Swinging toward the stars in Marfa, Texas at the Lost
Horse Saloon.
Photo
Credit : Texas Wild Spirit, Ann Sydney Taylor
***
I peer into a glittering pocket of the galaxy.
Spellbound, my city eyes gaze at the spectacular dance of stars emerging across
the West Texas sky. I lean against the back wall of the observation deck, ears
gathering hushed whispers of conversations and soft laughter.
There is a crowd on the observation deck tonight:
locals greet the mountain chill with blankets; elderly couples touring the West
in RVs nestle on benches; and a few photographers perch near the deck’s rail,
positioning cameras towards the deepening dark sky.
We’re waiting for a glimpse of the mysterious
Marfa lights. Fascinating settlers and Texas wanderers since the early 1880s,
the Marfa lights are rumored to sporadically appear above a desolate plain
outside of town, where the lights leap and play across the canvas of a
star-studded sky.
There are scientific and extraterrestrial
theories attempting to explain the phenomenon, but I haven’t paid them much
mind. I like the mystery of the “Marfa ghost lights”; it gives my imagination a
welcome chance to run wild. Marfa encourages this liberated imagination. The faraway frontier town gifts creative spirits with the
inspiration to explore and create and I’m reveling in the artistic aura of this
tiny Western town.
Marfa’s history has intrigued me for years; I
know the tale by heart. Marfa’s history is a Western tale of cowboys and
bohemians and mystery lights. It’s a tale first read in
the glossy pages of Vanity Fair (the subscription a present from a
family friend, a delectable treat for my college self) and revisited countless
times in daydreams.
Marfa is the celebrated muse to minimalist
artist, Donald Judd_.
In the 1970s, as part of the land art movement, Judd reawakened this former
water and railroad stop town to international fame when he installed perfectly shaped
cement blocks across
a sprawl of quiet terrain previously owned by the US military. (Marfa
experienced a brief economic boom in the 1930s and 40s when the US military
stationed its Chemical Warfare Brigades there).
Judd purchased and reused the military barracks
and warehouses as galleries exhibiting the artwork of his contemporaries and
his own sculptures. Marfa soon became his home and other free spirits followed
Judd’s creative trek to the faraway West. Today Marfa is a rustic bohemia home
to cowboys and hipsters.
Marfa also quietly dazzles with a claim to
Hollywood fame: it’s the backdrop to the 1956 epic, Giant ( during the
filming, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson resided at the
downtown Hotel Paisano and visitors are welcome to purchase movie mementos at
the gift store, like copies of James Dean’s room key) and Oscar awarded, There
Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men. Despite playing host to
film stars and an avant-garde art community (or perhaps in a determined
response because of it), Marfa remains true to its Western roots and retains
its authentic Texan charm.
The contrasts that define Marfa speak to my
imagination and I am lured to experience the town for myself. I fear that the
Marfa I find will pale to the one constructed of daydreams, but my time in
Marfa confirms my intuitive feeling of this place : Marfa is mystery and magic.
Throughout my stay, Marfa surprises me with
unexpected moments of enchanting discoveries: A low warehouse door slides open
to the coffee shop, Do Your Own Thing that specializes in porridge bowls and is
the domain of a black lab named Bear. Around the corner, I discover a bookshop of
my dreams. Sunlight streams into the wide windows of Marfa Book Company,
illuminating the thoughtful displays of poetry anthologies written by Marfa
locals.
My friend and I tour and ponder the exhibits in
the contemporary art galleries, but the piece that strikes a heart chord is by
a local teenager featured at the Marfa Studio of Arts, a non-profit dedicated to
providing art programs for youth. A skeleton mother cradles her bare bone
baby in one hand and firmly holds a gun in another. The young artist captures
my own desire for a feminine balance of softness and strength, nurturer and
protector, mother and warrior.
There is the delightful discovery of a swing on
the back porch of the Lost Horse Saloon, a famous music stop for singers and
bands traveling from Austin to the further west. I sip a Lone Star beer while
flying off toward the stars, wanting to catapult out into the galaxy.
The same patch of sky holds my gaze tonight while
Marfa memories dance by like those mystery lights who are shy and taking their
time. The stars and murmurs of conversation cradle me and I’m lulled into
following another whisper of thought.
Places resonate with us for reasons; they
acknowledge and entice suppressed or unexplored aspects of our personalities to
unapologetically emerge and shine. Marfa is a place that sparks an inner flame.
Marfa is a muse that enlivens and enriches my creative self. In the company of
writers and artists, in the presence of paintings and books, and in a landscape
wild with stories, I remember my innate need for creativity and feel so
recharged and alive in my imagination that I understand that writing and
artistic expression are essential to my well-being.
There’s a sudden appearance of a golden
bulb of light drifting along the sky’s horizon. It could be a car traveling a
back road, or perhaps, it is a whimsical being dancing along the foothills. I
embrace the mystery; simply being here is enough, a daydream come true and the
reality is magic.
***
Morning-sun snapshot of Ballroom Marfa .
A
magical coffee shop discovery.
Do Your Own Thing Coffee Shop : Porridge simmers in the back, open kitchen.
Marfa Book Company entices with glistening good reads.
Over the railroad track to downtown
Marfa.
Marfa Studio of Arts exhibits pieces by
local teenagers. This one strikes a raw heart chord.
The Chinati Foundation : Former military base turned into
contemporary art exhibit space by Donald Judd.
Looking
through Judd’s iconic cement blocks at the Chinati Foundation.
Dearest Reader, listen and indulge your inner muse. Travel and see the places that call
to you. There’s magic waiting.
