Virga: The Hunt for Water was a phenomenal exhibition of installations by artist Shawn Skabelund. Each installation was its own large scale work of art using found objects; Skabelund used materials such as 45 garbage bags of Quetta pine needles collected at Dead Horse Ranch State Park, hundreds of charred ponderosa pine logs from burnt slash pines on the Coconino National Forest, and hundreds of thousands of squirrel sticks (peeled twigs dropped by Abert squirrels).

Each of the installations in Virga explored Skabelund’s relationship to specific local ecosystems within Northern Arizona. His hope is that viewers will come away seeing a form of art that they rarely get to see in this area. Skabelund received the Viola Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts at the 2014 Viola Awards for the Virga exhibition.