Monday, July 12, 2010

A Humble, Out-of-State Mosaic

This week was spent traveling in New Mexico (Yay!) I expected to find to find some pretty snazzy mosaic art among the galleries at Santa Fe and Taos, but perhaps I was not looking in the right places. (I did see fantastic, incredible paintings and sculpture--especially along Canyon Road in Santa Fe--just not mosaics.)

Mosaic Monday was saved by a mailbox in Madrid--pronounced MAH-drid--a small town on the Turquoise Trail. Madrid is an old mining town that's become an art colony and shopping mecca. The drawing on the link shows you Madrid, but the drawing is way too clean! Where is the dirt & gravel, the old train engine, the delapidated structures reminding you that this is, truly, a recovered ghost town? Highway 14 runs through Madrid, but you have to slow down to five miles per hour as you drive through. That's not a joke. Think of driving past the main entrance to the mall. Five miles an hour.

Bikers love to stop at Madrid, as well as tourists of all stripes. The few dozen old homes (and a couple of railroad cars) host all sorts of art, textile, and curio shops; the prices are reasonable (unlike Santa Fe); and there's good restaurants hidden there too.

Fun place. Just be careful to avoid the gabbing pedestrians.

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