Marfa, Texas

Marfa has been on my "must visit" list for a long time.  When I tell people that I want to visit Marfa, it is always followed by a confused look on their face. "Muurrfa? Huh?, Where's that?"

Marfa is a small town in West Texas.  Founded in the early 1880's as a Railroad Water stop, now it's a tourist destination for people to come and see the mystery lights, Chinati Foundation and many galleries in town.

I was mostly interested in visiting El Cosmico.   Although I admire all of the trailers they have on their property, I was so delighted to learn that I could park campy overnight and use their facilities (for a small fee).  Max and I were the only overnight guests in the lot outside of their trailers during the week and that was fine by us!  I spent the day on my bike, "Lucy" to tour the town and snap photographs along the way.  With each block I peddled through, I kept telling myself, "I could live here!" I could picture myself living in a trailer and making art all day long.  However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I don't think I could do it full time.

I asked each person I came across that wasn't a tourist, "how do you like living here?"  It's a question most people get all day long.  The answer was the same... "it has its up's and down's like any other small town."  I suppose I am always fascinated in how people live.  Perhaps that's why I enjoy taking the back road to travel.  Everyday is a surprise and the people who live far away from the major highways are the most interesting to me.

During my stay in Marfa, I spent the day on my bike riding around, enjoyed the museums, relaxed at El Cosmico, and toured the outskirts where the Prada Marfa art installation is located.  This town has captured my heart and I know I will be back.  Here are some images I took during the visit:

"Dissolve" Chosen For The Art Of Photography Show

I rarely enter my photographs in photography contests or juried shows.  However, I pay attention to what comes into my life and what people say to me.  If someone suggests something to me, I figure I need to do it to see what happens.  That was the case here.  I took a portrait photography class a few months ago and the instructor suggested I enter something in the "Art of Photography" show.  I wasn't going to at first but then I decided to do it since it was suggested to me.

I was thrilled to hear the news that the one photo I entered was chosen for the show.

My image "dissolve" was selected by judge Anne Lyden (Associate Curator at the J.Paul Getty Museum) for inclusion in the 2011 Art of Photography Show at the Lyceum Theatre Gallery in San Diego.  My photograph was chosen from 15,444 entries from 72 countries.  In all, there will be 109 pieces shown.  To see a list of all participating photographers and the country they are from, click HERE.


The opening reception is August 13th and the show runs until October 16th, 2011.

Los Angeles Brewery Art Walk

Even though I won't be traveling and living out of my car for a while, I always enjoy exploring things nearby that are fun and interesting...especially when it comes to art.  There is a community in the heart of Los Angeles that used to be a brewery and now it's a city in itself of artists.  These artists live and work in the spaces of the Brewery Art complex.

Lucky for us, they open their studios to the public a few times a year for us to be able tour their home/work space.  It's a wonderful tour of amazing artists of all mediums.  I did this last year and blogged about it and I plan to go back.  A photograph I took of the experience was licensed by Palladium Boots to use on their website under their explorations video.  You can see that video HERE.  Along with the art walk, the video mentiones other jems in the Los Angeles area to explore. To find out more about the brewery walk, click HERE.

Even if a vacation seems out of the question for you right now, I bet there are places nearby that you can visit to give you the feeling of being in another world.

Long Beach Transit Photographs

I am thrilled to be a part of the reopening of the Long Beach transit Mall in downtown Long Beach.  In the next few weeks, work will be completed on the project including eight canopy shelters, serving an average of 20,000 commuters daily.

Eight selected photographs that I took of Long Beach will be on display in and around the new mall to coordinate with the "nautical" theme expansion.  I spent about four months walking on the beach each night and a few mornings with my point and click camera capturing everything I came across on the beach. Images from these moments will be blown up and installed around the mall so people can experience the beach without actually being at the beach.  I look forward to the completion and encourage you to use public transportation.  You never know what you might come across.

The photos from this blog are some I took during those months, but you will have to see the chosen ones once they are installed in a few weeks.

The press Telegram writes, "After months of work, improvements to the Long Beach Transit Mall downtown are nearing completion.
Eight canopy shelters and public art should be completely installed in the coming weeks and transit operations will move back from Ocean Boulevard to First Street on Sunday, said spokeswoman Marcelle Epley on Monday.
Last August, Long Beach Transit announced that it would begin a $7 million modernization of the regional transit hub on First Street between Long Beach Boulevard and Pacific Avenue.
The Transit Mall, which serves an average of 20,000 commuters daily, has grown since opening in 1982 and now accommodates passengers taking Long Beach Transit buses, Metro Blue Line trains and buses and Torrance Transit.
Funded with federal stimulus money, the project will feature improved night lighting, upgraded landscaping and newly designed bus shelters with public art.
Done in partnership with the Arts Council of Long Beach, the public art will feature photographs by Long Beach photographer Alison Turner and nautical-theme poems by Long Beach poets, as well as poets from Long Beach literary magazine, Pearl."

For the full article, click HERE

The Start Of A New Decade

Today is the beginning of a new decade for me.  I put out a list of 39 things I wanted to accomplish on my 39th year on this earth and I am proud to say that I completed most of them over the year.  Now on to a new decade of my life and more adventures to come.

Thank you to everyone who followed me on my crazy "driving around the USA in my tent adventures" for the past year, and the year before that.  It was an incredible few years and I hope to experience many more things to come.  As I did before, I will compile a list and share that with you.

As I mentioned, the past three years I have been wandering around the country with my dog, camera and tent.  I made the decision to go back to school for a year to see where that takes me.  I am always up for learning and it will keep me in the same place for a while.  This doesn't mean that I won't take a break for adventures here and there.  I plan to continue this roller coaster ride called life.

I look forward to more and sharing it here with you.