Artist Towns? (Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, Ruidoso: look for a job, school, live in)

[rstrstx]

Bougy

So you got to check out South Texas? Am curious which area you liked best. And yes, you can't get any closer to the heart of Mexico, Monterrey is very close (much closer than any big city in TX) and most places deep down in the extremely beautiful Huasteca region are within a day's drive

[New Mexico]

Magdalena N.M. you have to be solitary, there are Artist there.

[lemon&lime]

Truth or Consequences did not strike me as very artsy the couple of times of visited but it is still a very cool town. There are a lot of hot springs spa type places. The area is much calmer and spiritual in my opinion than Santa Fe. The summers are probably unlivable but fall when I visited was majestic. I would move there if I could figure out what to do about money.

Sierra Grande Lodge & Spa - Home

[Pintada Kid]

Remember from the middle of N.M. to northern N.M. winters start in October and end the End of May. Some nice small towns that are artist places can be found in the East Mountain area and summers there rarely get to 100 degrees and close to Albuquerque. One Small Artist town that comes to mind is Mountainair another one is Ruidoso in cold weather country. Alamogordo and Carrizozo and Roswell are in warm weather areas. el pintada kid

[iriegirl]

Just checking in....
Dancingearth, how are you doing in Santa Fe? Hope your pottery is coming along well. You are surely right about the PA turnpike, totally bumpy , and huge turns, and we were driving in ice and snow, and it was a mess!
We are finally selling our house, and making the move. Of course, I'm still not sure where we're going, which seems to upset everyone, except us. :-)

Ontheroad, Hope you are doing well in PA, I think you guys got a LOT of snow this year, we were out to Indiana again in Feb and it was storms both ways.
How is the art scene out there? Are you painting? If we can sell soon, we will be 'on the road' to NM soon. My dh does want to check out CA though, see his family in san diego, and look around for work. Not sure if there's a 'art town' feeling there.

Hope everyone is well, and now that there are more sites to sell online, is anyone selling art ? Maybe it's not so important to find an 'art town ' now? Maybe just a good town, some inspiration, good weather, and with a good vibe ?

[Dancingearth]

I was just thinking of you Iriegirl and wondering if you had found a place to live.

Santa Fe is beautiful as always—I love the land here even though I miss dear friends in Olympia. The job is going well and doing exactly what I want it to do--pay the bills so I can continue playing with clay without stressing about how to pay the rent. I go to work and then to the clay studio for 2-5 hours each night.

The house share I found on craigslist is wonderful -- great location about a mile from the plaza with lots of room—I’ve unpacked and organized my stuff and now that I have a good job again, bought a couple of new pieces of furniture to help organize the stuff. My house mate tells his friends “she made it into a house.” He means home. Now if I could get him to organize his stuff in the garage so I can setup my wheel out there I’d be set--how do you motivate a guy? He promised he’d do it when I was moving in and I asked last weekend if he’d start but so far nothing. So I put my wheel on the back patio facing a wonderful view but could not get myself to put my hands in water with the cold breeze….brrrrrrr. So off to the studio I went. I might just move his boxes over myself and put my wheel in front of them tomorrow morning because the studio doesn’t open until noon on Sundays and I haven’t thrown anything since last Tuesday (aghhh….clay withdrawal A friend is building a wedging table for me and I’m eyeing the stainless steel workbench at Sam’s Club for a glaze mixing station. My goal is to get everything for a studio except a kiln and when the train gets running consider buying a house with a garage closer to ABQ or talk my boss into letting me telecommute somewhere cheaper and stay in a smaller community—maybe somewhere warmer too.

I love walking around Santa Fe—if I could get a studio setup at the house I would walk to work everyday except when I need to take pots to the studio. I hear they have music every night on the plaza in the summer and I have to walk through there on my way home. I might not want to move!

I don’t think selling stuff on the web replaces having an artist community. If I’m feeling unmotivated I go to the studio and look at what other people are doing or just talk with creative people and pretty soon, I have more enthusiasm and ideas. Last week four of us went out for drinks after class--it was wonderful. One was an ex-professor from the college I attended in WA and now a visual artist who was offered an artist-in-residence here and has an installation at the Smithsonian soon. Talking about art was fabulous. Friday I went down to the East Mountain area and visited a friend who is a ceramic artist and stopped in at the clay studio down there. They are starting a clay guild and have 60 people on their list but it is only for people that live down there. I’m glad to be here with other people who have a passion for creating. Tomorrow I'm visiting another old friend who has ventured into making videos since I last saw her five years ago. Life is good in Santa Fe.

I think you don’t need an artist community in order to sell anymore although I think it must be more fun. On the way home today I drove through Madrid. It would be great to have a studio/store space in a small town with other artists to help draw in people. I’m going to have to eventually figure out a way to sell this stuff when I get better because I only have so much room for pots and strange sculptures. I started edging a garden bed with the little pots I threw and tested glazing on. I thought of using them like pottery breadcrumbs lining the trail going down the arroyo but my housemate was concerned someone would follow them up. So I only put one to indicate where I need to turn up the hill and I put a stone in it every time I walk to town and back.

OnTheRoad—I was wondering how you are doing too. Did you get your book started? Do you like the area? Have you made new friends?

Iriegirl – good for you for going for it! Let us know your adventures.

P.S. Look - I'm so excited - it looks like a real bowl and the bug on the cup didn't get covered up by the glaze. Just got these out of the kiln today.

[Towanda]

Love your pottery, Dancingearth. Very lovely!!

[Dancingearth]

Thanks Towanda.

[iriegirl]

Dancingearth,
wow! You sound wonderful, so different from before, I can hear it in your post.
I'm so happy for you that things are working out well. Your place sounds like a dream.

Santa Fe seems like a great place for artists and other folks too. I have been reading a blog of a girl living there, with her artist husband, and they have been traveling around in an Airstream. They stopped there for a while, and the photos she posts are beautiful.
Her blog is called ' Full Hook Ups', look it up if you have a minute.(on blogger.)

I think I'd love it there, but my dh is really wanting to go to a warm place, so maybe somewhere a little more south in NM.

Your pot and cup are pretty! I am envious of you working in the studio everynight! sounds so great. I have this big house here, and room,and yet, I think NJ is just not the place for me, I just haven't been painting at all. not really sure why.

Anyway, Thanks for writing back, Great to hear from you. Good luck and Keep up the good work, you are surely an inspiration to me. :-)

hope Ontheroad is faring well too.

[catman]

Dancingearth: Those are beautiful. If those are representative of your work, you should do quite well.