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I’ve always felt a particular affinity with Georgia O’Keeffe, as many do. She and her work possess an undeniable magnetism. She was known to be solitary and somewhat introverted but with a resilient and independent spirit that never slowed her curiosity and wonder at the world around her, even if it meant seeking a place that, especially a hundred years ago, felt distinctly remote from the New York City art world.
Backing up a bit, though, O’Keeffe was no stranger to rural places. One of the reasons I’ve always felt a connection, in a way, is that she was born and raised near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, which to this day is still a rolling agricultural area near Madison. And as a young woman, she left pretty much as soon as she could to study art and teaching. A suite of abstract charcoal drawings that caught the attention of photographer-gallerist Alfred Stieglitz in 1916 spurred a life-long professional and personal relationship.
O’Keeffe had already been painting landscapes by the time she first visited New Mexico, largely inspired by trips to the Stieglitz family home at Lake George, New York. But as she began to grow jaded with the New York City art scene and her relationship with Stieglitz became strained, she craved new vistas and experiences. In 1929, she made her first sojourn to New Mexico, where she spent several months, and then continued to do so on a regular basis for the next two decades, until she moved there permanently in 1949. The desert’s luminosity, textures, flora, fauna, and weather, and fascinated the artist, and some of her most beguiling works depict sun-scorched animal bones, textural vegetation, and dramatic cliffs.
Ghost Ranch was O’Keeffe’s first summer home, situated 65 miles northwest of Santa Fe with views of the distinctive Cerro Pedernal, or Pedernal mesa—Tsip’in in the Indigenous Tewa language. The ranch is now operated as a nonprofit artist residency and experiential destination with workshops and accommodations, that “stewards a place of great beauty to nurture the human spirit and mind, discover the sacred, and care for creation.” The program offers year-round creative workshops and retreats in everything from silversmithing to astrophotography to watercolors of the Southwest.
Ghost Ranch is located on the ancestral land of Tewa-speaking Pueblo cultures, descendents of whom now live in Nambé, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Taos, Tesuque, and nearby reservations. Throughout the past century and then some, the landscape of this part of New Mexico has changed considerably, with new property developments springing up all the time and the risk of wildfires and effects of climate change increasing year on year.
In response, Ghost Ranch has embarked on a conservation in plan in cooperation with the state. “New Mexico is devoting $921,450 through the state’s Natural Heritage Conservation Act Program (NHCA) for the initial 4,225 acres, which helps cover transaction costs for the conservation easements,” says a statement. “The funding comes from the Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund, the state’s first funding source for land and water conservation, agriculture, and outdoor recreation.” Another parcel, located directly next to the initial one, consists of 1,560 acres, bringing the total area to about 6,000 acres that will be protected via conservation easements.
The proposed conservation zone protects an area straddling Highway 84, consisting of native grasslands around Georgia O’Keeffe’s adobe home, the northern waterfront around Lake Abiquiú, and more. The easements won’t impact the 550 acres that Ghost Ranch uses for its Education & Retreat Center, where the visitor center, lodging, museums, trails, and stables are located. Through a plan aimed at protecting land, water, and wildlife habitats, along with traditional ranching practices, the aim is to “preserve the landscapes and vistas made famous by Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings for future generations.”
See more at ghostranchconservation.org and ghostranch.org. ✧
Header image: Georgia O’Keeffe in front of her house at Ghost Ranch, © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
All images courtesy of Ghost Ranch.