It hasn’t been ten days since we took the ride to Dixon, New Mexico, for the Dixon Studio Tour https://www.dixonarts.org/. Every year I will find an announcement somewhere about this annual event that’s been going on for thirty-seven years.  This year, on our way back from Taos to Santa Fe in mid October we passed the turnoff to the road to Dixon. There were signs reminding passers through of the upcoming tour.  Turning quickly, I looked down the road trying to imagine what this town and it’s people are like. It’s somewhat of a mystery to me.  What wasn’t a mystery that day was the irruption of oranges, yellows and reds on the ground and on every tree that lined the banks of the Rio Grande River and the highway that hugged the river. 

So what would be nicer than a ride through country roads on a golden day in Autumn on a studio tour?

Besides, what I love most about New Mexico is what you find beyond the cities. Two weeks after passing the turnoff to Dixon we were on our way back to do the tour.  Autumn, which always passes by too quickly, still graced the landscape and sky above. But it was now more understated, not bold, but subtle in color and atmosphere.  This was Autumn: air still crisp, apples still clinging to trees.  Perfect, as what I wanted to see as much as the art, was the place where the art was created.  

 

Our Own Customized Tour

First stop was the town center on either side of the road. This includes a school, a post office, library, a mission church, eateries and homes.  Many of the homes are turned into galleries.  And many of the galleries showed the work of several artists.  The art included ceramics, painting, textiles, jewelry and more.  Not only art, but wineries, breweries, farms were on the tour, making a total of 44 stops to fill your day. When it started to get a little too crowded we took off to visit some studios in the surrounding areas.  

Touring In Town:

 

 

 

 

 

Touring Outside of Town:

Both Michael and I wanted to see the collage art by Alice Arango and the paintings by her husband, Mickey Hale.  Mickey was good enough to take me on a tour of their home which was built in 1830!  It had all of the features I love of old adobe homes.  Here a long hallway with Alice’s collages covering the book shelves:

 

Winding drive down a long arroyo to another home and studio:

 

 

Next stop, one of the main reasons I have wanted to go to Dixon, is the home and garlic farm of Stanley Crawford.  I read his book, A Garlic Testiment (Seasons on a Small New Mexican Farm) https://www.amazon.com/Garlic-Testament-Seasons-Small-Mexico/dp/0826319602/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542066701&sr=8-1&keywords=a+garlic+testament

Sometimes  it is not so much a series of events that stays with you after reading a book.  Sometimes it is a mood or an attitude.  Mr. Crawford wrote in his book about the village outcast he hired to teach him how to make adobe bricks.  He built his own home.  I imagined having a strong young body again, to start all over, one brick at a time, to make my own home, my life anew.

I got to the farm, looking around and minding my own business as I usually do.   There was a woman next to me and Kate, the writer’s daughter, was promising a tour of the home.  A wonderful stroke of luck, I thought, and followed them in.  She pointed out, through the kitchen window, this odd building that I couldn’t take my eyes off when walking in.  Her father had built it as his writing studio. He later found it uncomfortable and let young Kate take it as her room and sala of entertainment for teen-age sleep-overs.

 

Our last stop on the way out was La Chiripada, a winery.  They harvested the vines and the tasting room was full.  We spent a fun time trying their wines, in no hurry at this point to start home.  The owner, Michelle, told us that  they planted their vines in 1971  making The Chiripada the oldest winery in New Mexico.  (That’s not counting the Spaniards who brought grapes from Spain over four hundred years ago).

 

Country scenes on the road out of Dixon: