Artist Towns? (Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Silver City: income, income tax, places to live)

[mortimer]

Dancingearth mentioned:

> Somehow I felt a whole lot more creative where the sun shines versus
> in this pouring rain enclosing me in a tiny trailer. So you believe that
> your surroundings don't affect your art?

No, I didn't say that. I said that located in New Mexico you will have surroundings that will be conducive to art.

I don't imagine that Ms O'Keeffe would have done such great work in the conditions you described.

There is pretty much no place in New Mexico that isn't great for art. Some places might be better/worse at some times.

You and anyone else still need to be true to whether you are basically an introvert or extrovert.

[ontheroad]

Don't know if out of state folks know about this newsletter, or in-state folks either, but I always enjoyed getting it, and just got it today:

Artisan | Art Supply Store

[Dancingearth]

Originally Posted by mortimer

Dancingearth mentioned:

> Somehow I felt a whole lot more creative where the sun shines versus
> in this pouring rain enclosing me in a tiny trailer. So you believe that
> your surroundings don't affect your art?

No, I didn't say that. I said that located in New Mexico you will have surroundings that will be conducive to art.

Ahhh...I misunderstood.

It's a mess out here. Came home early so I could see if the roads were flooded. Came across two cars left in the road where it had flooded earlier. Suppose to get more tomorrow. Ceramic studio was leaking--fortunately everything had been bisque fired. Rain turning to showers and more rain storms tonight. Oh boy. I wonder what Georgia would have painted. Probably would have used a lot of green paint.

[Bougainvillea]

Taos, and Northern New Mexico, is a state of mind and if you are seduced by the romance of the West, it is an extraordinary place to be. The scenery, the people, the history, the rustic charm, the powerful landscape and the village itself make it unique in the West. It is one of the last authentic places in New Mexico. I lived in Taos a year and I adore it, but the isolation IS a problem. You would have to run down to Santa Fe or maybe Espanola to stock up on art supplies periodically. There are good museums in Santa Fe and maybe some of the top galleries in the country. It is the third largest art market in the country now. Corrales is a compromise between the rural atmosphere of Taos and one's need to be near a city (Albuquerque) but it there is nothing in Corrales that compares to to beauty of Taos and it is a community of wealthy retirees from the Midwest - very little authenticity left. Housing is as expensive in Corrales as in Santa Fe, meaning, over the top! SMU has summer courses in Taos that are quite good.

[Bougainvillea]

Think about Todos Santos in Mexico. It's an artists' community and an old Mexican village about an hour's drive up the coast from Cabo San Lucas. Dusty little Mexican village, but quite charming, with an international community. Tiny. There's also San Miguel de Allende, in the state of Guanajuato - well known internationally, of course, and not cheap, at least, in the historic center. But lots of artists, tons of Gringos. There are some towns on the outskirts where housing is still cheap and artists are congregating. After that, Antigua, in Guatemala. Fabulous place. Sixteenth century town, utterly beautiful, plenty of Americanos if that's what you require, very international community.

[Bougainvillea]

Housing in New Mexico is ridiculously overpriced and people pay a lot to live here - that's just the way it is. Kind of like California. There is no place on earth like northern New Mexico, though. It is just the most powerful, magical and beautiful place you can imagine. There's no place like it if you are inspired by landscape. But don't go there if you need to be close to your art supply store. The trade off for being there is that you have to drive an hour and half (from, say, Taos, to Santa Fe) to buy things. So you have to stock up. Which can be an issue when the roads are covered with snow! You can't have everything.

[dracul]

Everything is relative in the end. Compared to housing in Colorado and Hawai'i, the two places where I've spent most of my life, housing in New Mexico...at least in Southern NM...is ridiculously cheap!!! Portland, Oregon, where our daughter has recently purchased a small but "premium" land parcel for a king's ransom, is REALLY over the top!!!

[Bougainvillea]

This does not apply to northern New Mexico AT ALL. Santa Fe and Taos are both extremely high, on a par with California. Corrales is the same. Any cursory glance at MLS listings in these places will give you a good idea of the market.

[dracul]

I'm sure you right about these areas. Quite the reason why we have absolutely no interest in them at all, despite the considerable artist proclivities in and around Taos. From what I've seen of Taos and Santa Fe they are both fast becoming prototypical tourista towns indistinguishable form Lahaina, Maui, The Loop of Chicago, Fisherman's Wharf in San Fran and hundreds of other "Happening" cities/regions/villages that have sold their respective souls for the almighty buck. One size pretty much fits all

[tito]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Thanks for your response.

Yes, it would be lovely if one of the giants moved into the State (Blick bought out Art Stores throughout the country) and Jerry's Artarama has been expanding its operation.

If I had the capital I'd to open an art supply store myself!

And, Georgia O'Keefe and many others wouldn't have objected to a local place to buy paint and!!!

I have seen many art supplies stores closing down in many cities, because they cannot compete in prices with the Internet stores. I have used local stores in some places, to buy emergency stuff, but 99% of my painting supplies come from Internet stores.