Monday we drove into Santa Fe. My pictures do not give justice to the environment. I was overloading on pleasant desert views with a mountainous backdrop.
The rest of the day we looked around the touristy part of town as our hotel is located within its depths. It was sort of vacant (it’s super cold for this part of the country: lower 50s in the day, around freezing at night brrr). The nutty shop signs and sculptures were awesome.
There are a zillion and one galleries here.
Please note: one of these galleries is the Chuck Jones art gallery, as in the guy that animated Bugs Bunny. I think I know why Bugs tended to take wrong turns in Albuquerque… he lived in the southwest. Sweet. Mom and I browsed the shops and galleries. I found a couple galleries that might like my type of work and a bunch of ones that most definitely would not.
Today, Tuesday, was much less touristy and more people were active. While we did visit the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, we adventured to see active artists and living areas, not just crafts and fine galleries. Santa Fe Clay was the planned destination. That place is really darn cool. Upon entering, more clay tools than I knew existed took up a wall and a half. A couple shelves are dedicated to books on art in general, making forms, glazing, subjects of that nature. Many more shelves have glaze upon underglaze, available both wet and dry, catalogs from several companies for more. Some are just pigments! Sacks of materials for sale. Besides things to buy, there are gallery spaces that I was nervous to walk around with my backpack and the ~not-so-secret~ storage spots that I was super duper nervous to walk around with a pack. I took it off. I talked to a resident artist and the nice in-charge lady (HAH I’m not throwing names around so fucking deal) and we talked about how awesome Ron Kovatch is (okay… maybe a little). A few of his pieces are in their collection. Artist guy with no name showed us their kilns: three “normal-sized” electrics, one baby tester electric outside, and two outside gas kilns.
We accidentally went to
Warehouse 21 while looking for Santa Fe Clay. We spoke briefly with a nice dude in the main office and wandered around. This place is a teen art center… not exclusively for teens but definitely for the youngsters. Work all over the hallways and rooms totally give the inspiration vibe. They have screenprinting, top-notch computers, painting facilities, a recording studio, and a working stage. I remember peavey and bighead speakers, but I didn’t notice the specific model types. The mural that saw us out:
People are friendly here: while I was out running, people smile and nod hello as they pass. Even the probably-homeless dude I noticed from across the way waved a recognition “s’up” and went back to his conversation. Most of the time people treated each other as equals. I say most of the time because while I was running I got catcalled from dudes in pickup trucks — at least they all had the same type of vehicle so I could prepare myself. No escaping the leering no matter where I end up I guess. I’m also still in touristyville, so the people in the area may be a bit friendlier than the norm.
Santa Fe is an odd place. A chunk of it is aimed toward tourists and another chunk is for active artists. Residential areas are sprinkled around it. They coexist, but I didn’t see how integrated and comfortable locals are with the set up. I dig the heavy Native American influence. I’m not sure who’s angry and who’s not. Outside of touristy spa land, it’s tough to tell. Reservations and casinos cover the sides of the highways. The majority of buildings look similar to pueblo dwellings I had only seen in social studies books, from the high class to the little shacks.
Not exactly what I expected from the southwest. Totally intriguing for sure. Definitely has a vibe different from the midwest.
