teenagers who dress as 19th Century mountain men in buckskin clothing they often make themselves and ride out into the landscape to perform feats of amazing horsemanship. She’ll discuss the practice of ejecting young men, known as the “lost boys,” from the community, as well as her own personal connection to the subject of polygamy, the town’s history, and the changes she has witnessed in recent years.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Judith Freeman is the author of nine books, including the novels Red Water and Set For Life, winner of the Western Heritage Award from the Cowboy Hall of Fame. She has also published a memoir, The Latter Days, and a biography of the mystery writer Raymond Chandler, The Long Embrace, named one of the ten best books of 2007 by Newsweek. Her latest novel, The White Mules, will come out next year from Pantheon. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction and lives with her husband, artist Anthony Hernandez, in Los Angeles and on the Camas Prairie in Idaho.
Part of SVMoA’s exhibition Jim Mangan: The Crick
