adventures
this may read more like stream-of-conscience than a cohesive post, but i’ve just spent 11 days in the desert thinking and looking and listening.
i had long been curious about marfa—a declining west texas desert town infused by artist donald judd’s purchases of many buildings and much land beginning in the early 70s. i was nervous i would be turned off by an overwhelming feeling of high art and high snobbery, but i kept to myself most of my visit, so i did not encounter said fear.
i haven’t spent time in the desert for this long of a stretch before. it’s both smallening and biggening, if you’ll forgive my made up words. to see the horizon everywhere you look—the privilege of space.
my house was something from a dream. a diy shipping container home with heavenly natural light inside and more decks than i knew what do to with all the way around the exterior. i unpacked my art supplies and stacks of notebooks and the dog ran free, quickly learning about “goat’s heads” and other things that stick in paws.
my only social activities were art classes and art tours. i only ate one meal out (pozole). i read whole entire books. friday and i hiked at davis mountains state park in the day and explored marfa at night.
my first art class i took while in town was botanical watercolors at workshops marfa. clara williams taught, and with a gentle and encouraging style. during the class, i thought a lot about how challenging it is for me to slow down enough to notice details. i painted a close-up of a fan palm leaf and had a tiny epiphany (with clara’s steering) about highlights. i also had a larger epiphany, realizing that i’ve messed around with watercolors many times before, and i just don’t love them. and that’s ok. (a few days later, after a tour of donald judd’s art collection, i tasked myself with using up all the watercolor paints i brought in my own ‘homage to the square’ series. and by doing so, realized that on the practice of exploring ideas through repetition: i’m a yes.)
the next morning, i toured “the block,” donald judd’s former home and site of architectural projects and installations. my tour guide, susa, from the judd foundation, was so very lovely, and with her guidance, we explored muted, quiet spaces. no photography is allowed, and i was thankful to be free from my phone. i took notes on a small pad, and it’s already enjoyable to re-read them.
that afternoon, i toured the architecture studio and cobb house, which is where judd displayed much of the art he collected and it has remained. (i questioned: what’s the line between hoarder and artist? i think it’s having enough space to display your lifetime of objects.)
the following day, i took another class from clara—kintsugi. i bought a pitcher and a votive candle holder from the local resale shop, smashed them with a hammer, then pieced them together. absolutely cathartic, and oh! the metaphors abound.
that afternoon, friday and i drove over to a neighboring town, fort davis, on the monday were in marfa. we went on a hike in the state park, and saw some bones—both gathered and in the wild. passing back through the small town on the way home, i stopped for the most delicious chile rellenos…and was also able to purchase 4 pairs of vintage earrings from the resale shop in the front of the restaurant. this should be more common.
the next day, it was back to workshops marfa for a double-header with clara: mark making and portraiture.
in our exploration of mark making, clara encouraged me to think of anything as a paintbrush—natural items or human-made things or even things tied to fingers. that alone was a nice mind-expander…and then we got into crafting brushes. i was enamored with the process of choosing the materials for the brush, handle, and wrap. the objects themselves are perfect items, and then they become a tool once you fill it with paint. the materials, the idea, the shape.
and our portrait class. what a true thrill to learn a new detailed process. like with the watercolor class, i loved the slowing of time to observe distances and shades and angles. i felt deeply connected to the practice, and can see myself doing more portrait drawings simply for the enjoyment.
diving back into the world of donald judd, i took a tour of the chinati foundation. i appreciated the vast space of the former military base, repetition of shapes, the meditative motion of looking at pieces very similar to one another, and as with the west texas landscape in general, the muted colors and volume. we could take photos outdoors, and a captured a few, but i truly love not engaging with a phone for most of a day.
despite the idea of the chinati foundation being a time capsule, sealed up during a specific time when women artists weren’t given much of the spotlight, i couldn’t help but feel slighted on behalf of all the extraordinary women working during the judd heyday. just one woman’s work is at chinati, roni horn’s things that happen again: for a here and a there. i loved her solid copper pieces—they are heavy as hell, a weight usually reserved for male artists.
one tour bonus—i befriended our guide, matt scobey, who later in the weekend showed me his own art and a terrific local art space called z ranch.
friday and i hit davis mountain state park a couple more times, exploring the skyline and old CCC trails, with immense views and botanical delights. i even identified mistletoe growing in the wild—globs of parasitic foliage, that i used to pay WAY to much for at the flower shop during the holidays. and i loved spotting the rock formations that just the day before were referenced as inspiration for robert irwin’s installation at chinati.
one more class with clara—plaster casting. i was slow to warm up to the idea, but once i did, my mind really latched onto the artistic explorations one can experience with plaster. my favorite objects that i made were simple plaster-wrapped branches and a wide stiff cuff for my forearm. after i painted the cuff black with india ink, it reminded me of when i took archery lessons and had to make myself a leather arm guard to avoid intense bruises.
on our last night in town, friday and i walked around marfa under the light of a monstrous full moon. i also created an installation inspired by my time in marfa at z ranch with logistical assistance from matt. it was composed of foraged dried sotul bloom stalks painted with pink spray and wrapped with orange tie-down rope, both of which i found at the local hardware store. i built it by my car headlights after the moon hid behind the clouds, and had to revisit it at dawn to photograph it. i call the piece mark making.
after i photographed my installation during a rainy sunrise, friday and i headed out of town. there was one last sight to see, a half an hour west of town, in valentine, texas. the prada marfa installation. much like bracing myself when i drove into marfa the first day, i was expecting an involuntary eye-roll at this over-grammed site. but, just like my experience in marfa, seeing it in-situ was better than i expected, and i was thankful that people are out in the west texas desert doing things.
