Four Museums and a Garden: Visiting Museum Hill in Santa Fe

Four Museums and a Garden: Visiting Museum Hill in Santa Fe

Museum Hill is just outside of town, so the average visitor, often overcome by the seduction of turquoise, woven fibers and art in and around the Plaza, might overlook this site which hosts world class museums ranging from Folk Art to Native American pieces.

My advice: Don’t be average!

Tucked away in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, this elegant ensemble of buildings also sports a cafe (with a Sunday brunch and  jazz Friday evenings) and the International Folk Art Festival in July. There are four museums–plus the Botanical Gardens– gathered here.

 

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Click Here To Visit The Botanical Gardens of Santa Fe!

Let’s visit Museum Hill!

 

Museum Hill, Santa Fe: The Four Museums

Each museum is certainly a stand alone entity, but one of the things I find interesting about Museum Hill is that it offers a blend of the history of peoples who have gone into creating such a unique culture in and around Santa Fe.

Though the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, one gets a sense of how the Spanish sensibilities of art and culture have come to be intertwined with modern day living.

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture looks at historic and contemporary Indian culture.

The Folk Art Museum is a quirky museum with a quirky gift shop, that hosts the International Folk Art Festival drawing a global audience of artists and collectors each July. It is said to be one of the best parties in Santa Fe!

And the spectacular jewelry displays at the Wheelwright Museum (and in its gift shop) will more than make up for shopping time away from the Plaza.

This cluster of buildings on Museum Hill is arranged around a beautiful courtyard, that includes stunning sculpture, places to sit and a labyrinth just outside the Folk Art Museum. Plus views of the Sangre de Cristo mountains overlooking the museum plaza. Like all of Santa Fe, it combines history, art and spirit with a depth of soul that celebrates a living, evolving heritage.

 

CancerRoadTrip Labyrinth at Museum Hill

The labyrinth at Museum Hill. Labyrinth walks are held periodically by the Labyrinth Society. More on the many labyrinths of Santa Fe in an upcoming post!

 

The Four Museums

Museum of Spanish Colonial Art at Museum Hill

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe

Designed by John Gaw Meem  in 1930

 

This museum is dedicated to the art of the Spanish colonial period, with a focus on Hispanic New Mexico, and it is fascinating.  It highlights the impact of Spanish influence on the culture of the region. The Spanish Colonial Arts Society, which runs the museum, also hosts Spanish Market. This year the market will be held July 28-29 on the Santa Fe Plaza.

Spanish Market highlights colonial artists in a display of woodcarving, tinwork, colcha, pottery, ironwork and other traditional Spanish art forms which can be traced back over 400 years. It’s part of a weeklong celebration ¡Viva La Cultura! that includes lectures, culinary events, music and more.

The history of the The Spanish Colonial Arts Society  and the Museum goes back to 1913 when author Mary Austin and artist/author Frank G. Applegate officially founded the group. One of their initial efforts was to purchase a church in Chimayo. The church known throughout the world was El Santuario de Chimayo, the Lourdes of America. In 1954, the renovation of the Plaza del Cerro at Chimayo was also spearheaded by this group.

 

CancerRoadTrip Chimayo

Pilgrims to Chimayo often leave crosses in memory of loved ones

 

Through the generosity of an anonymous gift of land and financial help from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. the current museum came to life. It’s a wonderful architectural example fo the Spanish Colonial period (designed by renown architect John Gaw Meem  in 1930) as well as a spectacular collection of Spanish art. It’s well worth  a visit.

Click Here To Visit The Botanical Gardens of Santa Fe!

 

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture at Museum Hill

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe

Entrance to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Museum Hill

The late 1800’s saw a rise in interest in western and particularly Indian culture. The railroad, plus a bit of word of mouth, lured visitors to the southwest. Among the visitors was anthropologist Edgar Lee Hewett who had a mission to study and preserve the Native American artistic, cultural and intellectual achievements. He founded the Museum of New Mexico which later merged with John D. Rockefeller’s Laboratory of Anthropology.

To the side of the main entry is a courtyard where several sculptures greet the visitor outside the building:

 

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe

Museum Hill, like the rest of Santa Fe, is a celebration of art and culture.

 

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe

Bronze outside of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture at Museum Hill

 

And in the main concourse, the stunning Warrior Sculpture:

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe

Warrior Sculpture in central Plaza on Museum Hill

Art is an integral part of the culture in Santa Fe, inspired in part by the 19 New Mexican Pueblos, eight of which are located between Santa Fe and Taos. The history and presence of the pueblos is an integral part to understanding the region.

The Indian Pueblo in Taos New Mexico CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill

Taos Pueblo

 

 

The Pueblo at Taos New Mexico CancerRoadTrip

Close up of sculpture at Taos

 

 

The mission of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology serves as a center of stewardship, knowledge, and understanding of the artistic, cultural, and intellectual achievements of the diverse peoples of the Native Southwest. It’s a fascinating museum for the visitor willing to step off the beaten path.

 

Click Here To Visit The Botanical Gardens of Santa Fe!

 

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian at Museum Hill

The Navajo medicine man, Klah, was born in 1867. During this period the U.S. government had started its efforts to annihilate Indian culture through forced imprisonment and later, for the children, placement in Christian boarding schools.

Luck would bring together Klah, who had a deep interest in the preservation of the Navajo culture with Mary Cabot Wheelright, a sympathetic wealthy Bostonian from the Cabot family. This combined force created a permanent record of the vast knowledge of the medicine man and other Navajo rituals. Weavings, medical lore and additional Navajo traditions have been carefully preserved and are available only to others of Navajo descent.

The joint efforts of Klah and Ms. Wheelwright eventually evolved into the Wheelright Museum. And what a museum this is!

Tucked away just down the road from the main museum plaza, this gem showcases beautiful art and in the Martha Hopkins Struever Gallery, a history of native jewelry traditions.  Don’t let a bit of distance deter you from visiting this museum. In a town brimming with art and history, this is one stop you want to make.

The Wheelwright Museum was founded in 1937 which makes it the oldest non-profit museum in New Mexico. It offers a stunning display of traditional and contemporary Native American Art, including solo shows by living artists, and it is home to the Jim and Lauris Phillips Center for the Study of Southwestern Jewelry which is one of the most comprehensive collections of Navajo and Pueblo jewelry.

The museum offers a blend of history and contemporary artist culture, keeping alive many of the traditions of the southwest and its people. The jewelry exhibit ranges from old to new; from traditional to contemporary; and each piece has a story to tell. Docent tours are worth seeking out. As is the gift shop downstairs which features a range of old and new jewelry, rugs and other items.

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe NM

Necklace by Charlene Reano (Santo Domingo Pueblo) 2006 Abalone, Spondylus

CancerRoadTrip Wheelwright Museum Museum Hill Santa Fe

The traditional squash blossom design has Moorish roots.

CancerRoadTrip Wheelwright Museum, Museum Hill, Santa Fe

A stunning display of older jewelry fashioned by the regional pueblos.

Museum of International Folk Art at Museum Hill

 

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe

Folk Art at the Museum of International Folk Art, Museum Hill

What is folk art? From the museum:

 

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe

Andean hats from the Museum of International Folk Art on Museum Hill

Generally, folk art is ART that:

  • May be decorative or utilitarian
  • May be used every day or reserved for high ceremonies
  • Is handmade; it may include handmade elements, as well as new, synthetic, or recycled components
  • May be made for use within a community of practice or it may be produced for sale as a form of income and empowerment
  • May be learned formally or informally; folk art may also be self-taught
  • May include intangible forms of expressive culture like dance, song, poetry, and foodways
  • Is traditional; it reflects shared cultural aesthetics and social issues. It is recognized that, as traditions are dynamic, traditional folk art may change over time and may include innovations in tradition.
  • Is of, by, and for the people; all people, inclusive of class, status, culture, community, ethnicity, gender, and religion

The museum’s core collection was donated by its founder Florence Dibell Bartlett. Today the museum boasts over 130,000 items form more than 100 countries around the world.

Once a year the Museum hosts the International Folk Art Market:

 

 

Here are a few pictures from this year’s market:

 

CancerRoadTrip Folk Art Festival Santa Fe

The festive entry beckons one into the 2018 Folk Art Market in Santa Fe.

 

CancerRoadTrip Folk Art Festival Santa Fe

All that glitters isn’t gold. Here at this vendor it’s gorgeous silver!

 

CancerRoadTrip Folk Art Festival Santa Fe

Earrings and much more at the Folk Art Market.

 

CancerRoadTrip Folk Art Festival Santa Fe

Color galore!

 

CancerRoadTrip Folk Art Festival Santa Fe

Kites and then some

 

If you go to the International Folk Art Market, you may want to splurge on early morning tickets. They cost a bit more, but they give you entree to the market starting at 7 am, before the crowds, the heat and the afternoon thunderstorms!

 

And tucked away in Museum Hill are the Botanical Gardens:

 

Santa Fe Botanical Garden CancerRoadTrip

Stop, rest a bit. The Santa Fe Botanical Gardens at Museum Hill are the perfect spot for an afternoon respite.

 

Click Here To Visit The Botanical Gardens of Santa Fe!

 

Getting To Museum Hill

The four museums and the botanical gardens are clustered together, just off Old Santa Fe Trail. Exploring the area takes you through some beautiful residential areas, plus gives you the opportunity to sample the local terrain that the early settlers and traders rode as they crossed the country.

 

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe NM

The museums and botanical gardens are all grouped together, just off Old Santa Fe Trail

 

CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe NM

Museum Hill is outside the old part of town, but easily accessible.

 

Public buses, private tours, free shuttles and Uber/Lyft all provide transportation. I recommend stopping in one of the tourist offices to get the most recent information on transportation schedules to Museum Hill. And while you’re there, have some fun exploring the incredible number of things to do in northern New Mexico.

More Reading On Santa Fe and Environs:

The Botanical Garden in Santa Fe 
Winter at Taos Pueblo
The Art, Culture and Beauty of Santa Fe, NM
Abiquiu Art Project
Georgia O’Keeffe Country
PowWow: Gathering of Nations


 

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CancerRoadTrip Museum Hill Santa Fe

 

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Traveling With Cancer: A One Year Anniversary

Traveling With Cancer: A One Year Anniversary

Traveling with cancer presents its challenges but on this day, I tried to see the opportunity. It was Day One of CancerRoadTrip, one year ago.

My first stop was in Sonoma, one of those places I’ve enjoyed for more than 20 years. The rolling hills, the ocean, the lines of grapes wandering over the hillsides all come together to create a small piece of heaven on earth. And don’t forget the oysters and wine!

 

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Traveling With Cancer: Day One in Sonoma

These pictures are from my first day out on Cancer Road Trip, just about one year ago. My car was packed for four seasons. Winter boots were stashed in the Thule carrier on the car’s roof. Summer clothes in a bag in the back.

I didn’t know how to use my camera yet. I hadn’t had time to consider all the dials, settings and possibilities. It was, for the moment, a task not a companion.

Between cancer and business, fair weather friends were long gone and I found myself traveling with the words of Eric Clapton:

 

Once I lived the life of a millionaire
Spent all my money, didn’t have any care
Took all my friends out for a mighty good time
Bought bootleg liquor, champagne and wine

Then I began to fall so low
Lost all my good friends, had nowhere to go
I get my hands on a dollar again
I’ll hang on to it till that old eagle grins

‘Cause nobody knows you
When you’re down and out
In your pocket, not one penny
And as for friends, you don’t have many

When you get back on your feet again
Everybody wants to be your long-lost friend
I said it’s strange, without any doubt
Nobody knows you when you’re down and out

 

 

2018-CancerRoadTrip-Traveling-With-cancer

 

Perhaps being down and out had its positive side. I could move along, beholding to no one. I stopped at Cornerstone Garden to stretch my back; I had a bowl of wonderful mussels in Sonoma for lunch.

Cornerstone Garden Sonoma CancerRoadTrip

Artefact, an architectural salvage place in Cornerstone Gardens that I loved to frequent. It was here that I found that perfectly funky piece of teak root that doubled as a piece of natural art for my backyard. This of course required two round trips, one to buy the piece and another to transport it!

 

Traveling with cancer, CancerRoadTrip

Lunch!

Day One of traveling with cancer was one of adventure, possibility and sadness.

I was still in that in between land of attachment to the events and possessions versus the freedom of the road. Over time, less would become more and the adventure would overshadow the past.

But on Day One of my road trip, nothing was clear. Other than heading to Vashon Island to regroup, I had no idea where I was going to go or what I was going to do. I’d ruled out a lawsuit based on cost and stress.  Half a million dollars for lawyers just wasn’t in my budget. Nor was wasting three years of my life on a group of grifters.

It was once again time to start over again.

My travels through Sonoma covered familiar territory. It was wistful and a process of relinquishing all that had been. As I drove through winding roads and vineyards, I remembered driving similar passages with Whiskey Oscar in tow. I remembered parties at vineyards and weekends with friends.

 

Cornerstone Garden Sonoma CancerRoadTrip

A stop at Chalk Hill reminded me of wine dinners and good times.  The glass structure to the left of the indoor riding rink housed a French limestone fireplace and opened to a patio overlooking the vineyards.

I remembered being without cancer.

And I remember an unforgettable night, in Sonoma, when I received a message that they had misdiagnosed my cancer.

After months of research, I had applied for a clinical trial at Stanford. It was a vaccine trial, where an individualized vaccine was created and placed into your body. The research made sense to me; it wasn’t chemo; I wanted to try it as a first line offense.

I was sitting at a table at a lovely event in Sonoma, enjoying great food and wine. A phone call came in, but I was too slow to pick up. Instead, I retrieved the message:

Stanford rejected you.

Their biopsy results show you have a different type of cancer. 

Call the office on Monday.

I just stared at my phone. A deep, dark pit of doubt and fear opened and threatened to engulf me. It would be a feeling I’d become familiar with as I navigated life with cancer.

The rejection of the clinical trail was devastating. I’d carefully constructed a safety net of data and information to guide me through what lay ahead. I’d researched clinical trials; talked to researchers and doctors; made what I thought was an informed decision.

And it was all for nought.

I was back at the beginning again with no knowledge, no plan, and perhaps no future.

I went through the rest of the three day weekend smiling, chatting, eating and drinking. But it was an out of body experience as the months of research, hope and effort went down the drain. And I still didn’t know what the diagnosis would be on Monday.

As I drive through Sonoma I think about all of this. I think about the comfort that my wonderful bedroom and the wind chimes just outside the window gave me through the various rounds of chemo. I think that it is all gone and I don’t know what to do.

 

Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations.

 

Other than just go forward.

In those early days of travel, I was living on an edge of an abyss. Above was life. Below– I didn’t know and I didn’t want to look too closely. I was sure the stress would manifest itself in a re-emergence of cancer, just as it had before.

After the Rituxan (my personal drug from hell and my first unsuccessful offense against the cancer), the 6 infusions of RCVP (a chemo cocktail used to treat non-Hodgkins lymphoma) every three weeks bought me some time.

But the cancer soon came raging back. A tumor wrapped around my aorta was a source of concern. Another at the base of my skull. And tumors too numerous to count throughout my body.

And now, on the road, traveling with cancer, and quite homeless for the moment, I just didn’t want to go there again, yet I was sure that was where I was heading.

 

When you can’t change the direction the wind, adjust your sails.

–H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

 

Traveling With Cancer, CancerRoadTrip

 

So I battened down the hatches and I drove.

Driving, for me, is simultaneously an act of engagement and disengagement. I drive. The terrain in Sonoma is such that one wears the road, particularly driving a manual transmission. I concentrated on what was immediately ahead. And I entered that wonderful space of now, where nothing exists except the moment.

So started CancerRoadTrip.

Oysters CancerRoadTrip Vashon Island Area

Oysters and Wine

 

Oysters and wine. Trepidation and joy. Not necessarily in that order. A walk on the coast; a visit to beautiful gardens. And a winding road into the country towards an unknown destination.

I find solace and wisdom in metaphor. And on Day One of CancerRoadTrip, traveling with cancer, disappointment and doubt, I definitely needed some solace.

 

One’s destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things. –Henry Miller

 

 

CancerRoadTrip Traveling With Cancer

Traveling With Cancer: From chaos comes order, in time.

 

Life isn’t always easy. There are times when all we know is shattered and unrecognizable and the only option is to somehow move ahead. I’m grateful I was able to trust in the journey, although I had many doubts along the way. But it is paying off, in new places, new experiences and in new perspectives.

And goodness knows I always love a bit of adventure!

My wind chimes may be packed away; my possessions in boxes; but traveling with cancer I find comfort in the words of my ancestors:

 

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
May the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again may the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.

 

CancerRoadTrip Traveling With Cancer

Irish Roadway   Photo Credit: Aranka Sinnema

Happy Anniversary, CancerRoadTrip!

 

More Reading On Traveling With Cancer

SOLD!
Road Trip!
Healdsburg to Vashon
Namaste
Weathering The Storm
Traveling the Timeline of Now

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CancerRoadTrip Traveling With Cancer

 

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory! 

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Visiting the Hoodoos of Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness

Visiting the Hoodoos of Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness

Hoodoo rocks and towers.

Cracked Eggs.

Buttes.

This is Bisti/De-Na-Zen and it is wild. It’s inhospitable, with no water and little to no vegetation. Its combination of mesas, buttes and badlands are intimidating to the uninitiated. It’s untamed except by the winds of time.

 

Hoodoo Bisti CancerRoadTrip hoodoos hoodoo rocks

The Bisti Wilderness Photo Credit: John Fowler

 

 

 Hoodoo Mesa Buttes and Badlands CancerRoadTrip Camping Chaco Canyon and Bisti Wilderness hoodoos hoodoo rocks

Hoodoo rocks in Bisti/Se-Na-Zin Wilderness

 

In its own way it is both soulful and graceful, even in the harshness of mid-day light.

 

Hoodoo Rocks Bisti hoodoos CancerRoadTrip

Photo Credit: Phil Coffman

 

Click here to visit the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Photo Gallery

 

 

Hoodoo Rocks Around the World

Hoodoos are found throughout the American West (and elsewhere). Bryce Canyon in Utah is perhaps one of the best known destinations for hoodoos:

 

Hoodoo Bisti CancerRoadTrip hoodoos hoodoo rocks

Hoodoos, Bryce Canyon  Photo Credit: Ghost Presenter

 

Hoodoo Rocks Bisti Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness CancerRoadTrip

Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon, Utah Photo Credit: Jen Milius

 

 

Hoodoos are also found on the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands of the Great Plains; in the southern Tyrol in Italy; in New Zealand, Taiwan, Canada and France. As well as many other places.

Hoodoos–also called tent rocks, fairy chimneys and earth pyramids– are mainly found in the desert. They are formed through erosion and frost wedging. Frost wedging is a process where melting snow seeps into crevices, and freezes. This action is powerful and bit by bit, weakens and erodes the layers of sedimentary rock. This  relentless process of erosion means that hoodoos have a relatively short geological lifespan.

I had visited the South Dakota Badlands back in 1995 with Whiskey Oscar. I left her on the ground while I helicoptered over the terrain. (It was after all an aviation themed adventure!)

Hoodoo Rocks, CancerRoadTrip

The South Dakota Badlands

 

Hoodoo Rocks, CancerRoadTrip

Looking across the prairie to the South Dakota Badlands

 

Interestingly, on that trip (pre ubiquitous internet access) I didn’t even know that this National Park existed. Driving along Route 90, the prairie suddenly gave way to this curious set of rock formations. I stopped; met two guys with a helicopter (seriously) and we were off! I like to think of that being just another story of travel serendipity.

Serendipity or not, put Bisti/Da-Na-Zin on your more esoteric list of must visits. It’s a most unusual place, and the photo buffs in the audience will just love it. I look forward to returning when the weather gets cooler. Preferably, not on a camping expedition.

Click here to visit the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Photo Gallery

 

More Reading on Hoodoos and Whatnot

The Black Place

This book by Abiquiu artist Walter Nelson continues Walter’s tradition of venturing into land seldom visited. He once took a thousand mile trek into the Arizona and New Mexican desert following the trail of Coronado. You can read more about my meeting with Walter here.

From Amazon:

“Few people have ventured into the remote, uninhabited badlands of the Navajo Reservation in northwest New Mexico known, by the artist who made it famous, as the Black Place. During the 1930s and 1940s Georgia O’Keeffe and her friend Maria Chabot braved the harsh conditions of baking heat in summer, bitter cold in winter, and ferocious winds to make many camping trips to the area that inspired one of the great outpourings of creativity in O’Keeffe’s artistic life. Photographer Walter W. Nelson, who shares with O’Keeffe what writer Douglas Preston calls “a great affinity for geology” went in search of the Black Place twenty years ago and has returned over thirty times to photograph it, first in black-and-white with a large format 8 x1 0 camera and over the last five years, in color with a digital camera. The two seasons of his title refer to the fact that in this region virtually devoid of vegetation, only the presence of snow visually distinguishes the landscape from the non-winter months. Inexhaustible in scope, with geological complexity dating back some 66 million years, the Black Place must be patiently experienced for its mystery and infinitude and deep secrets of time.”


A Journey through Utah’s Bryce Canyon

 

Lonely Planet’s Guide to  Zion and Bryce Canyons

 

 

 

 

Click here to visit the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Photo Gallery

 

More Reading on Chaco and Bisti

Camping in Chaco Canyon
Photographing Chaco Canyon
The Mesas, Buttes and Badlands of Bisti Wilderness

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory! 

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Camping in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Camping in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Chaco Canyon is well off the beaten path. There are no gas stations, no water and no accommodations.

But don’t let that deter you!

I visited Chaco a few weeks ago. It was a camping trip. Now those of you that know me, know that this girl doesn’t camp unless it’s with an RV magically delivered to the site, fully stocked, with clean sheets. Preferably with a nicely stocked wine refrigerator. But, in keeping with my Lessons from the Road, I decided to stretch my comfort zone a bit.

After all, it was only 2 nights and three days.

Surely I could cope with that!

CancerRoadTrip Camping Chaco Canyon map

The route from Santa Fe to Chaco Canyon

Click Here To Visit The Photo Gallery!

 

Chaco is located a little over 3 hours north of Santa Fe. Most of the road is paved, and even the unpaved portions are very drivable. Including the twenty one teeth rattling miles from the highway to the park. Expect washboard, lots of dust and the occasional rock. Welcome to the west!

Chaco interested me primarily because it seemed to continue a theme of ancient peoples and migrations in the American Southwest. Unlike many national parks that are very user friendly, Chaco is very rudimentary. Dirt roads, no shower, no water, camping and not much else.

But what one might miss in amenities, one finds in nature:

CancerRoadTrip Chaco Canyon

Sunrise at Chaco Canyon

 

CancerRoadTrip Chaco Canyon Camping

Wildlife in Chaco Canyon

 

CancerRoadTrip Chaco Canyon

Sunset in Chaco Canyon

 

But first one must make camp.

I managed to borrow everything I would need. I had a very nice North Face Tent that slept six, just for myself. An inflatable pad, a sleeping bag and a collapsible chair, and I was in business.

Except of course, for putting it all up.

But it all came together in time for dinner and sunset.

CancerRoadTrip Camping Chaco Canyon

Photo Credit: Jake Sloop

 

Click Here To Visit The Photo Gallery!

***

Chaco was once the premier civilization in southwest North America. It was built between 850 and 1150, and comprised of numerous villages and buildings connected by perfectly straight roads that ran for hundreds of miles, all leading to Pueblo Bonita. Along the roadways, fires would provide navigation, much as lighthouses did at sea.

The extent of this network and the importance of Chaco as a scientific, cultural and business center cannot be over emphasized.

This was the single largest Anasazi settlement of its day, with five story sandstone and wood buildings and many kivas for spiritual practices.

 

Mesa Buttes and Badlands CancerRoadTrip Camping Chaco Canyon and Bisti Wilderness

 

The area was hunted, farmed and very much alive.

 

“The Canyon pulsated with life.”

 

Camping chaco canyon CancerRoadTrip

Some facts about the Anasazi settlement at Chaco Canyon

 

 

“One hundred years before the first gothic cathedrals were built in Europe, the master architects and stone masons of th Anasazi were building great kivas that could hold 500 people.”

 

From the National Park Service Website:

For all the wild beauty of Chaco Canyon’s high-desert landscape, its long winters, short growing seasons, and marginal rainfall create an unlikely place for a major center of ancestral Puebloan culture to take root and flourish. Yet this valley was the center of a thriving culture a thousand years ago. The monumental scale of its architecture, the complexity of its community life, the high level of its community social organization, and its far-reaching commerce created a cultural vision unlike any other seen before or since.

The cultural flowering of the Chacoan people began in the mid 800s and lasted more than 300 years. We can see it clearly in the grand scale of the architecture. Using masonry techniques unique for their time, they constructed massive stone buildings (Great Houses) of multiple stories containing hundreds of rooms much larger than any they had previously built. The buildings were planned from the start, in contrast to the usual practiced of adding rooms to existing structures as needed. Constructions on some of these buildings spanned decades and even centuries. Although each is unique, all great houses share architectural features that make them recognizable as Chacoan.

Mesa Buttes and Badlands CancerRoadTrip Camping Chaco Canyon and Bisti Wilderness

Chacoan architectural remains at Pueblo Bonita

During the middle and late 800s, the great houses of Pueblo Bonito, Una Vida, and Peñasco Blanco were constructed, followed by Hungo Pavi, Chetro Ketl, Pueblo Alto, and others. These structures were often oriented to solar, lunar, and cardinal directions. Lines of sight between the great houses allowed communication. Sophisticated astronomical markers, communication features, water control devices, and formal earthen mounds surrounded them. The buildings were placed within a landscape surrounded by sacred mountains, mesas, and shrines that still have deep spiritual meaning for their descendants.

…Pueblo descendants say that Chaco was a special gathering place where many peoples and clans converged to share their ceremonies, traditions, and knowledge. Chaco is central to the origins of several Navajo clans and ceremonies. Chaco is also an enduring enigma for researchers. Was Chaco the hub of a turquoise-trading network established to acquire macaws, copper bells, shells, and other commodities from distant lands? Did Chaco distribute food and resources to growing populations when the climate failed them? Was Chaco “the center place,” binding a region together by a shared vision? We may never fully understand Chaco.

Entree to the park  is via CR 7900 and 7950. Twenty one miles of dirt road, a few Indian houses, and sandy mesas keep the timid at bay. The last four miles are rather rough, particularly near the Escavada Wash, but once one reaches the park the road is paved, if poorly maintained. An eight mile loop through the site provides access to all the major archaeological sites and petroglyphs.

 

CancerRoadTrip Camping Chaco Canyon

Detail of the route into Chaco Canyon Source: nps.gov

 

CancerRoadTrip Camping Chaco Canyon

Map detail of Chaco Canyon and the 8 mile loop that provides national park access.  Source: nps.gov

There is one campsite, and reservations are recommended. (It would be a shame to drive all the way out here and be unable to stay. And there are no accommodations for many miles. The closest town is about an hour away.) Plan ahead, check any park restrictions (such as no open fires) and roadway access, and bring lots of water. This is the desert and there is no potable water in the rest facilities at the campsite.

 

Click Here To Visit The Photo Gallery!

 

Part of the lure of Chaco is its mystery. Why was the Chaco chosen as a location?  Why after 300 years did the Anasazi suddenly pack up and leave this hub of spiritual life, science and commerce and move to Mesa Verde, further north in southwestern Colorado?

Camping chaco canyon CancerRoadTrip

Remains of a multi-story sandstone and timber building at Pueblo Bonito, at Chaco Canyon, a UNESCO World Heritage site

 

This short video gives some perspective the largest city ever built by the Anasazi:

 

 

In it’s prime, Pueblo Bonito and the surrounding communities were vibrant hubs of civilization. It’s been speculated that Chaco Canyon was a celestial center for study; it was certainly a major trading post; it had deep spiritual traditions which no doubt traveled with the Anasazi when they departed.

When the Anasazi left for Mesa Verde, the lineage of the people continued, but Chaco did not. The reasons for the disappearance of the Anasazi are not clear. It may have been weather related: as it was for the Santa Clara Pueblo residents who moved from their cave dwellings, east to the Rio Grande as a result of drought. Or their disappearance may have had other reasons.

We may never know the reasons for the demise of this civilization, but the architecture, religion, and ceremonies of the Anasazi have been passed through to subsequent generations. From the adobe buildings that dominate the region, to the traditional Indian dances celebrated at cultural gatherings like the Gathering of Nations, the Anasazi heritage lives on. This history forms a rich tapestry in northern New Mexico that blends native Indian, Spanish and American cultural elements to create a truly unique place, with a deep sense of place that reaches back hundreds of years.

And as for the camping: It was just fine! Cold at night. Relentlessly hot during the day. And a sand storm.

Welcome to the desert!

CancerRoadTrip Camping Chaco Canyon

Sunrise at Chaco Canyon

 

Click Here To Visit The Photo Gallery!

 

More Resources for Camping at Chaco Canyon

 

CancerroadTrip Chaco Canyon Robert Redford

Narrated by Robert Redford

From Amazon:

THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. It is the summation of 20 years of research. The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern throughout a vast desert region. Aerial and time lapse footage, computer modeling, and interviews with scholars show how the Chacoan culture designed, oriented and located its major buildings in relationship to the sun and moon. Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Chacoan people, regard Chaco as a place where their ancestors lived in a sacred past. Pueblo leaders speak of the significance of Chaco to the Pueblo world today.

The film challenges the notion that Chaco Canyon was primarily a trade and redistribution center. Rather it argues that it was a center of astronomy and cosmology and that a primary purpose for the construction of the elaborate Chacoan buildings and certain roads was to express astronomical interests and to be integral parts of a celestial patterning.

While the Chacoans left no written text to help us to understand their culture, their thoughts are preserved in the language of their architecture, roads and light markings. Landscape, directions, sun and moon, and movement of shadow and light were the materials used by the Chacoan architects and builders to express their knowledge of an order in the universe.

 

From Amazon:

Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico contains a remarkable set of Ancestral Puebloan buildings. Occupied between AD 850 and 1150, Chaco appears to have been the cultural and political center for much of what is now the Four Corners region. Many sites in the Chaco Culture National Historical Park have been continuously studied for more than a century. Vivian and Hilpert wrote this encyclopedic handbook to help organize the extensive amount of information available for Chaco, as well as to stimulate speculation and encourage further exploration. The result is a highly accessible but thorough reference.

The Chaco Handbook includes more than 270 cross-referenced, alphabetical entries, more than 100 illustrations and maps, plus histories of Chaco’s development and ensuing archaeological research. Entries address important Chacoan and related sites, place-names, archaeological and ethnographic terms, objects and architectural features, and institutions and individuals. This second edition includes a new preface, a new chapter on professional explanations for the “Chaco Phenomena,” additional entries, and revisions to existing entries. Useful to anyone with an interest in the Ancestral Puebloans, including specialists, this handbook will guide readers to greater exploration of Chacoan culture and the Chaco world.
 

 

From Amazon:

The Anasazi of Chaco Canyon by Kyle Widner.

Perhaps the most fascinating chapter in Southwest history is the tale of the mysterious, “vanished” Anasazi Indians. Their tremendous achievements can be found in many places, including the spectacular cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park. But the crest of the Anasazi wave was in Chaco Canyon, a shallow, windswept wash in northwest New Mexico. Here in Chaco Canyon, 1,000 years ago, strange and unexplained events unfolded; events which continue to intrigue scientists, visitors, and those interested in the Anasazi.

During the years 850-1150 AD, the Anasazi built multi-story buildings comparable in size to the Roman Coliseum in Chaco Canyon. Advanced astronomy, water works, and agriculture flourished. Exotic artifacts from Central America were traded over routes spanning thousands of miles. And after 300 years, the Anasazi carefully sealed everything up, left Chaco Canyon, and never returned.

The Anasazi of Chaco Canyon offers insight into the unknowns of the “Chaco Phenomenon”. In addition, it draws on the latest Anasazi research, personal experiences, and interpretations of oral traditions, leading the reader to a startling conclusion. What happened in Chaco Canyon? Why did the Anasazi choose this foreboding location to construct spectacular Great Houses?

 

More Posts on the Rich Heritage of the American Southwest:

Santa Clara Pueblo: Cliffs, Pottery and Art
Puye Cliff Dwellings: Earth, Spirit, Fire and Art
Photo Mission:Winter at Taos Pueblo
Ojo Caliente, Wind Chimes,and Water
Ojo Caliente Encore!

 

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory! 

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Art in Abiquiu: Visiting the Abiquiu Art Project

Art in Abiquiu: Visiting the Abiquiu Art Project

Serendipity has played a part in the Abiquiu Art Project, located in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

Who could have predicted that five accomplished artists would have independently settled around a mesa, rather in the middle of nowhere, overlooking Plaza Blanca?

CancerRoadTrip Abiquiu Art Project

Plaza Blanca, Abiquiu NM

Never mind that Georgia O’Keeffe painted these curious rock formations decades ago; or that Shirley MacLain owns a ranch down the way. The serendipity of this cluster of talent is at the very least curious, but more likely serendipitous.

But consider the cast of characters:

Abiquiu Art Project CancerRoadTrip

The Artists of the Abiquiu Art Project Photo Credit: Abiquiu Art Project

From left to right:

Frank Shelton:  Painter, Multimedia Artist, Maker of Secret Keepers.

Debra Fritts:  Figurative Ceramicist, Sculptor, Teacher.

Joseph Hall:  Jeweler, Perfectionist, Ring Leader.

Walter Nelson:  Photographer, Painter, Adventurer. (Serious adventurer; see below!)

Doug Coffin:  Of Potawatomi/Creek Heritage, Sculptor, Wine Lover.

Doug Coffin considers this cluster of talent one of those “Paris in the Forties” moments, where intense artists doing intense work have coalesced together.   This wide ranging combination of talent makes up the Abiquiu Art Project. And at the heart of it all is Teresa Toole, who has organized the project which takes a look beyond traditional galleries and museums to experience art where it happens: in the artist studio. Her vision and tireless efforts are once again putting modern day Abiquiu on the map for art lovers.

Abiquiu (A-bih-kyoo) is a quiet village. The Chama river runs through it and along the river are residences, some of which are quite beautiful. And yet next door may be a run down trailer or two. The land’s habitation has been organic, and everyone shares in give and take of this New Mexico town.

CancerRoadTrip

The Chama River early in spring in Abiquiu

Abiquiu is best known for Georgia O’Keeffe’s house, and tours are available if booked in advance. And a new Georgia O’Keefe welcome center has recently opened. But perhaps even more interesting is the current art scene in and around this tiny village.

 

CancerRoadTrip Abiquiu

Route 84 North to Abiquiu

 

Click Here to Visit The Photo Gallery

 

Coming up Route 84 from Santa Fe, one could easily speed by Abiquiu if one weren’t looking for the small town crossroad. The Aboquiu Inn and Restaurant nestles quietly alongside the highway and next door (with gas) is a regional landmark, Bodes.

 

CancerRoadTrip Abiquiu NM

Bodes is the only game in town and it  carries everything from wine to worms (more or less)

 

As their logo says, “here a long time“. Bodes was originally established as a general store –Grants Mercantile– in 1890. Located strategically at the start of the Old Spanish Trail, it was a combination store, post office, stage coach stop and jail. In 1919, Martin Bode ought the store and the rest is history.

Bodes offers lunch, but I have to say my preference is for the Abiquiu Inn. A recent lunch of local trout, perfectly cooked and served with vegetables and masa was just lovely. The green chile stew at Bodes, not so much. But it depends on what you’re in the mood for. Some swear by Bodes. Some by the Inn. I say try both!

Here the typical tourist will usually wander north to Ghost Ranch, Georgia O’Keeffe’s ranch where she painted many of her most famous and iconic paintings. Once there you can take a tour and see pictures of Ms. O’Keeffe’s paintings side by side with the landscape she painted. But before you follow the road more traveled, consider a detour. Consider the Abiquiu Art Project.

Five artists. Five talents. Five galleries. And be sure to bring your Visa.

The Abiquiu Art Project: Walter W. Nelson

“In traveling this visual journey, I have relied on the masters, past and present, for inspiritation in light and shadow, color, texture, form and idea.  I used these inspirations as a point of departure for my voyages into visual delights and mystical realms, my work striving to be present in the moment, to take the viewer “from the without to the within and back to the without again”.

Walter W. Nelson’s studio is tucked off a dirt road just behind Bodes General Store.

 

CancerRoadTriip Abiquiu Art Tour

Walter Nelson’s Gallery on the Abiquiu Art Tour

 

Walter’s art credentials are impeccable. But I was most fascinated by his story and his photography.

One day, some years ago now, Walter and his friend Douglas Preston decided to trace Coronado’s explorations.  Funded by a grant from the Smithsonian, these two men, a horse handler (of sorts), six horses, and a dog that later joined them, set off across a thousand miles of nearly uninhabited terrain in the American Southwest.

What resulted was a most excellent adventure chronicalled in the book Cities of Gold. If you read one adventure book this year, read this. It’s an epic thousand mile story following Coronado’s footsteps from the Mexican border in Arizona to New Mexico. The book includes photography from Walter, with the tale written by his best friend and best selling author Douglas Preston.

Walter’s photography has been part of his artistic endeavorers for decades now. His most recent book takes readers deep into the Black Place a location made famous by Georgia O’Keefe. It’s a harsh desert of two seasons-brutal heat and frigid cold.

Abiquiu Art Project CancerRoadTrip

One of the photographs from The Black Place Collection Photo Credit: Walter W. Nelson

 

His pictures stop you in your tracks. They are stunning; the type of detailed, composed, talented old fashioned photography that no iPhone could duplicate. And his trek to the Black Place is timeless:

“I must have seen the Black Place first driving past on a trip into the Navajo country and, having seen it, I had to go back to paint…. as you come to it over a hill, it looks like a mile of elephants­grey hills all about the same size with almost white sand at their feet…. Such a beautiful, untouched, lonely-feeling place….” –Georgia O’Keeffe

Walter also paints, sculpts and creates stunning multi-media pieces. You can view Walter’s work on his website: WalterNelson.com.

To visit this gallery contact Teresa Toole, Abiquiu Art Project www.AbiquiuArtProject.com 505.685.0504

The Abiquiu Art Project: Debra Fritts

“Working intuitively from pounds of wet red clay, forms appear and stories develop…  Each sculpture is hand built, using thick coils, and fired three to five times depending on the color and surface I am trying to achieve.  I approach the color on the clay as a painter.  My palette is a combination of oxides, slips, underglazes, and glazes.  The form of the piece informs the type of surface treatment.”

Considerably off the beaten path is the studio of Debra Fritts and Frank Shelton (husband and wife).

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

A doorway set in a stone wall at the Gallery of Debra Fritts and Frank Shelton in Abiquiu

Frank describes Debra’s work as a combination of Etruscan, Early Greek and Contemporary.  Her artistic vision as a figurative ceramicist is unique and complex. Layer after layer of clay, various slips and colors create an intricate sculpture.

I asked her if she’d considered bronzing any of her pieces.

She stopped.

“Yes,” she replied. “I’d have to do something with drips of paint on it or something,” she responded thoughtfully. “A lot of times I look at bronzes and I feel there isn’t an edge to it. It’s more traditional and I like a little edge in my work.”

Debra continued on the topic of bronzing. She’d played with idea of taking one piece–perhaps a raven’s head– to Shidoni in Tesuque (article to follow on this historic foundry and gallery), but the foundry closed after the economic downturn in 2008. The foundry still exists, but it has relocated to Albuquerque.

Debra’s creations are one of a kind, from (very affordable) wind chimes made of off white pottery pieces (shaped as wishbones for good luck), hung from old iron horse bits, and intermingled with antique black feathers and woven turquoise strands made from old prayer flags; to her free standing sculptures, which are just magnificent.

 

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

Close up of one of Debra Fritts’ free standing sculptures in her Abiquiu workspace

 

One of the things I am learning in my artistic travels is the depth of experience and expertise, often spanning decades, that is needed to produce a work of art. The piece below is still a work in progress. Debra wonders about extending the wings vs. keeping them clipped; about slips, oxides, underglazes and colorants, each of which get fired onto the sculpture; light vs. shadow on the overall piece. The decisions are seemingly endless and each has a profound implication for the final piece.

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

A work in progress in Debra Fritts’ Abiquiu Gallery

The firing process is done in a carefully controlled kiln environment. Debra prefers a slow firing. After weeks–or more– of work on a piece, she takes her time with this step.

And again, at this juncture, multiple decisions need to be made. At higher temperatures, the clay takes on a darker color. Higher temperatures also mean longer firings. At 1800 degrees it might take 12 hours to fire a piece; at 2400 degrees it could be 16-18 hours.

To say I’m taken with Debra’s work is an understatement. And then, I spent some time with her husband, Frank Shelton.

Visit Debra’s website to see more of her work. To visit this gallery contact Teresa Toole, Abiquiu Art Project www.AbiquiuArtProject.com 505.685.0504

The Abiquiu Art Project: Frank Shelton

“My process of working may best be described by paraphrasing a quote from the late Israeli artist, Moshe Kupferman. “…I first put in emotion and expression. Next, I cover it up. Then, I put in silence…” While, the process and product are important to me, I feel both are dead without passion. It is the passion that sustains me as an artist and human being.”

Frank Shelton is Debra Fritts’ husband, and together they share studio space at their stunning Abiquiu residence. Their public gallery is a quiet, spiritual place that they call “the chapel”.

 

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

Franks work hangs on the wall; Debra’s sculpture is free standing in the gallery called “The Chapel” in Abiquiu

 

While Debra’s work is very expressive, Frank’s work is minimalistic, but do not confuse minimalistic with less than thoughtful. On the contrary, the deep thought and impact of Frank’s pieces are stunning.

In his piece Order = Diversity, part of his Points of Connection series, he explores the tension between order and disorder. He starts by creating a precise grid on canvas:

 

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

The work starts with a precise grid pattern. (Frank Shelton’s Abiquiu Gallery)

 

And overlaying this are layer upon layer of thought and contemplation expressed in subtle color and drawing. The final painting is fascinating, as these two opposite elements create tension in a minimalist setting.

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

Order = Diversity in Abiquiu

 

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

On the left, one of Frank Shelton’s works; on the right, one of his Secret Keepers in his Abiquiu gallery

 

In addition to his painting , Frank also creates “Secret Keepers”, figures of fiber, plaster and concrete. The Secret Keepers are intriguing. I wonder if creating a Secret Keeper might be part of my healing retreats. What secret would you want kept?

The gallery and the property are both beautiful, restful places where many wonderful pieces are constantly being created. It’s well worth a trip to Abiquiu.

Click here for Frank Shelton’s website. To visit this gallery contact Teresa Toole, Abiquiu Art Project www.AbiquiuArtProject.com 505.685.0504

The Abiquiu Art Project: Doug Coffin

High atop the mesa is the gallery of Doug Coffin.

“Coffin has developed a style that suggests a fusion of the ancient totemic forms used by many Native cultures with the abstract and geometric forms of modernism, creating a visual language that relies less on a narrative storyline and more on powerful design metaphors… For me, the spiritual in artwork is essential… As an artist, I use symbols – numeric and geometric – to represent these most powerful elements of life and the universe. My art is about contrast, both in time and space. What interests me are the images that live in the mind long after the reality is gone.”

 

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

Doug Coffin Sculpture in his yard on the mesa above Plaza Blanca near Abiquiu

 

I find Coffin’s sculptures stunning, exotic, yet still accessible. The totem roots speak deeply to my soul, in his sculpture and his paintings. Doug is of Potawatomi/Creek heritage. He is quiet and reserved, and in many of his paintings is a bit of vibrant red, an homage to his Indian heritage.

 

CancerRoadTrip Abiquiu Art Tour

Painting in the studio of Doug Coffin in Abiquiu

 

One of Doug’s current projects is a massive installation of thirty foot totem in Kansas. You can see him standing with the painted model in the poster in back:

 

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

Picture of Doug standing with his model for 30 foot totem installation I this Abiquiu gallery.

The entire gallery is just fun and fascinating. And that includes the bathroom, which is hung with floor to ceiling pictures of Doug with his Hollywood friends over the years. His wife is a well know film maker, and between them, a most eclectic clientele seems to find their way to Doug’s studio.

 

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

Dennis Hopper, among others, adorns the walls of Doug’s powder room I Abiquiu. Check behind the door for Pierce Brosnan and more!

 

Cancer Road Trip Abiquiu Art Project

Celebrities in Doug Coffin’s bathroom I nAbiquiu

Click here  for Doug Coffin’s website. To visit this gallery contact Teresa Toole, Abiquiu Art Project www.AbiquiuArtProject.com 505.685.0504

The Abiquiu Art Project: Joseph Hall

“Aesthetically, my work often centers on abstract architecture and landscapes, and semiotics, but after coming to New Mexico five years ago, some of my work is beginning to show the influence of the desert, geology, and cultures that surround me. I am particularly interested in pushing the idea of “ring”—what a ring can be, while still being wearable. Jewelry at its best is wearable art.”

Joseph’s jewelry is exquisite. The workmanship and detail in each piece is the product of decades of practice. Joseph started designing jewelry over 40 years ago in Seattle where his client list was a who’s who of the Seattle and the technology scene. While he crafts a wide range of jewelry, rings have become his focus. He is a master craftsman, combining visual aesthetics, gems, and creativity with a highly technical background in metals.

In 1980, Joseph published one of the first papers in the United States on the coloring and use of titanium and related metals (tantalum, niobium, hafnium, etc.—the “refractory” metals) in jewelry. He has a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Washington. He has been a Distinguished Member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG), and has taught and lectured at colleges and universities throughout the United States. He also has degrees in science (BS), and urban planning (MS).

Joseph is currently working on an art project considering the concept of a “hyperobject” dealing with satelight imagery in the southwestern Texas desert around the small town of Marfa.

Here are a few examples of some of his incredible creations:

 

Abiquiu Art Project CancerRoadTrip

CancerRoadTrip Abiquiu Art Project

Abiquiu Art Project CancerRoadTrip

Photo credit for rings: Joseph Hall

 

You can see more of Joseph’s creations on his website, RingworksStudio.com. To visit this gallery contact Teresa Toole, Abiquiu Art Project  www.AbiquiuArtProject.com  505.685.0504

 

Click Here to Visit The Photo Gallery

 

More Reading on the Art Scene in and Around Santa Fe:

Inside The Georgia O’Keeffe House in Abiquiu
Inside the Georgia O’Keeffe House: Ghost Ranch
The Not So Quintessential Ghost Ranch
The Art, Culture and Beauty of Santa Fe
Luxor, Egypt From Santa Fe Artist Steven Boone
Photo Gallery of Santa Fe Artist Steven Boone
Puye Cliff Dwellings: Earth, Spirit, Fire and Art
Santa Clara Pueblo: Cliffs, Pottery and Art

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CancerRoadTrip Georgia O'Keeffe Country Abiquiu Abiquiu Art Project

Abiquiu Art Project

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory! 

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Vashon Island: The Photo Gallery

Vashon Island: The Photo Gallery

The Vashon Island Photo Gallery is finally up and running just in time for summer vacation! If you’re heading to Puget Sound, you might like to put this quirky little island located just north of Tacoma on your list of places to visit.

Click here to see the Vashon Island Photo Gallery

 

Vashon Island CancerRoadTrip Cancer road trip

The local farmers market on Vashon Island is terrific.

 

I have yet to write about or organize my pictures from so many places! But they’re coming shortly! And also coming shortly will be our CancerRoadTrip healing retreat giveaways. Sign up below to stay in the know on our progress. (Please know I never share or sell email or contact information. Particularly for cancer patients, I feel that this information is highly private.)

The Pacific Northwest in summer is one of the world’s best places to visit. Often sunny, but not too hot; lots of fresh produce and seafood; and beaches galore. Seattle, I do believe, has more types of berries than any place I’ve ever visited and they’re in abundance during the summer months. Do take the time to visit the farmers markets, on Vashon Island and elsewhere, and buy local!

CancerRoadTrip Vashon Ilsnad

It simply doesn’t get any better than the Pacific Northwest in the summer.

For those of you that have been following this journey, you’ll know that it was the kindness and generosity of some friends that gave me shelter from the proverbial storm. To Jim and Jen, all my thanks. Need a house sitter again this summer?

Click here to see the Vashon Island Photo Gallery

 

More Reading About Vashon Island, Seattle and Environs:

 
Healdsburg to Vashon
What To Do On Vashon Island
Puget Sound, Seattle, and Vashon adventures: Round I
Seattle Farmers Markets: Picking Your Berry Favorites
Oyster Quest
Whidbey Island
The Charm of Port Townsend

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Vashon Island CancerRoadTrip

If you’re interested in learning more about photography (or cooking or film or any number of topics) check out MasterClass All-Access Pass for on-line excellence:

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory! 

Follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and at Anti-Cancer Club.  Connect with me!  I may need a place or two to stay along the way!