Monday, September 6th
'The Land' is a 1/4 square mile (or 40 acre) plot of wild pine and cactus scrub-land outside Mountainair NM belonging to Edite and Tom Cates, an outdoor studio and exhibition space that is an extension of their gallery in Albuquerque (or perhaps the gallery is an extension of ‘the land’, as I believe ‘the land’ was acquired/established first). It is also part of the same larger Loma Parda parcel of 37 plots, another of which is where Jo Sage has built her Earthships. We walked the 1 ½ miles from Jo’s to ‘the land’, which took us more than an hour as we got lost for the last ¼ mile off-road and cross-country with no landmarks to guide us. We got distracted by the local dump which we mistook initially for a potential artistic 'resources lab.' Fortunately we pitched up by the dry arroyo (river-bed) which cuts north-south across Loma Parda, and could follow the multi-colored boulder field to ‘the land.’ We knew we’d arrived when we spotted one of Steve Peter’s stone benches etched with a sound-poem (Peter was one of the early artists-in-residence), nestled among the pinon trees edging the arroyo.
We found Larry sitting under a shade structure, whittling one of his characteristic rabbits or turtles, and Jeffrey showed up presently and offered to take us on a tour of the art works on the property. Most of the exhibits are taken down after each show, but a few things remain, either because so firmly rooted, or because decomposition was part of the piece, or because they are works in progress. Jeffrey Lee is a writer/journalist and on the board of the Cates’ gallery,who likes coming out to 'the land' to camp.
We followed the ghost of a path back to the arroyo, where Jeff pointed out some large boulders piled in the bends. This was the work of Lynne Hull, who Jeffrey described as being at the forefront of environmental art, helping restore damaged ecologies or preventing further damage (the boulders were intended to reduce erosion of the arroyo's banks), working unobtrusively almost unnoticeably. The two large and small ‘Signs’ on the next hill over were by Ted Laredo, painted in glow-in-the-dark green and blue: billboards without text (but what is the message?). Edite Cates is working on a burial project, and three graves have already been dug, very specifically positioned relative to the points of the compass and the sun; she is working under her tribal name, Ye Ehekatl, and describes herself as a Baltic/Nahuatl tribal artist. Her husband Tom Cates has a reverse archaeology project underway, which will involve burying objects rather than digging them up. In his younger days he worked as an illustrator on archaeological digs, making detailed drawings of the finds. A V-shaped pattern of mirrors on poles, low to the ground on a hillside, and some cut-out signs on the fences with numbers representing arc measurements or latitudes and longitudes maybe, were the work of some students from a university in Albuquerque.
Shortly after noon we retraced our steps along the arroyo and up the ‘main’ (though still unpaved) road back to Jo’s, and tucked into a hearty brunch of eggs and toast, followed by a nap then a solar shower.
Unfortunately Jo’s friend George had already arrived by the time we returned, so we didn’t have a chance to hear Jo's story over a cuppa tea and watch the video that a friend had made when she’d just completed the shell of her first earthship. We did learn that she is 77 and started her earthship work 20 years ago (nice 'retirement' project), learning construction techniques from Michael Reynolds and having done most of the building on her own; and that she is a Capricorn and therefore prefers being rooted and seeing the fruits of her labor, rather than travelling the world like her Cancer friend George. Her blue eyes are bright under her hat, gray pony-tail poking out behind, the deep wrinkles of her cheeks testament to days working in the sun and wind. 'Some artists paint; my home is my work of art,' she said -- and it is.
We hit the road about 4.30pm after closing up shop at the earthship – pouring the contents of the piss bucket down gopher holes to keep them away from the house, watering the trees and flowers with our dirty dishwater, emptying the compost, and closing the windows and doors tight so no critters or rodents would get in to disturb the next guests.
Passed through Mountainair, a one street ‘town’ with some retro facades painted for a film about George Hamilton (so I was informed by a local resident leaning over his balcony wondering whether I was a location scout as I snapped some photos), and then followed the straight (very straight) HWY 41 up to Santa Fe (our route was HWY 60-41-285-25). I’d found an address for an Emaho Montoya on the internet, and not being able to reach him by phone, it’s where we headed upon arriving: fortunately it proved to be correct (though we had some doubts when we couldn’t find his house number at first, and were greeted at the door by a tall white 20-something). It turns out that lots of people are always staying at Emaho’s (mostly Swiss and Germans), and there’s a steady circulation of beds and linens.
Stefan was getting going on dinner when we arrived, and Emaho took us on a tour of his lovely expansive double-kiva’ed adobe on two levels plus roof-terrace. He’d bought it in 1996, hoping to move in with his two sons, but due to the illness of his eldest (caused by ground water poisoning while an infant) didn’t move in until 2002 or 03. His sons are now 29 and 27, the elder being taken care of by the state of California, the younger having graduated in math from UC Berkeley and in line for a job at Google. Emaho pointed out his ‘god’ – a wooden figurine of a (Santa Cruz) surfer, ‘riding the waves of life’ – and simultaneously he has an affinity for high-quality design and technology (much of it German). The duvee on my bed is of the lightest down, the washing machine is Bosch, the vacuum cleaner Miele. His ‘toys’ are a telescope and a microscope, and there are several flat screens around the house.
Emaho had mentioned ‘altitude sickness’ afflicting visitors to Santa Fe, which I discounted as the town is at just a little over 2000m – but I was feeling tired and head-achy and disinclined to face the throng of Europeans in the kitchen.
We joined for a dinner feast (do they eat like this every night??) – salmon-fennel-mango-leek casserole, and home-cut fries, and salad, for 15 people. There’s Andrea (Swiss-German) & Michael (Scottish-Dutch) who live down the road and ‘house sit’ for Emaho, Verbena and Stefan (German) who run a natural materials building company and are here for a month’s holiday, Tina (German) who is an elementary school teacher and has been here for 9 weeks – leaving in one more, Blond (name?) (Swiss) who lives in Santa Fe in a converted barn (she had to get over imagining she was smelling animals), Michael (Canadian) who is an aspiring opera singer and is leaving tomorrow to head back to Vancouver, Michael (American) and young girl (name? Swiss) who went on a 4hr motorcycle ride today and got royally sun-burned, Barbara who appeared briefly and showed off the bruises she’d gotten being pitched by her horse into a gatepost…all friendly but not querulous in a group, though animated 2-on-2 in German, so it might be a language thing (or a strangers-induced thing).
Really lovely to be here, yet another beautiful place, yet more generous and welcoming people.
