Maureen Wilks Digital Fine Art

I arrived in New Mexico from Great Britain in 1987. I was lured to the Southwest by images of canyons, cacti and sunny skies. Born in America , I was whisked back to the academic towers of Oxford by my British parents when I was 3 months old. Summers were spent scrambling around the rugged Scottish highlands, where I became fascinated with rocks and their origins. After receiving a B.A. in geology from Oxford University I headed west to the wide open plains of Saskatchewan to pursue an M.S in geology from the University of Saskatchewan.

After three freezing Canadian winters I decided it was time to head for warmer climates. A lifelong desire to see the desert southwest brought me to Socorro where I completed a Ph.D. in geochemistry from New Mexico Tech in 1991. In 1990 as I was completing my Ph.D. I met my husband, Bob Macleod, an electronic wizard, snake lover and chicken chaser. In his spare time Bob has been rescuing and relocating rattlesnakes from around Socorro for over 30 years. We share our house with a 26-toed puttycat, Mittens, and in the summer months with the local lizards, snakes, spiders, toads and other creepy crawlers.

We often keep the snakes we come across or rescue in cages for a week or two so that we can observe their varied personalities and I can safely take their pictures.  We always set the snakes free where we found them or in the cases of relocation well away from human habitation. In the winter months we like to play in the snow, heading to the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado, our favorite winter destination.

Since 1995 I have been working part-time at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources.  I currently serve as the Geological Librarian and oversee the Geological Information Center, which has a specialized library, including an extensive map collection on the geology of New Mexico . In 2000 I collaborated with photographer Thomas Wiewandt in producing The Southwest Inside Out : An illustrated guide to the land and its history.