MetaFilter posts tagged with Arizona and art

The Wickedest Town in the West

Bageena — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:37:19 -0800

The town of Jerome was incorporated on March 8, 1889 when Arizona was still a territory. A mining town of the real 'wild west' variety, Jerome was incorporated after three devastating fires within an eighteen month period that nearly destroyed the town. Jerome was a wild town with little law enforcement, building codes, or real government. It earned the title "The Wickedest Town in America" by the New York Sun in 1903 for being a hotbed of gambling, prostitution, and vice. Jerome is the town of stories. The same fires that plagued the town plagued the mine. Strikes at the United Verde Mine lead to forced deportation of the miners at gunpoint. Capitalizing women opened bordellos. The population grew to a then-staggering 15,000 residents before the price of copper dropped and the mines went bust. In 1953 they closed, and the population dropped. Jerome is now known as an art destination, with more than 30 galleries and working studios. The Old Jerome High School is home to many artists and their open studios. The few hotels there are rumored to be haunted. The town currently boasts a population of 343, including Maynard James Kennan of Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer fame. He resides in the small town full time... making wine.

I have always known that at last I would take this road...

dersins — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:57:41 -0800

Any fool can hire an architect to draw up a plan for a house, but it takes a truly inspired fool — which is to say, an artist — to start building and see where the earth and driftwood and shards of broken pottery take him. [Slideshow.] In 1979 Michael [Kahn] & Leda [Livant] moved themselves and their paintings from Provincetown MA to rural land in Cornville Arizona. There they began the first mixed media structure which they later called Eliphante. They continued building and sculpting on the 3 acre environment. Another tour. A flickr photo set.

Images of the Southwest

plep — Mon, 14 Jul 2003 00:12:07 -0800

Images of the Southwest. The American southwest, that is. The Bisbee Deportation of 1917 - 'an event specific to Arizona that influenced the labor movement throughout the United States'; early cartography of the southwest; a rural school newspaper; mission churches; folk arts - Easter eggs, murals and so on; War Relocation Authority camps (some photos ; and more.

gen — Mon, 09 Apr 2001 20:07:52 -0800

Roden Crater is an extinct volcano in Arizona and doubles as a $7M land art project by James Turrell. I look forward to visiting the site on my next trip to the Southwest.
"If you're not an optimist, forget being an artist," Mr. Turrell said. "I've been lucky. I never felt any entitlement. I'd hoped interest in this work would get going sooner because it wasn't meant to occupy my whole career." The sun was going down and the sky was red and purple. "But that's fine. I have nothing better to do."