Painted Walls Tell Stories in Northern N.M.
Throughout this summer and fall, as I’ve travel around northern New Mexico, I have been capturing painted murals on my iPhone. There are old, rather nostalgic, Route 66-style hand-painted business signs, personal narratives of village traditions, graffiti-esque blasts of raw energy, and some incredibly well-executed artworks (maybe commissioned by the town or building owner?).
This is just the beginning of documenting all the murals in BeyondTaos.com communities. If you have shots of this kind of wall art in Taos, Angel Fire, Red River, Questa, Chama, Farmington, Abiquiu, Ojo, the High Road to Taos, or anywhere between, please send them to editor@beyondtaos.com. Include the story attached to the artwork or the location, if you know it.
I’ll start and end this photo essay in Taos, oldest mural first, with newest at the end.
This first photo shows the most prominent mural in Taos, and the picture’s not mine – Howie Roemer (a BeyondTaos programmer and member of Last to Know band) captured the moment when a double rainbow in the late afternoon light hit George Chacon’s El Santero on the west side of Cabot Plaza on Kit Carson Road.
I’ll let the visuals do the storytelling for the rest of the photographs, mostly because I don’t yet know, or haven’t yet verified, the true stories behind each mural. Again, email me if you know. And for those interested in seeing the murals in person, I’ve included simple directions and a link to the nearest community’s visitor information website.
Starting on the High Road to Taos . . .
Tile-on-adobe mural in Penasco, near Sugar Nymphs restaurant.
On the wall of The Penasco Theatre Company in Penasco.
Mural on NM Hwy 76 at the turn into the Village of Truchas.
Now, east of Taos heading to Chama and Farmington . . .
Tierra Wools in Los Ojos off NM Hwy 64, 10 miles south of Chama and 80 miles west of Taos.
New Mexico Visitor Center in Chama, headquarters of Cumbres and Toltec Railroad.
Mural on a school in Dulce, about 40 miles east of Farmington on NM Hwy 64.
A closed business on NM Hwy 64 at the turnoff to Navajo Lake State Park, about 40 miles east of Farmington.
Mural at Aztec Ruins National Monument, 11 miles north of Farmington.
Now, back to Taos . . .
Murals by Scripture on the west side of Taos Plaza buildings, facing Camino de la Placita.
A detail of the wall painting in Taos by Scripture.
A Taos Academy student temporary art project (September 2015) in an alleyway off Taos Plaza. The art teacher is artist and master photographer Heather Sparrow.
Murals in Taos and neighboring art villages, part two, coming soon. Email your own northern New Mexico wall art photos to editor@beyondtaos.com (if you’re OK with me posting them, with credits).