GEORGIA O’KEEFE: TO RUN WILD & FREE
By Linda Ballou
Like the American modernist Georgia O’Keefe, I arrived in the vast open spaces of northern New Mexico from a densely populated region. I live in gridlocked Los Angeles and Ms. O’Keefe had lived in the noisy, bustling metropolis of New York.
ON BIG BLEND RADIO: From visiting Georgia O’Keeffe’s Home and Studio in Abiquiu to exploring Bandelier National Monument, this episode of Big Blend Radio’s “Lost Angel Travel Adventures with Linda Ballou” podcast focuses on day trips and attractions you can experience when visiting Santa Fe in Northern New Mexico, known as The City Different. Watch here in the YouTube player or download the episode on Podbean.
Her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, a famous photographer, saw her creative genius when she was young and put her work on the world stage. She was not keen on notoriety and hid away from the public eye and his active social life. For sixteen years, she spent summers at his thirty-six-acre Lake George home in upstate New York, sheltering herself from the many friends and his bickering extended family by pursuing her work in a small wooden farm building which became her private studio. But it was not enough. She needed to run wild and free.
At the age of 61, she broke away from his control over her life and found salvation in the majesty of the wild Southwest. At Ghost Ranch, about 60 miles north of Santa Fe, her imagination soared like an eagle. She rode horseback through the vibrant red cliffs along creeks shaded by yellowing cottonwood trees beneath endless blue skies. She had found freedom at last.
I wanted to know more about this woman who had lived rough and tumble at Ghost Ranch and loved no one’s company better than her own. My first stop was The Georgia O’Keefe Museum in the historic district of Santa Fe, home to a fine collection of her work and insights into her private life. I was deeply drawn to the lush, vibrant colors of her flower collection and hauntingly beautiful impressionist images of the American West.
I then drove north to Abiquiu where she had updated a dilapidated hacienda into a stylish mid-century modern abode on a knoll overlooking a valley peppered with yellow rabbit bush framed in purple mountains. On a guided tour of her home, I was surprised to learn she was not a feminist. Gloria Steinman had knocked at her door, and she would not receive her. She did not want to be considered a role model for young women. She led a private life sheltered from the public but had lots of good company like Ansel Adams who was a regular guest.
The sweeping 14-mile drive on US Highway 84 from Abiquiu to Ghost Ranch through craggy sandstone peaks with vistas of Abiquiu Lake lifted my spirits. The ranch is open to the public and offers horseback riding, hiking, and a shuttle bus tour of the landscapes O’Keefe painted. I bought a box lunch at the visitor center and enjoyed a picnic while gazing upon the spires accented with pumpkin-colored gullies and gauzy white clouds in the endless blue skies—her inspiration.
Miss O’Keefe lived in New Mexico from 1949 to 1986 for a total of 40 years. She began to experience signs of macular degeneration as early as 1964 and by 1971 when she was 84, she had lost her central vision but continued to live a creative life, turning to molding clay with the assistance of her caretaker Juan Hamilton who also encouraged her to resume painting and helped her write her autobiography. She died at age 98.
She inspires me on so many different levels. I also am experiencing signs of macular degeneration and wonder how I will handle it if I lose my vision to the hazards of old age. Her marriage was rocky, but her path was straight. She never stopped loving the vast open space of New Mexico that let her creative spirit fly, and she never stopped living her own life. Like Georgia, I need expansive views that take me from my itty-bitty chinchilla wheel thoughts and let my mind run wild and free.
“We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” — Wallace Stegner- The Sound of Mountain Water
You can make reservations for the home tour at the Visitor Center in Abiquiu.
Linda Ballou is a Southern California-based travel writer, and author. You will find a host of travel articles on her site www.LostAngelAdventures.com. For more about her novels and travel books go to www.LindaBallouAuthor.com.
