Santa Fe, New Mexico
February 13–14, 2022
February 13–14, 2022
I drove up north to Santa Fe specifically to hang out with fellow VCFA MFA in Graphic Design alum Mary Hanrahan, also residency & exhibitions coordinator for the program and an overall stellar human being. I was a little concerned about braving the winter temps in the northern part of the state, but the sun shone brightly, and I’m so glad I went. Santa Fe is beautiful. Even the parking garages are beautiful!
Mary and I met at Cafe Pasqual’s for lunch, then we took a bit of a stroll so she could show me around the old downtown. I was in the market for a wide-brimmed hat that was funky but wouldn’t make me look like a total tourist doofus. I fell in love with an orange suede “Indiana Jones”-style hat with an interlocking leather brim and a few strands of leather hanging off the back. It’s comfy, keeps the sun off my ears, and garnered multiple compliments from strangers later in the day.
I was excited to visit the Museum of International Folk Art, and it was as fabulous as I’d hoped. Italian-American interior designer Alexander “Sandro” Girard spent his life collecting folk art from all around the world and eventually donate over 100,000 pieces to this museum. So many gorgeous textiles! So many creepy dolls and masks! So much cleverness and such bright colors! The special exhibit on Japanese yōkai (encompassing a broad range of supernatural monster/spirit figures, from what I understand) even included a little haunted house behind a curtain.
That night, I “camped” in the parking lot of the main government buildings (quite safe, and no one chased me out!), and the next day I rose early and took the dogs on a long photo walk around the city. I stashed the dogs briefly to go inside the Loretto Chapel, whose ornate staircase apparently was the subject of an old episode of Unsolved Mysteries!
The last thing I did before leaving Santa Fe was to experience the wonders of Meow Wolf. Friends have raved about it, and I knew that fellow VCFA alum Luke Dorman works for them, so I wanted to see it for myself. At first, “The House of Eternal Return” seemed like it would be underwhelming, like a halfhearted escape room with lots of blacklights. Oh, me of little faith. I kept exploring, and within half an hour of arriving I was fully immersed. There were music, video, lighting, sound effects, aroma, fog, tactile and visual textures, winding spaces to crawl through and emerge into someplace completely new that made no sense spacially and yet somehow existed, and a narrative that irked me at first and then completely won me over. It felt like Meow Wolf tells its designers, “Think of something weird and silly, and then make it. And then make it work,” and then gives them the freedom to do so. After two hours in the space, my brain and senses were full to bursting, so I headed out and got back on the road.
Mary and I met at Cafe Pasqual’s for lunch, then we took a bit of a stroll so she could show me around the old downtown. I was in the market for a wide-brimmed hat that was funky but wouldn’t make me look like a total tourist doofus. I fell in love with an orange suede “Indiana Jones”-style hat with an interlocking leather brim and a few strands of leather hanging off the back. It’s comfy, keeps the sun off my ears, and garnered multiple compliments from strangers later in the day.
I was excited to visit the Museum of International Folk Art, and it was as fabulous as I’d hoped. Italian-American interior designer Alexander “Sandro” Girard spent his life collecting folk art from all around the world and eventually donate over 100,000 pieces to this museum. So many gorgeous textiles! So many creepy dolls and masks! So much cleverness and such bright colors! The special exhibit on Japanese yōkai (encompassing a broad range of supernatural monster/spirit figures, from what I understand) even included a little haunted house behind a curtain.
That night, I “camped” in the parking lot of the main government buildings (quite safe, and no one chased me out!), and the next day I rose early and took the dogs on a long photo walk around the city. I stashed the dogs briefly to go inside the Loretto Chapel, whose ornate staircase apparently was the subject of an old episode of Unsolved Mysteries!
The last thing I did before leaving Santa Fe was to experience the wonders of Meow Wolf. Friends have raved about it, and I knew that fellow VCFA alum Luke Dorman works for them, so I wanted to see it for myself. At first, “The House of Eternal Return” seemed like it would be underwhelming, like a halfhearted escape room with lots of blacklights. Oh, me of little faith. I kept exploring, and within half an hour of arriving I was fully immersed. There were music, video, lighting, sound effects, aroma, fog, tactile and visual textures, winding spaces to crawl through and emerge into someplace completely new that made no sense spacially and yet somehow existed, and a narrative that irked me at first and then completely won me over. It felt like Meow Wolf tells its designers, “Think of something weird and silly, and then make it. And then make it work,” and then gives them the freedom to do so. After two hours in the space, my brain and senses were full to bursting, so I headed out and got back on the road.
