Category: Away

You can go to hell — I’m going to Marfa

The Humble Fabulist4 Comments

With Davy Crockett’s more famous quote in our minds we hopped on a cab to La Guardia, then on a plane to Atlanta, followed by another plane to El Paso; two planes, one airport car rental and twelve-and-a-half hours later, we arrived in the middle of nowhere and into a Twilight Zone episode about a giant art gallery that had mysteriously appeared in the desert. Was this a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity, or just another sleepy small time Texas town? The answer was left open to our imagination. We had three days to find out and not a moment to lose.

Episode 1 – Prada

Marfa’s charming weirdness extends beyond it’s boundaries. Just off US 90, about 26 miles northwest of the town, expect the unexpected.

Prada Marfa is a permanent installation by artists Elmgreen and Dragset.

Built in 2005, with the intention to let it fall into decay, it has since been broken into, its contents stolen (the very night it was completed), vandalised, graffitied, created controversy when Playboy erected a 40-foot-tall neon bunny nearby, attracting the attention of the Texas Department of Transportation, became an Instagram sensation and reclassified as a museum, with the Prada Marfa as its only exhibit.

Both the bunny and Prada Marfa were considered illegal advertisements according to the 1965 Highway Beautification Act and the reclassification of the structure as Museum would exempt it from the signage rules. The bunny has since been removed.

Episode 2 – Marfa

Tough to Get Here. Tougher to Explain. But Once You Get Here, You Get It.

Marfa Visitor Center, inside the Historic USO Building.

Episode 3 – The Notable Features

The Hotel Paisano, aka headquarters for the cast and crew filming Giant in the summer of 1955.

The Art Deco Palace Theater, aka Marfa Opera House. Later, it became a movie theatre but has been closed since the 1970s.

The Marfa Water Tower and the Presidio County Courthouse. Both can be seen from almost everywhere in Marfa, since they are the tallest structures in town.

Marfa, TX

October 6th, 2018

We Rode in Style

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On our way back to New York, we hopped out of the car and into the luxury of a Strasburg Rail Road First Class Parlour with velvet sofas, upholstered armchairs and chilled wine, carried by a steam engine for a 45 minute trip through the fertile, lush Lancaster County where the time stood (almost) still.

The Strasburg Rail Road is a shortline built to connect the town of Strasburg with the main line. It is the oldest continuously operating railroad in the western hemisphere and the oldest public utility in Pennsylvania.

September 3rd, 2018

Fallingwater || The Masterpiece

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It is said that Fallingwater is the most beautiful house in the world. Blending in yet somehow managing to stand out, it certainly is one of the most unique structures we have ever seen and, from all Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses, the one I would love to live in (if I could afford the millions necessary for its preservation).

Fallingwater was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2019.

September 3rd, 2018

Kentuck Knob || The Grounds

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No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other. – Frank Lloyd Wright

Thus Kentuck Knob was born of sandstone and tidewater red cypress, out of the side of the hill, being one with the hill, belonging to it.

We did not see the interior, building our anticipation and excitement for our upcoming tour of Fallingwater. But the surrounding woodland can be visited at any time during opening hours, no booking slot required (a pass must be bought at the visitor’s centre). It offers a walking trail through a large collection of sculptures adorning the grounds.

And the views over the surrounding hills are simply breathtaking. You can tell by my little ”Sound of Music” moment.

Troilus (1999) by Wendy Taylor – Bronze

Three Right Angles (1992) by George Rickey – Aluminium

Room (1992) by Andy Goldsworthy – Field Stone

Berlin Wall Section & Butterfly

Untitled (1950-) by Michael Warren – Irish Oak and Welded Steel

De-Creation (First Version) by Michael Warren – Irish Oak

Jute (1990) by Nicola Hicks – Bronze

Kentuck Knob, by Frank Lloyd Wright

September 2nd, 2018

We reached the Summit

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On top of a mountain overlooking Uniontown sits the historic Summit Inn, first opened to the public in 1907. It was built as a mountain resort for Uniontown’s elite as, according to the hotel’s history page, due to the coal industry in the early 1900’s, Uniontown boasted one of the highest rates of millionaires per capita in the world(!). Their goal was to build a mountain resort of “exceptional quality and durability” and they did a great job with the Summit Hotel.

Today, managed by the third generation of the family that owns it since the 1960’s, it offers a historic ambience, magnificent views and, most importantly, proximity to Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob, which was the main reason of our visit.

September 2nd, 2018

Chihuly Garden & Glass

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Enter the intricate, fragile world of Dale Chihuly – or, to be fair, the world of a small army of designers, glassblowers, sculptors and assemblers, working under the ”Chihuly” umbrella. Let’s take a moment to appreciate and recognize their work, even if we will never see their names in the credits.

It wasn’t the first time I saw a large ”Chihuli” exhibition, such as this. In October 2017, I had the chance to enjoy this immense work of glass making, in a truly magical setting: the New York Botanical Garden, in the Bronx. The gardens remained open in the evening and the sculptures, scattered all over the gardens and conservatory, were illuminated. The result was spectacular. There are several posts about that exhibition, the most popular being ”Into the Night”.

Seattle, WA

June 15th, 2018