Friday, March 5, 2010

Following the Rio Grande


We followed the Rio Grande up into Taos today and saw the actual artifacts, paintings and structures discussed in our lectures. We first stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge where we got an up close view of the rift the Rio Grande etches through the valley. Many come here for the white water rafting. Some of us chose to walk across the gorge on a very cold, windy trek. It was disconcerting to look down into the gorge and walk at the same time.

From the Gorge we traveled to the Millicent Rogers Museum, which held a wonderful collection of jewelry, retablos and pottery. This was somewhat of a serendipity for me because of my Fairhaven, MA connection to Henry Huttleston Rogers, Millicent's grandfather. He built and donated many beautiful buildings in Fairhaven including the Millicent Library.

Next we visited the Taos Pueblo where a brief tour gave us an overview of the history and lifestyle of the pueblo. There are about 1000 Puebloans living here with about 40 living in the old section. We had about an hour to wonder through the area. Many of the members of the tribe have studio/shops where they sell their own works of art. While the place was fascinating (it has been inhabited more than 1000 years), it was so alien to our way of living that I felt I was in a foreign country.

From the Pueblo we went to Taos and visited the Ernest Blumenschein Museum. He and Bert Phillips were the founders of the Taos Society for Artists. Actually, the museum is the Taos home of Blumenschein which his daughter donated upon his death. The home held his works as well as his wife's, daughters, and other prominent artists of the period.

The day culminated with two more stops, the Hacienda de los Martinez and the Ranchos de Taos Church. The Hacienda has been restored to the original state and was a good example of an 1804 ranch. BUT I was most thrilled with the Church which has been the subject of numerous paintings, most notably Georgia Okeefe's. She painted some 15 works of the Church.

We ended the day back in Santa Fe with a nice dinner and farewell to all. I'm please to report that it was a great experience with interesting and nice people who enriched the experience. Tomorrow we go where no LaGue has gone before, the Texas Panhandle.