We visited the International Museum of Folk Art in Santa Fe. I was in love from the moment I stepped foot in the door. Since so many of my sculptures are characters with stories that I create while making them, this museum was made for me. I took so many pictures while there, but none of them did the figures justice.

We spent three days wandering around Santa Fe where I became more aware of the influence of folk- art. When we left, we drove the Turquoise Trail and all along the way there was evidence of art assembled out of found materials. Bicycles on poles, painted bright colors, fish swimming in trees, giant birds and horses looking like origami but made of steel. Rusted pieces welded together to make all kinds of figures and shapes.

We pulled into Cerrillos, where Young Guns was filmed in the 1988. The town was hardly a town but in the center was a Catholic church, in the mission architectural style. Outside the church was a figure of Christ made out of a tree trunk, and inside the courtyard were the most beautiful statues of Mary, and an angel, also made from tree trunks.

The simplicity of folk art is what speaks to me. Look at the lines of the faces, and the hands, or the clothes, the suggestion of the smile, the eyes. The carved figure are crude but at the same time elegant and complete. Many times, we continue to embellish, when one simple line says it all.