For the sake of art and adventure, George Carlson drove to the end of the road, and then kept going.

He was in the remote Sierra Madres Mountains of northwestern Mexico, a rugged landscape of high plateaus and deep, mysterious canyons. The year was 1973, and Carlson, a well-educated artist who had studied anthropology at the University of Arizona, was on a challenging quest: He would photograph, sculpt and paint the elusive Tarahumara Indians, a tribe that still lived in traditional fashion and followed age-old customs.

"And this is some of the wildest country you can ever imagine," Carlson said.

Rattling along in a 4x4 truck, he and Mario Parra, a fellow artist and guide from Juarez, Mexico, journeyed to faraway settlements, meeting the Tarahumara and recording their lifestyle. The terrain was so rough, Carlson recalled, it would sometimes take 10 hours to travel 45 miles.

"Eventually I got to know a few of (the Indians)," he said. "The first ones who would always model for me were medicine men, because they wanted to test their medicine against my medicine."

Carlson made several trips to Mexico, usually camping with the Tarahumara for two months at a time. He watched them hunt, fish, eat and drink. On holidays he saw remarkable ceremonies and dances. For sport, the Indians would run mile upon mile, kicking a small wooden ball as they loped through the desert.

One race Carlson witnessed covered 120 miles, and lasted for 12 hours.

Inspired by his surroundings, Carlson created wax sculptures, oil paintings and pastels of the people he encountered. His images evoked the strength and spirit of the Tarahumara - their chiseled bone structure, their elegant dance movements, the way a spear fisherman would stand over moving water, motionless, his weapon poised to strike.

As Carlson continued working his collection grew, and eventually the sculptures were permanently cast in bronze.

"Under the heel of civilization, this unadorned and unpretentious culture would be lost," Carlson wrote in The Tarahumara, a published anthology of his artwork from that period. "This world, a little place in Old Mexico, is in itself a work of art to be treasured and preserved as a priceless masterpiece."

The artist has embarked on many journeys since then. He now lives on Black Lake with his wife, Pamela, in a uniquely beautiful home. Still very busy, the 70-year-old Carlson has turned to painting full time, but his studio - a renovated Masonic temple in Harrison - is filled with artwork of every kind.

Carlson is a multidimensional artist. He can mold clay or wax, paint with oils or watercolors; he can take almost any medium and create something of singular beauty. That diversity, the broad range of his skills, is a product of both exceptional schooling and a willingness to study his craft.

"To me," Carlson said, "life has always been an educational process."

His mother was a classical pianist, a very artistic woman in her own right, and when Carlson was a boy growing up in Elmhurst, Ill., he would often go to the symphony in Chicago, where he would listen to the vibrant sounds of the orchestra. Other days he would explore the famed Art Institute on Michigan Avenue, pondering some of the finest artwork in the world.

"It was a good place to be from," Carlson said of the Windy City. "I just practically lived at the Art Institute."

Ready to become a serious artist, Carlson attended the American Academy of Art, the Art Institute itself and finally the University of Arizona.

"There's a lot of knowledge in learning how to do art," Carlson explained. "There's a tremendous amount of things you've gotta know."

For the next 40-odd years he labored primarily as a sculptor. He ventured among the Tarahumara and other Native Americans, crafted magnificent bronze horses and re-created the graceful lines of New York City ballet dancers.

The quality of his work attracted many admirers, and his reputation grew. He attended countless exhibitions, won dozens of awards. Former Sen. Barry Goldwater once purchased three of his sculptures; movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger owns a Carlson piece, and so does Oprah Winfrey. His creations appear in public and corporate collections across the country.

Just a few miles down Interstate 90, in Spokane, his heroic-sized sculpture of St. Ignatius of Loyola greets students and visitors at Gonzaga University.

Among art aficionados, George Carlson is well-known and highly respected.

"George just has such a complete dedication to art as both what he produces and his whole lifestyle," said Steve Gibbs, owner of The Art Spirit gallery in Coeur d'Alene, where many of Carlson's works are on display. "I've shown George now for 12 years, continuously. He's probably as knowledgeable and studied as any artist I have ever met. He's amazing at how he can do all the mediums at such a high level."

In recent years, Carlson has shifted his focus to oil painting, predominately landscapes and other natural scenes. On work days, he spends about an hour in the morning preparing his pallet, mixing blues, greens, reds and yellows to form the perfect colors. Then he picks out a brush and begins painting.

The process is meticulously thought-out. Carlson likes to be prepared; he never paints without planning each step beforehand. It is by no means an impulsive process.

"Every brush stroke has a shape, and that shape has a value - meaning is it light or dark - and that value has a hue, and then is it high chroma or low chroma?" Carlson said. "And then the other thing is, what is the texture of that paint? You don't just go in there. You have a plan. This all leads, believe it or not, to freedom. So when I start to paint, I don't have to stop. You don't waste time. You have absolute production."

At the studio last month, Carlson was preparing to ship a few oil paintings for a show in Los Angeles. He had just put on the finishing touches.

"Sometimes I use brushes - but sometimes I use my fingers, sometimes I use sticks, sometimes I use some pretty wild tools that you would never suspect would go into a painting," Carlson said.

One of the L.A. paintings, titled "The Offering," portrayed a deer that a hunter had skinned out - a representation of the relationship between mankind and nature, Carlson explained. Another piece showed a marsh hawk flying low over rolling Palouse plains. Elsewhere in the studio, a number of "starts" - the beginnings of paintings - awaited Carlson's hand.

"Every day is different - every single day," said Pamela Carlson, who organizes the studio and helps run the business side of things. "And I think it's a very full life. Very full. Every thing he does I like for different reasons. I especially enjoy the oils. And I like the nudes he's done."

Several of Carlson's horse sculptures, Native American bronzes and landscape oils can be seen at The Art Spirit on Sherman Avenue. He was recently a featured artist at the Small Artworks Invitational in December.

"I'd have to say, for me, I exactly picked the right career," Carlson said. "Something between a career and a calling."