Day Trip to El Paso IV

El Paso is an interesting city just begging to be explored further. Its buildings cover a long span of time, different cultural traditions, and tastes.

The menu of buildings outside of the Camino Real Hotel is just as intriguing as the menu inside. We could not resist the urge to snap photo after photo without moving from a 5 foot radius.

A return visit for exploration purposes is on both Pauli and my "too do" lists.

It was a good day; the weather was not too hot, the sights interesting, and the time spent with a friend was the most precious of all.

Day Trip to El Paso III

After our tour of the El Paso Museum of Art we crossed the street to the Camino Real Hotel for a very late lunch.

It was pretty much what one could expect from a hotel dinning room, and the decor was pleasent.



As you can see even with sore "museum feet" we were still enjoying ourselves. Just give us an air conditioned room, a place to sit, and food, and you have a couple of happy campers.

Day Trip to El Paso II

The El Paso Museum of Art greets visitors with El Vacquero, a fiberglass statue by Luis Jimenez. This being Texas, the statue is is biggest, shiniest, toughest cowboy imaginable.

Alas I am not an appreciative audience of this statue because I am not fond of fiberglass as a medium. For me it evokes the same feelings of other statues done in that medium like Ronald McDonald, and Bob's Big Boy; places that want my money of something of lesser quality.

The architecture of both the interior and exterior are interesting. However I got distracted and only took pictures of the entrance. I cannot find pictures of the interior on the Internet to share with you, but promise I will on my next visit.

We went specifically to see the Bedazzled exhibit; it was on loan and therefore I could not photograph it. My working life was in the jewelry industry and I am a sucker for any exhibit of jewelry; modern, historical, costume or fine. This exhibit, while worth seeing, was of a private collection that was unfocused, and the mounting of the exhibit could have been better. The lighting was not the best for the objects shown, and the magnifying glasses to see the detail were not installed in the cases at the optimum focus, but hand held by the viewer. This link will take you to images from the catalogue. This is the very fist exhibit I have ever attended where the images in the catalogue were better than the objects themselves.

However a day out with a friend is treasure, no matter what you are doing.

Day Trip to El Paso I

Saturday my friend Pauli and I went to El Paso, TX for a visit to the El Paso Museum of Art. (Let me add that the El Paso Museum of Art will not go down as one of the worlds finest, but when you have been without the finest for long enough it will do.) We parked the car in the lot under the Convention Center

When we emerged from the subterranean world of parking we discovered that the Convention Center had redesigned their plaza. No longer was it a vast interesting paved area with an unused water feature. It was now covered with a vast, multi angled, multi curved, blue, glass canopy that bordered on sculpture.

It was supported by the earth toned columns that were interesting in themselves being multi textured and evocative ofthe desert.

The over head was pure almost endless sky, the kind that is best enjoyed in the desert.

When viewed from inside the El Paso Art Museum across the street it was even more sculptural.

I would have liked to spend more time exploring and experiencing the changing light of the canopy, but El Paso is a two hour drive from Deming and moving on to the museum was in order.