GHOST RANCH~A Place of Peace, A Place for Art

For someone who loves art, nature and travel, finding out about  Ghost Ranch was serendipitous.
My only regret is that I didn't learn about it sooner.  

Ghost Ranch is located on 21,000 acres near Abiquiu, NewMexico (about an hour from Santa Fe).  It is a spiritual conference center, a place of retreat and an education center.  Originally a dude ranch owned by Arthur and Phoebe Pack, it was given to the Presbyterian church in the early 50's.  For awhile Georgia O'Keefe lived in a house on the ranch before she moved to Abiquiu.  The landscape was the subject of many of her paintings.

Ghost Ranch is not a resort and is it not necessarily a religious destination.  The spiritual  and retreat center offers space for individual solitude, silent or guided retreats, spiritual direction and group retreats.  The educational programs provides a variety of classes in fine arts, writing, photography.  Adventure programs include hiking, horsebackriding, paleantology,and fly fishing.  There are classes to learn about the people of Northern New Mexico and there are classes to learn about yourself.   There is a wonderful library that is open 24 hours a day and many hiking trails all around the ranch.  Classes are described in the on line catalog.

There is a Paleantology Museum with many specimens recovered from the land around Ghost Ranch; also many Indian artifacts.


The  lodging facilities are simple, clean and authentic. The rooms are basic, no frills ( no A/C), but clean and comfortable with magnificent views.  There are various types of accommodations from camping to rooms with private bathrooms and sitting areas.
There is a dining hall that serves 2 meals a day and  a swimming pool and laundry.  Phones and computers are available in the main office area...cell phones don't work well because of the topography of the land.  No TV, no newspapers; it's a reprieve from the outside world.  What you get along with your class, is a week of serene peace.

My first visit was in 1996.  I went in August and chose to stay in the very nice campground.  My site had an electric hookup which turned out to be a very good choice since it was in the 90's every day and I did take a small fan with me.  The campground facilities were quite adequate with showers and laundry; there is a camp manager on site. 

The class I took was "Sketching and Painting Northern New Mexico Villages".  It was taught by a wonderful artist, Pomona Hallenbeck.  She is the artist-in-residence and at the time, lived in a little camper and drove around in her Yellow VW Bug.   Classes were in the morning, afternoon and in the evening.  Most days included an all day outing to various small villages in the area.  We would sketch on site and have our art lesson or painting session in the evenings.  This class was just as much about the culture of the artisans and people who lived in these villages as it was about watercolor painting.

The first thing Pomona had us do was make color swatches using the New Mexico color palette.
This is a tedious undertaking; but one that everyone should do!  We mixed the colors, made value strips, cut them out and put them on a ring...this "color reference" ring would be used for  field sketching.  I still have those swatches and have since made more with other palette combinations.

Pedernal

I had a hard time at first adjusting to life on the ranch, especially ALL the walking from the campground to the dining hall, then to the Long House (art facility), then back to the campground.  I did this several times a day and it was HOT that entire week.  But the camaradarie of our group, the diversity of the sites, the beauty of the landscapes and the peacefulness is unforgettable.  It didn't take me long to fall into the ranch routine.  I also loved(!) all the wonderful Mexican food we ate in some of the small villages!   I wrote in my journal  on the last day that I was "so sad to leave our little group".   I still keep in touch with one of the women I met on that first trip.

The second time  I went was in 2005.  I needed a retreat, a break from work, life in general; it had to be Ghost Ranch.   I was having health issues and difficulty accepting my situation.   I signed up for another of Pomona's watercolor classes.   I was so excited to see Pomona, she hadn't changed one bit.  What a character she is!This class focused on watercolor techniques.   Most of the sessions were in the classroom, but we did take a tour around the  ranch where  Georgia O'Keeffe had once lived.  Later we did  paintings from our field study sketches. 

This is one of our studies.

  We sketched Chimney rock  on site. (It is one of the popular hikes.)   Back in the studio we painted the scene four different ways~line, mass, wet-in-wet and one combining the others.

Chimney Rock

One of my favorite things to do, in the early morning before class began, was walk the labyrinth.

The Labyrinth -- designed on the Chartres model,  a one-half mile circular path for prayer, meditation, and reflection--- was a gift to the Ranch.

Walking the labyrinth is very mediative and calms the mind.

Cedar Cabin

Living/Sleeping space

shared Sitting Area

On my second visit I stayed in one of the lower level housing units closer to the art building so that I didn't have to walk as far.  Since it was the first week of the Spring session (early May), there were few visitors and my unit ended up being private~just me.  It was very nice.  I had a wonderful view; private bath and shared sitting area.

Our art lessons were quite varied; alternating between design and composition to color and watercolor techniques.

 On one day, we took a jeep tour to Georgia O'Keeffe's previous home on Ghost Ranch, Rancho de los Burros.  She had bought this site from the Pack's and lived there for many years before moving to Abiquiu.  (Her Abiquiu home can be toured with advance reservations.)

Puenta del sol

On the tour of the property we saw beautiful country highlighted by many geologic formations.  Some you could recognize from her paintings.  Our assignment on this tour was to make sketches that we would use in our evening painting session.

 I sketched the Puenta del Sol and Pedernal.  I also wrote a haiku on this outing: 

                                                           Crimson, violet, gold
                                       moulded mounds stand tall, lay still
                                            telling Earth stories.

We had "homework" several nights.  One of the "out of class" assignments was to find an interesting art book in the library (it is a very nice library) and report about something new that you had learned from it.  The book I read was Experiments in Watercolor by Michael Crespo.

I tried several of the techniques described, my favorite being painting to music.  I had taken my portable CD player and a couple CD's, mostly classical music.  I painted 4 while listening to the music and letting it guide the painting.  This was painted  to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.

Another project was to paint something in your room.

"Ghost Ranch Chix"

On this one I lucked out because I was staying in one of the cabins that had an adjoining sitting area.  There were several little decorative pieces in that room.

This is painted on gessoed matboard.

A couple more Ghost Ranch paintings:

These were small 5"x5" paintings done walking around the ranch one afternoon.

While I sat and painted the blue ladder, a group of school kids was coming for a pottery class.  As they walked by, one little girl came up to me and asked "if I was a real artist".  I told her I was learning to be one.  She said, "that's really good".

On the last day I wrote in my journal; " I've finally reached full relaxation---I don't think about anything except what's in front of me."

I knew Ghost Ranch wouldn't let me down!

  The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, in Santa Fe is spectacular.  There is a wonderful introductory movie in which she is the one narrating.  The art is extensive from her earliest work on.  Like all of the other sites in Santa Fe, it is well worth the visit.