photo #7160074

The bronze sculpture Sacred Rain Arrow by twentieth-century Chiricahua Apache artist Allan C Haozous depicts the Apache legend of a young man who was given a sacred arrow to pierce a cloud for the purpose of bringing a deluge. Produced in 1988, it is the most famous of the sculptures by the artist, whose surname was anglicised to Houser in the 1930s. The Chiricahua Apaches inhabit desert regions of the American Southwest, where rain is scarce and cherished. Valerie Sobel (Member 53,957) spotted a Cumulus fractus cloud drifting above the artwork at the Allan Houser Sculpture Garden in Santa Fe, New Mexico, US. This fractus form of Cumulus is when the cloud looks frayed and ragged, often because it is barely managing to form. In arid regions like this, such clouds tend to evaporate away again soon after their ragged forms have appeared. Not even a sacred arrow will draw moisture from this cloud