Tag Archives: Santa Fe

Vacations

Exploring Taos

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Central SquareIt seems the longer we are here, the more we find little gems hidden in various corners of this city. I’ve really grown to love this place. When we told people we were coming to Santa Fe, their first response was always, “Why?” The simple answer is that Pam and I love to travel, and we haven’t been here before, so why not? After all, we were born on this earth, so where ever An Earthshipwe are, we are home.

The long answer is that for a long time I’ve been fascinated by a place near Taos, New Mexico that is a community of quirky, offbeat artistic types who have built “Earthships” that are completely independent of society’s infrastructure. I first saw/heard about it when Dennis Weaver (McCloud of TV fame) got involved with them well over 30 years ago.

An EarthshipAll electricity is generated or captured from the sun. Waste systems simply recycle everything. All water used in the home is captured rain water. The homes themselves are built with recycled goods like tires, rammed with earth, stacked on top of each other like bricks. Then bottles are inserted in the walls to create a stained glass effect, then covered so the final product looks like adobe homes. No tires are visible in the finished homes. The thermal mass created by the tire walls allows each home to heat and cool without other heat/cooling devices. They even grow their own food since each home basically has it’s own hothouse.

The Rio Grande GorgeTruly, it’s an amazing place. But to get there, we needed to drive through Taos, and then cross the Rio Grande Gorge. That was as stunning thing to see too. Since we haven’t seen the Grand Canyon, this must be pretty darn close! Wow – that’s one big hole in the earth! There is a bridge to cross, and you can get out and walk it… and lots of people were doing it… very very cool.

Vacations

Canyon Road, Sante Fe

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Pam and some bearsToday we decided to head over to Canyon Road. It’s a street that is completely dedicated to art galleries and shops. There are a couple of antique dealers, but most are galleries – traditional oils, water colors, sculptures. There is every style you can imagine, Impressionist, modern, traditional, Western, Oriental, Cubist.
Mark Twain and guest
There were lots and lots of huge bronzes – life size horses, pigs, buffalo, dogs of every breed imaginable, cowboys sitting on their horses, Native Indians in full regalia. There were life size statues of children, adults, and fantasy characters. A life size Mark Twain, clutching a copy of Huckleberry Finn,  made an appearance, sitting on a bench.

WhirligigsBronze Native AmericanThere were these fascinating wind devices – a whirligig for lack of a better word. They ranged in size from three feet high to twenty feet at least. Some ran with water, some ran pumps to move the water, some needed as little as two miles an hour of wind speed to get them to move, some were brightly colored, while others were in a patina-ed copper color. One seller had a whole field of them – literally hundreds in one location. Completely fascinating to sit there and watch them turn. This movie should give you a good idea of how they looked.

BhuddaThere was Oriental art – Buddha lounged on the grass, sat cross legged or towered above us. Hand knotted rugs and complex Thai textiles were featured in another gallery. This picture of Bhudda’s face was on a statue at least 20 feet high. You might be able to see it briefly in the movie above.

Native AmericansPam was most fascinated with the animal bronzes I think. She loved the ones of dogs and cats and turtles and bears and bison and coyotes and… well you name it, and it was done in bronze. But this bronze of a couple of Native Indians was probably her favorite. The details on the bead work on the moccasins and jacket were exquisite – all done in bronze mind you!

Bronze dogWe had a light lunch at Cafe Grecco’s, right on Canyon road. It was an Italian sub, which was really a paninni with lots of pastrami, beef, and cheese. Very tasty, with a locally brewed root beer.

 

Vacations

Roaming around Santa Fe

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Public art, Santa Fe, New MexicoSanta Fe has really surprised us with the amount of art that is EVERYWHERE! Every corner you turn, every street you walk, every building you enter, artwork is just there. It makes this city very pedestrian friendly. You can stroll anywhere and just admire the Georgia O'Keefemany many works of art.

We started the day by checking out the Georgia O’Keefe museum. It’s a smallish building, with about six galleries. They cycle the works on display every few months. The majority of works on display today were on loan for this exhibition, so no photographs were allowed of the works on loan. We managed to take a few of works that were part of the permanent collection, and were allowed to be photographed. She seems to be have been a bit anti-social… One quote displayed was “I wish people were all trees and I think I might enjoy them then!”

Georgia O'Keefe paintingShe moved to New Mexico from New York City where she was an up and coming artist. She wrote about New Mexico, saying, “When I got to New Mexico, that was mine. As soon as I saw it, that was my country. I’d never seen anything like it before, but it fitted to me exactly. It’s something that’s in the air – it’s different. The sky is different, the wind is different. I shouldn’t say too much about it because other people may be interested and I don’t want them interested!”

Georgia O'Keefe paintingShe was a risk taker – coming to a place that was quite wild, by New York standards. She trudged about the mountains, alone, carrying her easel and paints with her, finding vistas that inspired her. A pretty cool woman, and damned fine painter.

Tree outside Georgia O'Keefe Learning CenterJust across the street from the museum, is an education center, that contains her archives, and is a teaching center for students of art to learn technique, use of color etc. It’s a wonderful building, with lovely landscaped grounds with a beautiful old tree out front. I caught the sun peaking through the branches.

Chapel, Santa Fe After seeing the museum we wandered toward the main square and were struck by all the fascinating buildings we saw. The adobe construction is just cool to see. Love this one of the church. It feels like I’ve seen this kind of church a thousand times in old western movies. And here it sits, still in use!

Public art, Santa Fe, New MexicoAs we wandered, we took more and more shots of more and more bronze sculptures. Public art, Santa Fe, New MexicoIt seems no building is complete in Santa Fe without four or five bronzes surrounding it. And some even have them on the roof! How about this dragon surrounding the whole building? Is that cool or what?

Santa Fe, New MexicoAfter walking around for a couple of hours, we got in the car and discovered a place called Canyon Road – it’s a place where there is – wait for it – a lot of art!! No really – it’s kind of an artist’s enclave. There are loads and loads of art galleries, sculpture galleries, antique shops and outdoor whirly gig displays. We’ll be coming back here tomorrow for a stroll.

Public art, Santa Fe, New MexicoWe then took a drive up the canyons above Santa Fe. Beautiful homes are nestled in the cliff fronts. It’s part of the Santa Fe National forest and the road leads to one of the local ski hills. Here’s a brief movie Pam took as were ascending the road.