About BCS Project
Mission Statement
The BCS PROJECT was formed to record what remains of Utah’s threatened world-class prehistoric Barrier Canyon style rock art. The photographic inventory and documentation will reside in the Special Collections Division of the Marriott Library, University of Utah, and will be the first complete record of prehistoric rock art accessible to the public. The PROJECT is also committed, through its Outreach Program, to increasing the chances for its preservation by increasing the public understanding and appreciation of Utah's prehistoric art.
Summary overview of BCS PROJECT, major program areas, brief history, and major accomplishments.
Alarmed by the natural deterioration and vandalism of Utah’s culturally significant prehistoric rock art and understanding that there was no effort to record the totality of what was left of the State’s premiere ancient rock art style—the Barrier Canyon style; the BCS PROJECT was formed by David Sucec (Director) and Craig Law (Photographer). As can be managed, documentation has continued since 1991 (a non-profit since 1992) —392 rock art sites with Barrier Canyon style images have been photographed (the total number is estimated at more than 400 perhaps as many as 500 sites) as of April 2014.
The most critical and time-sensitive goal of the BCS PROJECT is to create a photographic inventory of all Barrier Canyon style rock art images and sites before further degradation occurs (two more panels were vandalized in 2010). The complete documentation will be housed in the Special Collections Division of the Marriott Library, University of Utah, as a record of the prehistoric style and a resource for scholars and will be accessible to the public.
The BCS PROJECT has also undertaken a Public Outreach Program (lectures, exhibitions, and publications) designed to advance the study and to facilitate the public’s understanding and appreciation of Utah’s prehistoric rock art. The preservation of these irreplaceable prehistoric images depends, above all, on appropriate human interaction—an individual can, in less that fifteen minutes, do more damage to a rock art panel than three or four thousand years of natural weathering.
The Project recently concluded a small exhibition in the Utah Arts Council Traveling Exhibition Program, Utah’s First Artists, which has been in various State venues since 2002 and continued until April 2010. In August of 2010, we initiated a new exhibition, Ancient Painters of the Colorado Plateau, also UAC/TEP. We have also participated (David Sucec/Curator and lecturer) and Craig Law/Photographer) in the Center for Documentary Arts exhibition, Sacred Images, which has been traveling throughout the State since 2007.
May 2008, Craig Law, Project Photographer was awarded American Rock Art Research Association’s Oliver for excellence in the art and science of photography in the service of the study and appreciation of rock art. (BCS PROJECT photographs).
In March 2005 issue of Smithsonian Magazine, an article with photographs covering the work of the Project was published.
In 1994, the Project received the National Geographic Society (NGS) Research and Exploration Committee Director’s Grant. At the time, it was the first NGS grant to be awarded to Utah in more than 25 years.
In 1993, a major exhibition (90 prints) of BCS PROJECT photographs by Craig Law was displayed at the Utah Museum of Fine Art (09/05/93 – 10/17/93). An associated exhibition of Archaic artifacts was mounted by the Utah Museum of Natural History and three programs of scholarly and art historical lectures were pres in association with the exhibitions.
In 1991, David Sucec received a Utah Humanities Council Fellowship in "recognition of superior scholarship and for increasing public appreciation of the Humanities" for the BCS PROJECT.