Day trip to Carrizozo, NM

Did a day trip down to Carrizozo from Albuquerque, the day started off fine, but the wind picked up quite a bit and ended up leaving out the walking tour we'd planned of all the old buildings around the 'gallery district' of the town.  Indeed it became a NM Spring day with high winds and blowing dust in the Valley of Fire, fairly unpleasant.

There are a couple of good restaurants,  and I think a microbrewery, but the wind blew us out!

So what we found, Gallery 408, a contemporary art gallery and Tularosa Basin Photography Gallery, a very large photography gallery.

First the photo gallery, it was vast, with excellent natural light and extremely high ceilings.  The building dates from 1917 and was a hardware store.

Click on image for larger view.

Notice the burro on the left roof corner.

Interior of the gallery, about 10,000 sf.

There were 32 permanent photographers in the gallery, plus a special exhibit of the current New Mexico magazine photography winners.  The 32 are from all over New Mexico, and are juried into the gallery.  The 2nd floor has art studios for the use, as I understand it, of visiting artists doing a residency at the gallery across the street: Gallery 408.

The view across the street, area between a small gallery of copper work and another building.

Building in back under construction.

The wall to the right of the gate.

Further down the street [to the left] is the courtyard for the Galery 408.

Below are in the courtyard.

For information about the artist in residence program contact Joan Malkerson, owner via the website. The contemporary works in the gallery are of as fine of quality as any I've seen, remarkable range of media and visions.

A return trip once the Spring winds die down is in order.  BTW there is RV and tent camping in the lava field outside of town, in the Valley of Fire National Forest Service area.  The last eruption was 3,000 years ago so you're probably ok.....

~tim