CEDAR FALLS - When Ron and Crit Streed travel, they like to go off the beaten path.

During a recent trip to Guatemala, the couple climbed ancient temples, visited the villages of indigenous peoples and conquered mountainous terrain to catch a glimpse of the country's rare national bird, the green-tailed quetzal.

Seeking authentic experiences was of utmost importance to the Streeds. After all, it would be those moments that shaped their art.

Crit, a University of Northern Iowa art professor, and Ron, a retired Cedar Falls school district art teacher, both used their time abroad to practice their passion. Crit, on a UNI professional development assignment, completed drawings and video art installments. Ron practiced his pen and ink technique while helping develop an art program in a Guatemala City middle school.

Ron lived in Guatemala from July 2006 to June 2007. Crit visited the Central American nation from July 2006 to August 2006 and from December 2006 to June 2007.

Their work - although abstract, is colored by their time outside the U.S. Crit and Ron Streed explain how the trip transported their artwork to a new dimension.

How did your experiences in Guatemala influence the pieces you created?

CRIT STREED: "Neither of us work directly from observation, but being in another culture did affect the pieces I worked on. My work is affected by what I go through and my experiences; how I am relating to the world during that time. As a visual artist I began to see changes in my work. Weather, nature … we became very aware of that."

RON STREED: "When we were in Guatemala we decided to see as much as we could. We went to lots of places that tourists just don't get to. And I think our pieces are dressed with some of the experience which was attained."

How so?

RS: "We became very interested in the artifacts, the textiles, the buildings that the Mayan or Mesoamerican culture had been responsible for. … It was very exciting for me visually as an artist. Many of the carvings and ceramics are all decorated and embellished with Mayan symbols."

CS: "I really saw the influence in one of the first pieces ("The Architecture of Drawing") that I worked on. Ron and I were living in this 14th floor apartment in Guatemala City when I first came down in July. We were perched so high up in this building. You could see the bustling city, this amazing landscape beyond the city boundaries, and the volcanoes. Turbulent clouds would pass by our balcony."

RS: "Just an amazing view"

CS: "Right. And I would just spend the day working, in that environment. And, simultaneously, on the news it was the time when the Israel conflict was just escalating. So, on the one news channel we got, I was constantly seeing all this destruction. The piece that came out as a result was really about my whole interrelationship with the kind of nature experience I was having (in Guatemala) and what was going on globally. It was really a fragmented piece, and that's how, with the move, my life felt."

And how did the trip influence your art, Ron?

RS: "Like Crit said, we both work abstractly. But there were some drawings I did in Guatemala that were not representational, but very, very connected to our experiences. … One I made after we visited the temple of Tikal. We were there on a very auspicious date because it was the winter solstice. We climbed up to watch the sun rise. It was absolutely unexplainably fantastic."

CS: "Even the guides were getting their pictures taken at the top because it was such an incredible sunrise."

RS: "This big fiery globe came up and you heard the howler monkeys in the rainforest below. … It was absolutely earth-moving. You got a respect for a reason those temples were built. So yes, I did a drawing that was directly related to that because it was such a monumental experience."

Why is it important for artists to travel? To explore new places?

CS: "For me, with the PDA, it's just such a gift to not have distractions, interruptions, other things that have to be attended to. I'd get up in the morning, have my coffee, and work 'til probably 4 or 5 in the evening."

RS: "You really get a close, personal experience with some of the things that you only see in books. It's always extremely valuable to get an outside perspective on something that is completely foreign to you. … It's a beautiful thing to experience another people, a different orientation, a totally different landscape."

Contact Mary Stegmeir at (319) 291-1483 or mary.stegmeir@wcfcourier.com.