High Road Art Tour Fast Approaches

As we enter the fall season, artists along the High Road to Taos are busy trying to finish artwork and prepping their studios for the annual Art Tour. Although the leaves are not turning, there is a nip in the morning air and a change in the angle of the sun that clearly indicate the time is near.

The High Road to Taos is an area rich in art of many types. The most prevalent type available to the eye is the art of nature. The mountains, although as high as 12,000 feet, are rolling and covered in green sprinkled with gold and russet colors. The landscape speaks of a world long ago, acequias run free, adobe architecture abounds and the brilliant sunny sky engulfs you. It is truly breathtaking.

The works of artists along this road span a wide time frame. Traditional methods like retablo painting, bulto carving, weaving, micaceous pottery and furniture carving have been mastered by families of artists for generations. Newer on the scene are many artists whose works range from fiber art to photography to metal sculpture, to painting. pottery and more.

But the very oldest art from human hands to be seen along the road is the architecture. New Mexico is well noted for its old mission churches. The Santuario do Chimayo is the most frequented and well know of any. But farther north on the high road is the church of San Jose de Gracia in Las Trampas, the original land grant village of the High Road to Taos. This church is believed to be the most well preserved of the Spanish Colonial churches in the United States. The full set of original paintings for this church survive and the names of the artists who did some of the original art work are known today, an unusual circumstance.

Ceiling

It was tradition, in the early days of settlement, for the adobe structures to be coated with mud plaster, stripped down and re-applied as needed from the wear and tear of the elements. In the villages, families and neighbors gathered as a group to re-plaster the outside walls, going together from house to house as needed. This has gradually faded into the past as more structures have turned to stucco plasters which last much longer.

But in Las Trampas the community still gathers nearly every year to re-surface the mud plaster facing of the church of San Jose de Gracia. Here are two photos that show separate stages of the work. 

In the first the damaged plaster coat has been removed and the mud bricks of the structure have been exposed.

In the second photo, taken in the morning when many people are busily working and the shady side is a more comfortable place to be, the first coat of plaster has nearly been completed. The second coat may take a while as weather has been very wet and plastering cannot proceed. Perhaps when you travel the high road for this year's annual High Road Art Tour, you will have the opportunity to see work still in progress. See you then!

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