In Marfa (Photos)

Last week C and I headed down to a part of the world I'd never visited before, Marfa, Texas, where I'll be for the next month or so, thanks to a Lannan Foundation residency. (Thank you, Lannan Foundation!) Since the residency does not include family and friends we arrived a few days early to see the town and environs together, before I embarked on my stay. I had only a rough sense of Marfa from various books, films, TV reports, articles, and personal accounts I'd read or heard over the years, but I knew it was small--it is, with roughly a little over 2,000 people--and full of artists--it is the home of several arts foundations, especially the Judd Foundation and Chinati Foundation, as well as numerous galleries--while also being a Southwestern town not far from the Mexican border.

C and I had a wonderful time together, seeing many of the tourist and off-the-grid spots (including a trip to nearby Alpine, home of Sul Ross State University); sampling the restaurants; enjoying cocktails at the famous Hotel Paisano, where Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean lodged during the filming of Giant (1956); and encountering all kinds of interesting people (see below). He has since flown home, and I am settling in, reading, writing, battling giant male turkeys (I won, without any physical violence), observing unflappable bunny rabbits, and, when I need breaks, watching the finals of the Copa América, which Chile won via penalty kicks, 4-2, over Argentina.

If you happen to be in or near Marfa, I'll be on the air with KTRS 93.5 Marfa Public Radio this Friday, July 1, at 6:30, and reading this upcoming Sunday, July 3, 2016, at 4 pm at the Hotel St. George, home of the Marfa Book Company. Even if you aren't passing through, consider a visit. It's worth seeing!

A few photos (I'll post a second set) tomorrow!

Heading to Marfa from El Paso 

At Chuy's Restaurant in Van Horn, Texas

Some of the mountains near Marfa

US Border Patrol station, on the
way to Marfa (inside Texas's borders)

C at the famous Prada Marfa
installation, created by Berlin-based
artists Elmgren & Dragset,
35 miles outside town

Vandals had cracked the Marfa Prada
installation's glass! (Why?)

A weather plane/dirigible/drone,
in the high desert outside Marfa

At the Hotel St. George, Marfa 

The Marfa arch, downtown 

Desert flora, with a lizard
hidden somewhere in there

One the peaks on the way
from Alpine, Texas

Eagles band artist
Boyd Elder (at left), with friend
outside the Hotel St. George

C photographing some of the wild beans,
at the Chinati Foundation

Judd's 15 works in concrete
(it was blazing out there!) 

Me standing between the sculptures

Me sketching at the Chinati Foundation,
among Donald Judd's giant sculptures

A selfie with C at the Chinati Foundation

A fur-lined car outside
Food Shark, a great truck restaurant

Former New York Times report
Judy Miller, asking C a question
about a Marfa location