A Garden Party at the Georgia O'Keeffe House in Abiquiu with Holly Sievers
Miss O'Keeffe & I (diptych)
The invitation popped up on my email feed suddenly and unexpectedly, “Into the Garden. You’re invited. Join us for an exclusive feast for the senses in Georgia O’Keeffe’s beloved Abiquiu garden. See this summer’s harvest, and meet the green thumbs behind it. Hear relaxing guitar melodies in the open air. Taste light bites, and enjoy a cooking demo. Have fun and make friends with other members and Curator of Fine Art, Ariel Plotek, on this memorable evening. Begins at the Welcome Center, Abiquiu, NM. Limited space available. Sponsored by Gruet Winery and Sotheby’s.
Jane Steele, Events Planner
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum”
Abiquiu O'Keeffe Welcome Center
Inside the Welcome Center
The first book I ever owned about Georgia O'Keeffe and still my favorite
Holly in the Visitor Center
I immediately checked our membership level, called the phone number listed at the O’Keeffe Museum, and at the same time contacted the author of whom I’m writing a foreword for on her new book of O’Keeffe’s lost letters.
My first thought was, is this a mistake, or was it due to the author I’m working with. It was truly just the luck of the draw and being at the right place at the right time, or something else…
A purchase in the gift shop, we also purchased t-shirts and several of the Jade Tree plant cuttings from Miss O'Keeffe's plants
Panoramic view from the back of the house
Looking up at the back of the house from the bomb shelter embedded into the hill
Historic landmark placard
Once we had a confirmation email, then we knew that this was truly a blessed invitation. In mid August we’d given ourselves the gift of this membership to the O’Keeffe Museum for our 22nd Wedding Anniversary. On our honeymoon to Taos & Santa Fe we’d visited the newly opened O'Keeffe Museum, which has been a special place for the two of us ever since.
Mountain view and trail to the bomb shelter
Reflections in the back bedroom window off the studio space
Arriving at the appointed time to the O’Keeffe Visitor Center in Abiquiu our hostess for the evening Jane Steele greeted us as she stood by a table of about 50 name tags. As I reached for my name tag Jane seemingly exclaimed, ‘You’re Robert Cafazzo, I’m so happy to meet you!’ Well, that put me on cloud nine, and I say seemingly due to the fact that I still believe this all may have been a dream.
In the back patio with Holly
Reflection in the studio window
Reflection in the kitchen window
Reflection in the side window
Walkway to doorway
Tree shadows and ghosts
At the Abiquiu house we entered into the courtyard by the Studio next to which was a table where we were served Gruet Champagne. Upon realizing that we were allowed into the studio I entered, (no food or beverages inside). Out back there’s that view of the road and cottonwoods below with those panoramic mountains. “There is a short time at sunset when the whole world has a warm glow…” Georgia O’Keeffe in her own words.
Panoramic view from back of house
Panoramic view from back of house
Holly in the warm glow of the courtyard
Sunflowers with Ladder
Sunflower ladder
Garden with Ladder
Enjoying Champagne from Gruet
Ladder in the garden courtyard
Ladder with shadow at midday
Hollyhocks and ladder
Ladder on adobe
Garden and ladder
Ladder with evening shadow
Shadow ladder
Hollyhock with ladder
Hollyhock with ladder unfocused
Chicken Bites
Recipes using produce from Miss O’Keeffe’s garden. A blanched Swiss Chard wrapped around roasted carrots, quinoa and goat cheese was similar to a vegetarian sushi roll packed with flavor. A Blue Corn Blini served with a Smoked Salmon topping, Chicken bites with lemon and basil puree, a ratatouille pizzette with carrot/pistachio pesto and an Apple/Thyme Galette. I sampled everything at least three times each, just the blue corn cakes alone were light and delicious. Next time I shop at the local farmer’s market when I’m asked if I’d like them to remove the carrot tops, I’ll be keeping them for that pesto recipe. Finding the perfect blue corn pancake recipe is no easy task, now I have one! I asked one of the chefs what got him into cooking, he replied, ‘My Grandmother’, and that is a wonderful way to be inspired to learn to cook.
Kyle Pacheco of Santo Domingo Pueblo
Esmeralda Lopez & Kyle prepping
Salmon & Blue Corn
Stones, O'Keeffe played a type of musical chairs with her staff and the stones
Hollyhocks in the garden
Aspen Leaves beginning to glow yellow for Autumn
Rose Hips
Apple Tree
Variety of Green Apples
Fig Leaves
Figs weren't quite ripe enough, oooh how I wanted to taste these figs
Corn in the garden almost ready for harvesting
Johnny Blueheart graciously singing his heart out
In the garden out front sitting under an apple tree was Johnny Blueheart, enriching the summer evening with his lovely voice and guitar playing. At some point I noticed a few apples fall off the tree a bit too close to where he sat and retrieved them. O’Keeffe would say about her Abiquiu home, “Yes, my world is very good, such a feeling of quiet, and peace”.
Stones on the living room window sill
View of the dining room
The dining room table
Please be seated, the dining room table, studio table and kitchen table are all planks of plywood which have been softened with a pale white wash and mellowed over these many years
Pantry window
Pantry
Kitchen cabinet with glasses
Herbs in the pantry
More Pantry herbs
Cups, saucers and bowls in the kitchen cabinet. My mom served us ice cream in the 1960's in those very same lotus shaped bowls, second shelf at right
Pots and pans in the kitchen
Many are confused about O’Keeffe’s presence in Abiquiu, and may ask what’s what. There are two homes, one in the village of Abiquiu, the other up the road westward to Ghost Ranch. The home at Ghost Ranch has not been open to the public, but there is some buzz that this may happen in the near future. Tours of the house in Abiquiu are arranged and booked online, the link to which is below. I highly recommend the “Behind the Scenes Tour”, which shows you much more. I also recommend these books for further information and photos of the two homes:
“Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Houses, Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu” Barbara B Lynes & Agapita J Lopez 2012,
“Georgia O’Keeffe, Living Modern” Wanda Corn 2017,
and
“O’Keeffe at Abiquiu” Myron Wood & Christine T Patten.
Horseshoe facing up to catch the luck (Miss O'Keeffe's wish for rainfall)
“Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Houses, Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu” Barbara B Lynes & Agapita J Lopez 2012,
“Georgia O’Keeffe, Living Modern” Wanda Corn 2017,
and
“O’Keeffe at Abiquiu” Myron Wood & Christine T Patten.
Horseshoe facing up to catch the luck (Miss O'Keeffe's wish for rainfall)
Volcanic rock grinding stone
Datura or Jimson Weed wilting
Jimson Weed/Datura flowers
Not quite open and almost finished Jimson weed
The one single book which O'Keeffe left on the coffee table. This book contains some of O'Keeffe's first thoughts in an interview about her paintings through the years, the book is a large format but a must for O'Keeffe fans.
We’ve been to the Abiquiu house at least 5 times through the years (my wife reminds me that we've been there much more than this), the first visit was during the first year of tours and on the occasion of my birthday in mid-March. Family and friends visiting us in Taos ask that we put this on the agenda during their visits, the tour has always left us dreamy and inspired. There have also been a number of opportunities to see O’Keeffe artworks in various exhibitions not only at the O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe.
O'Keeffe at Abiquiu book with Apples from the garden, plate by KC Hossack Pottery
The banco in O'Keeffe's living room has a niche for the vertebrae of a snake, there's also a sculpture of a snake with stones
The banco has been recreated recently in a passageway room at the O'Keeffe Museum, the book at top right is the catalogue from the Tate Modern retrospective
Herbs drying in the shepherds room
During the O’Keeffe exhibit Art, Image, Style at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA I was able to bring my niece Courtney to the opening and a few days later I brought my mom Etta to see the exhibit, grateful that I could make this happen. In London the O’Keeffe Retrospective at Tate Modern allowed me to bring several of my family members to see that exhibit a few years ago. My sister fell in love with the black door paintings which O’Keeffe painted of her house in Abiquiu, which led us to visit the house in Abiquiu when they visited from London last year.
The Shepherds bed above a corner horno fireplace with American flag
Window in the shepherds room with gathered herbs
The table of gathered herbs in the shepherds room just off the kitchen. I may need to acquire a Black & White Buffalo Plaid bolt of cloth like this...
Each time we’ve been to the house in Abiquiu we notice different elements. There’s always something to see, not that they change things around (they actually do, if you refer to images of interiors in the books I suggested) but that even though it seems sparse at first glance the setting is quite rich and full of uniquely thoughtfully placed pieces. Everything works in a lovely harmony, I can’t wait to return again. The Garden Party allowed us to move slowly at our own pace and take the time we needed to look.
Fireplace in the office off the bookroom
O'Keeffe Sculpture through the garden window
Jade tree with sculpture through window
Sculpture in shadow
Back courtyard ladder
Central courtyard with walkway
It was an honor to attend this event and so many other O’Keeffe-ian moments with family and friends. I hope you’ll make your own precious O’Keeffe memories, whether it be a picnic at Ghost Ranch or a walk at the White Place. The complete O'Keeffe trinity is Taos, Abiquiu and Santa Fe. I’m planning a special event tour of all things O’Keeffe in Taos coming up, date to be announced soon. There is much more in Taos regarding Georgia O'Keeffe than is given credit to, it has been 90 years since O'Keeffe first visited the Southwest and Taos where she was first inspired by all she saw.
O'Keeffe office with antlers over entryway
Central courtyard with walkway and one of two sculptures
Rounded side view of house from the garden with shadows of corn stalks
Back entryway and walkway
Entryway to studio
Back entry to studio
Bells hanging in Russian sage tree outside studio
Twin Sculptures by O'Keeffe
Panoramic view of courtyard with twin abstract sculptures
Passageway
Through the gardeners passageway
Tools hanging in the passageway
Shelf of random objects
We truly were blissed out in Abiquiu, a quote from Miss O’Keeffe sums things up nicely “…and I hope they will ask us again some other time.”
Keyhole & doorknob
When a horseshoe is hung this way it is to pour luck onto visitors, facing upwards is to collect luck
A single scissor handle in the wall of the passageway still perplexes me
Doorknob
Lock
Blue Corn
These two Mayan pottery heads are embedded into the adobe walls in a passageway, they are on opposite sides I've put them together here for convenience. I'd never noticed them before.
The carport door entryway
Ram Skull with stone on standing beam
Though the entryway of the carport
\
Sideview Ram Skull
Sideview Elk Skull
Though the carport
Elk Skull study
Holly in the carport
Carport with door closed
Membership Information: https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/store/products/connect/membership/
505-946-1022
or
Hue-Chan Karels & Open Kitchen www.openkitchenevents.com
Johnny Blueheart https://johnnyblueheart.bandcamp.com/releases
Gruet Champagne https://gruetwinery.com
Welcome Center direct phone line 505-685-4625
The Alexander Girard limited edition pillow reproduction 1972 International Love Heart design, was gifted to us for becoming new members of the O'Keeffe Museum. Girard gave Georgia O'Keeffe a pillow with a similar design as a token of their friendship, which is still in the house to this day.
Holly on our anniversary at the O'Keeffe Museum
My favorite, the Kachina Paintings at the O'Keeffe Museum
Large scale black sculpture in the garden at the O'Keeffe Research Center in Santa Fe
Ram Horn drawing with sculptures and study at the O'Keeffe Museum
Though the big gate
Holly outside the O'Keeffe house at the overview
Looking over the wall at the O'Keeffe house. There's no need to only see the house from this view, book a tour sometime soon
Miss O'Keeffe and Miss Holly with Elk skull (diptych)