Poco a Poco

“Poco a Poco” is a woolen tribute to the Camino Aragones, one section of the medieval pilgrimage route known as the Camino de Santiago, which I walked in 2016. On the Camino Aragones, which winds down from the mountainous French border and then through the rural valley of the Rio Aragones, I came across a beautiful stone cairn, carefully built on a wildflower-covered embankment. Stacks of rocks, “cairns,” often serve as trail markers in the backcountry of the United States; their universality struck me as I came upon that Spanish cairn. The craftsmanship of the cairn and the patience of its creator(s) brought to mind the Spanish phrase, “poco a poco,” meaning little by little, reminiscent of my own progress toward Santiago.

In “Poco a Poco,” the dramatic light of mornings in the river valley is remembered with the highlighting and shadowing on the cairn in the foreground. From the horizon, periwinkle peaks rise, streaks of snow still present on their crowns, even in the summer heat.