You can’t read about Georgia O’Keeffe in New Mexico without encountering Mabel Dodge Luhan and her home in Taos.

When I learned the house is now operated as an inn and retreat center, it was only a matter of time before we went to stay. Which we did last year (although I didn’t get around to posting about it) … and then again this year.

And really, I think I’ll just let the pictures tell the story, the better to hold my memories.

The main building and common area (click any picture to get an enlarged view) …

The dining hall serves breakfast every morning at 8:00, but I walked over early each day for a fresh cup of decaf …

Listening to the stream babbling along the way …

and the carillon in town chiming 7:00 …

Then circling around the breakfast area to take pictures before the “crowds” arrived …

And peeking out the window to (try to) catch the sunrise …

We’ll be back for more some day.

Gallery Wild – Carrie Wild

Gallery Wild was our first stop on Canyon Road, where we were effusively greeted by the co-owner and his equally effusive (but very sweet) German shepherd. We had a great conversation about the gallery, which included paintings by his wife Carrie Wild …

and about the Canyon Road galleries in general.

One story that he told proved instructive. He said that he and his wife once visited a gallery on Canyon Road where she was asked if she was an artist. Replying yes, she asked how they knew. It was her attire, was the reply. I looked down at my jeans, my hand stitched top, my patchplay bag, and my worn, 10-year old shoes. Well, I thought, they’ll surely figure me out in a New York minute.

Ventana – Mary Silverwood

Our room at the Inn on the Alameda had a beautiful print of a pastel signed Silverwood …

A quick Google search revealed Mary Silverwood to be a well-known New Mexico artist. Which is why I recognized her name and several of her landscapes in one of the Ventana rooms.

An associate had been trailing us as we browsed, in spite of us having “warned” her that we were retired educators in order to temper any hopes she might have that we were “buyers.” Undaunted, she stuck with us. And so it was that she overheard my exclamations of sheer delight upon entering a room hung with Silverwood prints.

Unlike the realistic landscapes, these were surreal interpretations of Chaco, One in particular caught my eye …

resembling as it did a Chaco piece from our own collection by Kim Robertson …

“Let me get you some literature,” our shadow offered. Printed on extremely high quality paper, the article included an image of the piece that had me spell-bound. And I can’t help thinking the associate knew me better than I knew myself, as I could well-imagine indulging in that print some day.

Later on, reading the article back in our room, I came upon a wonderful nugget about Mary Silverwood. On her first visit to New Mexico (she was living in California at the time), she found the light so magical that she realized she would need 20 different shades of blue from her pastel collection … shades she had never before needed. Then she ended up moving to New Mexico … no wonder.

Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art – Chris Turri

Don has long admired Chris Turri, who has inspired his various shaman assemblages …

So the Dominique Boisjoli gallery which represents his work, was our ultimate goal as we walked down Canyon Road.

Upon arriving, we found several Chris Turri pieces out front. The owner came out to greet us and after a brief conversation I pointed to one and asked “How much?” Her answer was so promising that I said to Don, “We have to get one!” At which point Dominique brought it inside …

where we compared it to one Chris Turri after another. I learned what Don already knew: that Turri was a former electrician, that all his works were welded, that the colored pieces of metal were salvaged from cars made in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, that the plasma-carved images were worked freehand, inspired by New Mexican petroglyphs, and that his work was regularly donated to charitable causes.

But in the end, this was the one that Don chose to come live with us …

Corn Maze is sure to bring a smile every time we recall the joy-full path we took to choosing it. But it will also be a memory-keeper of Don’s recent, very scary diagnosis of melanoma … which is what spurred us to plan this very impulsive trip to New Mexico. Fortunately, the trip morphed into a celebration when Don got a call with an updated biopsy result indicating the lesion was a non-aggressive form of melanoma caught at the very earliest stage.

Ernesto Mayans Gallery – Dan Namingha

Full of ourselves after purchasing the Chris Turri, we headed back up Canyon Road toward the Inn. As we passed one gallery after another I asked, “You want to go in?” to which Don repeatedly answered “Nope.”

Until we passed one that had a sign reading “Enter in back” with the words “Dan Namingha” hand-lettered below. “We have to go in,” I insisted.

It was definitely not your typical gallery … cluttered and barely navigable, it was more like a hoarder’s dream/nightmare. But there, sure enough, on the wall was a Dan Namingha. “How much?” asked Don. “Five,” replied the gallerist. A very good price, but well out of our retired-educator means.

“Take a picture,” urged the owner. A very uncommon, very kind thing to offer … an opportunity I didn’t pass up …

And as we left, the owner’s son asked if we were familiar with the Namingha family’s gallery just north of the Santa Fe plaza. “It’s called the Niman … don’t miss it.” We promised we wouldn’t.

Strolling back to the Inn I took pictures of galleries that reminded me of friends, but we didn’t get any closer than the sidewalk …

We had already seen everything we had hoped for … until the next day.

LewAllen – Fritz Scholder

We didn’t limit ourselves to Canyon Road, having read that there was a Fritz Scholder retrospective opening at one of the Railyard galleries. We went in the back door and started looking at paintings that ranged from $60,000 to $125,000.

The associates at the front desk wore suits and ties … and after a perfunctory greeting and the aforementioned assessment of our attire, we were pretty much left to ourselves.

What a show! Although I do find most of Scholder’s work to be disturbing to the point of off-putting, there was no denying there were pieces I could very easily live with. If only we had the wall space …

As we departed, leaving through the front entrance, I spotted a catalog. “Are they for sale?” I asked. “Help yourself,” one of the suits replied.

And pictured on the back was the piece that had held Don’s eye the longest. As if ‘twere meant to be, we got to take home the perfect memento …

Blue Rain – Kathryn Stedham and Rachel Concho

We are fans, and happy owners of a painting by Debbie Carroll, purchased during the early days of the Covid pandemic at our local gallery in Buda. She has had a couple of shows there since, and we happily go to each opening as known “collectors.”

At our last get together, Debbie mentioned that she was going to New Mexico and we chimed in that we, too were headed there. “Don’t miss seeing Kathryn Stedham’s work at the Blue Rain Gallery,” she advised. And so we went. And did indeed love her work …

But my eye was drawn to the shelves of Pueblo pottery … and in particular to several seed pots by Rachel Concho. “Do you have any others?” I asked the associate whose desk was nearby. And thus began an extended conversation that ended with our purchasing this beautiful pot …

It was made at Acoma Pueblo by an artist who was born in 1936 and continues to work to this day. Originally part of a collection that was acquired by one Mr. Dalby over a lifetime, the pots are now being sold posthumously by the gallery.

And as we talked with Todd Scalise, we discovered he knew Debbie Carroll, having recently met her at a Kathryn Stedham opening. It’s a small world after all.

Evoke – David Alexander

The time on the parking meter was running low, but we took the time to watch a video about David Alexander the better to understand his works in the gallery …

then headed to the Niman as our last stop.

Niman – Dan Namingha and Arlo Namingha

Some Santa Fe galleries (many, in fact) are more like museums than retail enterprises.

So it was that we entered the Niman Gallery and admitted to the two women at the front desk that our goal was simply to appreciate the beauty of the work hanging there.

We were told that photos were not allowed, but that we could find images of all the works on the website, some of which I am placing here for memory’s sake …

And as Don and I sat on a thoughtfully-located couch and gazed at this painting …

we were approached by the gallery manager, who was surely wondering what was taking us so long to return to the front entrance. It turned out she was Dan Namingha’s wife and we had a delightful conversation with her about the Namingha family’s gallery.

At last we headed out, but not before I treated myself to a long look at an exquisite little piece that had caught my eye upon entering. Knowing I would love it, I had saved it for last …

like dessert for an art lover.