Recently we took a little weekend trip to Marfa, Texas. 3 hours from El Paso, Texas near the Mexican border. Marfa is someplace you have to want to go to. It's a destination, a strange and wonderful destination. We went with our good friends and excellent travel buddies Wendy and Scott. Actually Wendy and Scott had been before and offered a great tour. Marfa is a big art community in the middle of a small Texas town.
Scott Lowden set the timer on his camera, and captured our best rock and roll poses in the Texas desert... thanks Scott!
We attended an art opening at the
Ballroom on Friday night for Rashid Johnson. Interesting group of people and great people watching (better than the art installation which was an artist who's medium was shay butter and black soap)?! Not sure I loved it, but again impressive that Marfa is a place that embraces art expression and has the art grants to support it. I loved the Prada installation 45 minutes outside of Marfa read about it
here.
Dotted with a few groovy shops, galleries and restaurants, it's a great weekend diversion. Some very unusual eating spots like the food shark food truck, laundromat/coffee stop Farma + the "museum of electronic wonders and late night grilled cheese parlor," by the same owner the boyish moustached food shark visionary.
The Chinati Foundation (Donald Judd's vision of a gallery/art installation) was interesting. Not sure I can honestly say I loved it, but the fact that he bought an old military fort and turned it into an art destination is pretty impressive. You must make a reservation if you want a tour, I recommend it we all loved the experience.
Great clothing store,Tienda, had a great blue photography wall behind the register, at first glance it looked like beautiful blue tiles, but upon closer inspection it was merely color photos of the sky pinned to the back wall, CLEVER. Gorgeous hand made clothing , scarves and jewelry were beautifully displayed. I found a lovely little bracelet I had to have.
El Cosmico is this really hip hotel that is "part vintage trailer, safari tent and teepee hotel and campground, part creative lab, greenhouse and amphitheatre - a community space that fosters and agitates artistic and intellectual exchange." Super quirky and artistic - Marfa in a nutshell.
Great trip, great people, I highly suggest it...if you want an complete "out of your element" experience. Speaking of elements, check out the Marfa lights, mysterious light show right out of town. We almost blew away from the gale force winds, but I think I spotted a few peculiar boxes of light??? Not sure, but it was really fun.
