Jim Wagner

Many many moons ago, Tom and I drove to New Mexico for a summer holiday.  Little red truck.  Through South Dakota, west to Wyoming.  Stayed in a motel worthy of the Bates motel in Psycho.  Scared ourselves by walking around a tall, abandoned old school building, marveling at how blank its windows appeared in the dusk of the old coal mining town in Wyoming.  And then how frightening it appeared.  Hustled back to the comforts of the motel, and an old bed that sagged down in the middle.  Onwards to Colorado and down to New Mexico where we discovered the beauty of Taos and Santa Fe.  One of the better moments in Taos came with a visit to the Parks Gallery, where we discovered the wonderful and quirky work of Jim Wagner.

At the time, I treated myself to a Jim Wagner silver pin -- a pregnant angel.  Tom, for his 50th, received a print of Jim's depiction of an old adobe church.  Jim Wagner continues to impress me with his works... a new show is being exhibited at the Parks Gallery. 

Crop Duster

Cliffside Kiva

Our journey continued back through Colorado -- over Independence Pass, on to Snow Mass and the gorgeously expensive town of Aspen, back up to South and North Dakota, and then our amazement at how green Manitoba looked after the dry western states.  We'd like to repeat the journey some day ... for now we have to content ourselves by lusting after Jim's gorgeous works!