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Stillness Study (Taos, NM)
Today
Stillness Study (Taos, NM)
The Agnes Martin Gallery at Harwood Museum
$15
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This room (sacred temple) is the reason I keep coming back to Taos and the best way to experience Agnes Martin's work. -- In the 1990s, Agnes Martin gave seven paintings to the Harwood and helped shape the room that holds them: an octagonal gallery lit by a skylight, with four Donald Judd benches at its center. Because the light comes from above, the paintings shift with the hour and the weather, so no two visits are quite the same. It’s one of the few places where you can sit with her work the way she intended, in a room made for nothing but looking. At Stillness Study, curator Gwendolyn Fernandez guided us through a private meditation with these paintings. Throughout the retreat, we returned to their titles (Lovely Life, Love, Friendship, Perfect Day, Ordinary Happiness, Innocence, Playing) and asked how solitude might cultivate each of these states in our own lives.
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Today
Stillness Study (Taos, NM)
Plaza Blanca
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I first visited Plaza Blanca straight from Ghost Ranch, and it was a complete 180 in color palette. After a day of red and ochre cliffs, everything here was cool, white, and grey. Georgia O’Keeffe called it “The White Place.” Before you go Plaza Blanca sits on the campus of Dar al Islam, a mosque and retreat center designed by architect Hassan Fathy. Register in advance for the visitor gate code on Dar al Islam’s website. The site is generally open to the public, so treat it as someone’s sacred land: stay on paths, pack out what you bring, and leave the rocks as you found them.
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Today
Stillness Study (Taos, NM)
Trace Minerals ZeroLyte (Salty Watermelon)
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High altitude means staying hydrated and replenishing salt as you sweat! This was a favorite for our retreat group on active days. Watermelon is unmatched imo.
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Today
Stillness Study (Taos, NM)
Cerro Pedernal
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Climbing Cerro Pedernal was a genuinely spiritual experience for me. It’s a hard 8.2-mile hike with a short class 3 scramble near the top. Maybe don’t do it alone like I did :) Georgia O'Keeffe famously called Cerro Pedernal "my mountain," famously stating, "It is my private mountain. It belongs to me. God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it." After Georgia passed away in 1986 at the age of 98, her ashes were scattered across the summit. This is a difficult hike. Reaching the true summit requires a short, steep final scramble through a basalt cliff band. This is widely classified as a Class 3 (or occasionally low-end Class 4) move. Distance: ~7.2 to 8.2 miles round-trip (depending on where you park) Elevation Gain: ~1,740 to 1,945 feet (summit elevation of 9,862–9,866 feet) Difficulty: Hard / Strenuous (loose scree, steep off-trail sections, and a technical rock scramble) Best Time to Visit: Spring and fall for milder weather (summer is very hot and exposed; winter brings snow and ice) (This hike wasn't a part of the Stillness Study retreat, but rather a part of my own personal Stillness Study)
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