Joe Pachak
Guide and Inspiration for the Utah Projects
Utah Project – Joe was the DCCo guide with Maida to select the earth sites for the Utah 5-week residency in Moab, Utah in 1988.
Pachak, 75, is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, 150 pounds, with white balding hair and green eyes. Friends say he was in good health. While he is known as an avid outdoorsman who sometimes takes spontaneous hikes, it is unusual for him to leave without telling anyone where he planned to go.
Search and Rescue teams are focusing on areas near his Bluff property, where the surrounding canyon systems, washes and unpaved roads that can make searches challenging. Deputies have not indicated any sign of foul play and are seeking community assistance to expand the timeline of his last known movements.
Pachak’s artistic influence
Pachak’s influence reaches well beyond Bluff. Many Moab residents have attended his winter solstice effigy burns, participated in his workshops or encountered his field drawings of Basketmaker and Pueblo rock art in local galleries.
Pachak moved to southeastern Utah in the 1980s, teaching drawing and art history at Utah State University’s former White Mesa Institute. He settled permanently in Bluff in 1989, building a home and studio on an eight-acre property. In 1983, Pachak documented the first mammoth depicted in rock art, later creating a life-sized effigy of a mammoth for the city of Bluff’s annual winter solstice event.
Joe was found dead in 2026 in Bluff, Utah. Investigation continues.