MARFA: A POINT OF ENTRY

What about Marfa?

I recently had the pleasure of taking a spontaneous road trip the Marfa, TX. The small and quirky town of Marfa is known mostly for Donald Judd, who came down from New York City and created some minimalist sculptures in a field. He seemed to find his creative groove in that sleepy town and so I have often thought of going there to see what it was all about and why it has become such an artist destination since then.

bathtubs in years MARFA

Mexico, Me, and Marfa

old, patched up adobe, rustic door MARFA

If you’ve read anything here so far, you’ll know, I spent a good number of years living in Mexico. Not the desert part of Mexico but the lush and beautiful Pacific Coast of Mexico. There were things I learned and experienced in that life that are an integral part of who I am as an artist.  There is a sort of slow and happy lifestyle. It’s a sense of learning to be happy with what you have. There is sun, tropical rain, jungle, and mountains. There is a lot to appreciate without the need for material luxury. For a while, we lived in a little apartment overlooking Zihuatanejo Bay and I had a neighbor who was an interior designer. One day, she mentioned to me that she knew some surfers who lived in La Saladita, a small local surfing village. She was enamored with their minimal lifestyle. Bright-eyed, she explained to me that they had very little because their lives were about surfing. They had a couple of shirts, a towel, a couple of bathing suits, one set of sheets, a backpack, etc. in their little surf shacks and they just lived to connect with the water and to surf. I have always been intrigued by that idea and for a long time after, I accumulated very few things.

When we moved back here, we had three kids, four boxes, and a couple of suitcases. Years later, I found myself once again caught up in the allure of ‘things’ as is customary here in the States. Recently, I have been embracing minimalism again to be more efficient, to clear my mind, and to get immersed in my artmaking. For me, Minimalist Art connotes a return to what is visually simple to connect more with what is important. It is simple and raw. It is a rejection of what is traditionally thought to be beautiful and artistic in order to embrace something completely alternative. Nature, simple forms, and the use of unconventional materials help us focus on the important aspects of the creative journey we miss when we are overwhelmed by tons of visual detail, drama, and stuff. The lack of drama in minimalism is what makes it visually and conceptually dramatic. I miss that life and am working to get back to it. I want to immerse myself in the materials and the process of things and stop thinking about always wanting more, at least in the material sense. I want total focus. I want to silence the voices that tell me to buy more, to have more. Those voices distract me from the important things.

         I have been wanting to visit Marfa for a while now. Like many artists, I’ve read stories discussing Marfa’s mystical allure for creative people and I’ve seen photos of art inspired by this small Texas town. Since I started my art career, I’ve always wondered: Why? My significant other has heard me talk of interest in going for a couple of years now so several weeks ago, when we had a few free days, he suggested we go see Marfa. Of course, I was on board for this spontaneous adventure, so we made some hotel reservations and packed up the Subaru, dog secured in the back seat, and away we went.

My Marfa Experience: Not What I Expected but Made It Work

We live in South Texas, and it still takes us close to 8 hours to get to Marfa. Two years ago, we took a road trip through New Mexico and Colorado and still didn’t go to Marfa because it would have caused hours of detour. In fact, getting to Marfa is about like being a artist, you must want it very badly because it isn’t easy.

We arrived on a Monday evening and left early Thursday morning. I’m starting with that statement because the timeframe of our trip seriously affected our experience. To put it mildly, unless you show up there during the week of the Marfa Invitational, it is highly likely everything will be closed for the most part. There may be other good times when everything is open but I am clueless as to when they are. Of course, I made this bed by traveling ‘spontaneously’ so I don’t have the luxury of being mad at anyone about it. What we found upon arrival was that most places had limited open times Monday through Wednesday, if any. Thursday through Sunday in late March had plenty of open places but most of the more notable galleries and foundations required appointments or tours. Because of that, even though we could have stayed another day, I decided on a different plan and to forego galleries and foundations altogether.

In case you are unaware, I am not a fan of the structured visit to anything. I absolutely hate tours of any kind and I don’t like the pressure of having to see art “by appointment”. Of course, this is a strategy to have only serious buyers take up the time of those running the galleries and to exclude those who are simply interested in seeing and being inspired by art. It is a very clear message and I understand why. For me, this model doesn’t work because; 1) I am an artist and can’t afford to buy art ‘by appointment’, and 2) I want my retail and museum experiences to be organic. I want to be drawn in and pulled from one thing to another naturally down a path of enlightenment (not trying to be dramatic here). I want to experience life in the same way I make art. Yes, there is a plan but it is a loose plan which allows me to get lost in the process of things and just be immersed.

This is the bed I made but how I lay down in it is a choice I get to make. So, in a quest to figure out what the draw of Marfa is, I took out my camera and started looking for interesting things to photograph…..and there is plenty. Also, silence…..there is plenty of silence and a long sweeping desert landscape if you stand at the edge of town. Also notable: a big sky with lots of stars.

stop talking MARFA

It is a cool little place, to say the least. There are lots of interesting details everywhere. It is easy to see how minimalist artist Donald Judd found a place for himself there and managed to help put it on the map as an artist destination. The silence, lack of pretense, and ability to just be alone with your creative thoughts without thinking of the outside world are a strong pull for creative people. It goes back to clearing the mind of distractions. Architecturally, it is a conglomeration of very old adobe cattle town structures, modern adobe homes, and quirky alternatives to housing. I don’t know whether Judd influenced the town or was influenced by it (probably a combination) but it makes for an interesting walk about town.

On our first full day there I took some photos at the courtyard of our Thunderbird Hotel. This isn’t ‘luxury minimalism’, it’s cool minimalism. The room was spare with concrete floors and counters in the bathroom. Minimal mid-century style abounded. No TV, a cute little mid-century style radio, white bedsheets, industrial style desk, chair and bench, and a unique mid-century modern chair in the corner for throwing your clothes on. It was spare, cute, and invited rest. The courtyard was a glorious desert garden with various fire pits and places with seating. The pool was too cold at that time but nice. The grounds personnel were nice and accommodating and they loved my dog. That’s always a plus. Around lunch time we were hungry so hunted down a cool little pizza place called PARA LLEVAR. This was simple, good artisan pizza. While waiting for the pizza I checked out the building and came across a cool little art installation next door.

This quote on the wall by Lisa Chestnut really did it for me:

“Marfa lends itself to wandering. While many look up and out to the horizon, I find myself looking toward the earth, gathering objects that remain from human activity and are tempered and redeposited by rain and wind. My sculptures are made from objects found on my daily walks and are hand-pressed in my Marfa studio”.

I realize she is talking about her art and her own process, but it really resonated with me. It was an excellent way to start the first day. Although every creative mind is different, most creative work is about looking for those interesting details(both inward and outward), human connection, and the natural forces which surround our time here. Inspired by that, I was able to start my Marfa journey. I took hundreds of pictures that will soon either become or inspire works of art. I was inspired by her installation of tiny square, pressed sculptures of randomly found objects. What would I randomly find here if I opened myself up to wander and discover?  (check out her Instagram account for all things Lisa Chestnut )

So no, I did not go to the Judd Foundation, the Chinati Foundation, or any gallery at all. I didn’t even visit any retail stores. I have always wanted to visit Garza Marfa but got lost in my process and missed out. I didn’t do or see hardly any of the things I had wanted to do and see so badly in Marfa and had thought about for nearly two years prior. We got some box wine and drank it by the fire at night and during the day we tried to hunt down places to eat and drove around taking pictures. He was my chauffeur and helped to spot some things I might have missed. Mostly, I was drawn to the outer landscape and the juxtaposition between old buildings and unusual new constructions. Clearly, the town does not try to dictate what kinds of homes people build or what types of yard displays they can have. There are probably no HOAs. I don’t know whether it was due to the places I didn’t go and see or the things I didn’t get to do but there was a distinct lack of pretentiousness in the air. There was a sense that you could go there and just be you, no fashion statements, no judgments, just you and your creative self, making creative things happen. Of course, I’m projecting. It’s possible I may have romanticized it a bit in my own mind because I wanted to justify just going there and taking pictures…I don’t know.

Almost every nook and cranny had some detail, something artistic and quirky. Even the non-artsy things started to look like art after a while.

Marfa and Onward

The truth is, no matter where we go as creative people, we need to take in the details. I’ve spent lots of hours in MOMA in NYC and at The Whitney with my headphones on drinking in the art and getting inspired but life, history, landscape, and the human connection to everything is much more than inspiring. It is, at its core, what we have in common….how we connect to each other. There is so much to see and experience when you are open to it and ready to receive it. So, what did I find out in Marfa? I found an entry point, a way into the next step in creating work, a recentering of sorts. I found the starting point for the way forward. For what it is worth, that can be found anywhere, anytime, as long as you are looking for it. I needed that trip to be reminded that letting go is, above all, THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE ARTISTIC PROCESS.

The Think About Sketchbooks

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The Think About Sketchbooks

There is something inherently captivating about artists’ sketchbooks. The first sketches I have a recollection of were those of Leonardo DaVinci. As a child, I was obsessed with reading encyclopedias among other reference books and finally came across his story and sketches on one of those long days of sitting in a chair soaking up new information. Although known the world over now, his preliminary “doodles” for projects like the flying machine and the Mona Lisa were first developed in a personal drawing book. His sketchbook was where he drew and studied the world around him. On those pages, his innovative and subversive thoughts came to life long before anyone else ever saw them.

The sketchbook of an artist is a deeply personal account of lines, images, and ideas. Some of these will make it into public view and some will not, but all contribute to future work. The sketchbook is the beginning of a dialogue. It is the introduction to conversations between the artist’s mind and the page. It is the first glimpse of the playing out of ideas, which once only existed in the mind and then come into existence on a page. 

 For the Art Lover

 No matter what kind of art you appreciate, chances are, your favorite artists have all kept a sketchbook at some point. Some artists give these up over time but many continue the use of the sketchbook as an important part of their art practice. For the art lover, the sketchbook can serve as a window into the artist’s mind. It is a showing of all the various ideas ruminating before the larger projects begin. For the art lover, sometimes the sketchbook can connect the dots between disparate images and ideas, which are later manifested in larger paintings. It can answer some of the questions we have about the artists we love and their processes. When writing about the sketches of Abstract Expressionist Cy Twombly, the Met Museum says “his rhythmic glyphs and flowing lines evoke a range of associations, including graffiti, children’s doodles, mathematical formulations, and exercises for learning and refining script. The wiry, inimitable forms lack perfected regularity and instead allude to the physical and mental fatigue that comes from the acts of writing and of creating art”.

 While Twombly’s sketches were not exact in reference to his later created paintings, there are artists who do what I would refer to as miniature versions of their work and later paintings are simply larger, slightly changed depictions of that sketch work. Two examples of artists I love who exemplify this kind of sketch work are Heather Day and Lari Washburn. Their intricate sketchbook work is a highly detailed practice of paintings to come.

 For the Artist

 Artistically speaking, each artist decides what the sketchbook means to the art practice. Some don’t keep a sketchbook while others use a sketchbook daily. Abstract Artist Ashley Mary keeps a sketchbook of mini collages she is planning to make into large paintings. Eva Magill-Oliver not only creates mini paintings in her sketchbook art but she is extremely effective in photographing them and using them in her social media presence.

 For me, it’s about trying out ideas, color combinations, lines, and marks, which may later become a part of a painting or drive a series. It’s a sort of hashing our of ideas….an inner dialogue expressed in a tiny book. Mostly, it’s a way to express creative thoughts when I’m not in the studio. In short, my sketchbook pages are a version of creative notes I keep so I can go back and reference ideas. Many get discarded but some make it into the work. They are an integral part of my creative development.

 What a Sketchbook Can Mean to You

 Whether you are an artist creating sketchbooks and/or an art lover interested in delving into the mind of an artist you admire, there are many artist’s sketchbooks and commentary available online for viewing. You can find an excellent list of some of the best sketchbooks here. Additionally, consider keeping a sketchbook of your own. Even if you aren’t an artist, you can plan creative projects, write down or draw ideas, etc. It’s sort of a visual and textual reference point for what’s going on in your brain. Just remember, you don’t have to be DaVinci to create a compelling sketchbook. Draw and write down your ideas, paste scraps of material or clippings…whatever inspires you. It’s an excellent way to keep track of ideas and learn to exercise your creative brain. Remember, great ideas and creative inspiration require daily practice. I would love to hear what you are working on in the comments. If you are interested in my sketchbook, you can check it out here and follow here for the latest.