O’KEEFE’S PEDERNAL FROM GHOST RANCH, ABIQUIU, NM
Artists and photographers will talk about being mesmerized by certain locations; the color quality, the light. This can be difficult to understand until you have experienced it, then there is this sudden ah-ha moment. New Mexico is one of those places. The endless flat plains between the mountains, the rich warm color of the soil punctuates softly hued sand and sage colored growth, the contrast of mountains rising, the way foliage mimics the diverse colors found in the landscape - all of these combine to create a landscape that draws you in, allowing the individual to feel minute among majestic forms. This sense of being inconsequential is oddly freeing. And then there is the light - harsh yet warm with dynamic changes throughout the day. Is it the particulate matter that hangs in the atmosphere or the incompressible above sea level heights that create this magic?
All of these elements comes together perfectly in Pedernal, painted by Georgia O’Keeffe in 1941 from her Ghost Ranch studio home in Abiquiu, NM. The Cerrillos Pedernal, which means “flint hill”, is a narrow mesa in northern New Mexico that lies on the north flank of the Jemez Mountians, just south of Abiquiu Lake. It was a popular subject of O’Keeffe’s who had her ashes scattered here. The location catches one’s breath and gently blows it away.
OKEEFFE’S BLUE RIVER IS OF THE CHANA RIVER BETWEEN ABIQUIU AND ESPANOLA, NM
Try this article Why So Many Atists Have Been Drawn to New Mexico for insight into why this out of the way place maintains such a powerful draw.
Georgia O’Keefe (1887 - 1986) is arguably the artist most strongly associated with New Mexico. Born in Wisconsin, she studied at the Art Student’s League in NYC and ended up in New Mexico purely by chance. One visit was all it took to make this land her new home. In comparison to her contemporaries, her work was singular in subject matter (often flower abstractions) and style. She was both controversial and highly popular in her own time. Her love of wearing black only gives her extra points with me.
UBIQUITOUS CHILIS AND THE UNIQUE LORETTO CHAPEL
Santa Fe, NM - iconic in so many ways - is New Mexico’s capital city of roughly 83-thousand residents, the 4th largest city in NM and sits over 7,000 feet above sea level, although drive a few miles out of town and you will easily get closer to 10,000. Wonderful restaurants abound, as well as art galleries, cultural venues and its famous plaza market that sells much sought after turquoise and local crafts are all a sampling of what attracts people here. The Loretto Chapel, which opened in 1878, is known for its its unusual 20 feet tall helix-shaped “Miraculous Staircase”. The Sisters of Loretta credited Saint Joseph with inspiring its wooden construction held together by wooden pegs and glue. If you’ve been to Santa Fe, the chances are you have been to the chapel or the weekend art market held on its grounds.
THE INN OF THE FIVE GRACES - SERET’S ONE-OF-A-KIND CREATIVE OASIS
What you would not expect is a multi cultural, eastern oriented retreat in the heart of Santa Fe. The Inn of the Five Graces is a boutique Relais & Chateau hotel retreat, owned and every inch designed by Sylvia and Ira Seret. Each room is completely unique. It’s installed with textiles and woodwork imported by the couple and mosaics designed and physically laid by Sylvia. (The Lavender suite includes a sitting room and kitchenette living dining space that’s worth entertaining in!) The couple is likely best known for introducing what became much sought after middle eastern design in the mid 1960’s. If you are of a certain age, you remember the highly embroidered fur trimmed vests, coats and boots offered by Anne Klein and Oscar de la Renta, becoming so popular it eventually made its way down to the masses. Their nearby store, Seret and Sons, has every imaginable textile, stone and woodworked import that attests to the collaboration they have with designers around the world, as well as their ongoing commitment to being a Silk Road design resource. Their cottage industry efforts begun decades ago persevere to this day.
INTERIOR ACCENT COLORS AND SPRING FLOWERS REFLECT SUN-PAINTED LANDSCAPES
Galisteo, NM - has roughly 253 residents, is 2.5 square miles and is 6,000 feet above sea level. Less then 25 miles from Santa Fe, it is known to be a haven for artists and writers. Simple adobe houses and casitas are surrounded by adobe walls, yet there is a feeling of quite comradery. My friend Jennifer has been slowly restoring a small home with brick patio and casita. Now a print making studio will continue to tempt her from Chicago to this creative and colorful retreat. (If your driving from Santa Fe to Galisteo stop halfway at Cafe Fina for a wonderful assortment of food and to pick up, the most recent silk screened sackcloth towel designs from Kei and Molly .)
BLINK AND YOU COULD MISS IT - BUT STOP AND YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU DID
Madrid, NM - has 204 residents and is about 1.4 square miles along NM State Road 14 - AKA The Turquoise Trail. Hailed as an artist colony, some would say it’s where to go if you cannot afford Santa Fe. I would say make a stop for an authentic unadulterated Southwest moment. The Holler is an indoor/outdoor restaurant directly across from the much larger, boisterous Mine Shaft Tavern that hosts bands and the occasional crawdaddy fest. (Enjoy the music but crawdaddys that far from water might be worth a pass.) Stopping at Range West for the mica flecked pottery, stonework and exceptional exotic woodwork from couple Kathleen Casey and Joshua Gannon makes the trip worthwhile. Wildland Press offers letterpress materials, but it’s Blossom Merz watercolor pallets, hand-ground from locally collected minerals, that will inspire you - even if you’ve never attempted watercolor before. But call ahead (505-629-0763). Blossom is often out of town on concert tours.
PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLIES - FEASTING ON LOCAL SALVIA
Corrales - a village of Albuquerque, NM - has a population of 8-thousand, was founded by Spanish Colonists in the late 1500’s and has long been a center of agriculture. Many of today’s residents enjoy keeping donkeys, horses, llamas and various other livestock and, again, artists abound with printmaking seemingly abundantly present. The Rio Grande Bosque borders it’s eastern edge, providing refuge for native animals and plants. The village continues to maintain its rural character, fighting the nearby intrusion of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. It’s open spaces act as one of the staging areas for the well known annual Albuquerque Ballon Festival. Or simply call our friends the Stockers and they’ll provide the inside scoop. There are a number of galleries sharing the work of local artists and plenty of small restaurants to settle into.
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND HISTORY
Albuquerque, NM - has a population of over 500-thousand - by far the largest in NM and 32-nd most populous in the US. It’s greater metro area (which includes Corrales) has nearly 1-million. It is over 189 square miles and sits in the high desert at an elevation of 5,300 feet above sea level. The city, was founded in 1706 as a Spanish colonial outpost along the Camino Real. Today it is a mixed sprawl of old and new. It boasts a selection of cultural venues and diversity of museums that might surprise you. Besides art and music, there is the well known annual International Ballon Festival in early October. The Albuquerque International Balloon Museum is a fantastic surprise. Dedicated to “the worldwide history, science and art of all types of ballooning and lighter-than-air flight”. You’ll love it. Okay - you might think too much time was spent in the sun, with little oxygen, but I promise that once you try the balloon flight simulator, you simply won’t want to leave. Steve is begging to go back for summer camp!
Then there is the National Museum of Nuclear Scince. It’s not what you think and no matter how much time you have earmarked for it, it’s not enough. It’s a national repository of nuclear science as chartered by Congress to tell the story of the Atomic Age spanning “early research of nuclear development through today’s peaceful uses of nuclear technology.” Besides understanding the international backstory to the Manhattan Project, and the devastation it led to, there’s the opportunity to see how this scientific evolution impacted the world culturally. High Atomic Culture Films (1949-1963) reflected the euphoria at the end of WWII and included action adventure, scince fiction and comedy - including Mickey Rooney. (Am I showing my age?) Exhibits on today’s sources of energy and nano technology will fascinate and of course there’s a direct correlation between truly understanding these exhibits and youth. Next time I’m going with my eight year old granddaughter! And naturally there’s a pervasive nerdy humor that only an MIT grad can truly appreciate, so stop at the gift shop to find a plethora of nerdy humor gifts for that hard to shop for engineer or lovable high tech geek.
New Mexico’s rugged magic was first discovered by Native Americans. These indigenous populations arrived countless decades before Western European populations and have forever influenced its very fiber. Today there are 23 Indian tribes - nineteen Pueblos, three Apache and the Navajo Nation. They understood the power and beauty of this place of extremes in a way few can - except maybe a handful of artists and those who sit quietly enough to let this place tell its story. It’s worth the silence.
