Now that the clearsky.art box in Willard is ACTIVATED I’m learning how to “roll a mean tortilla”.

Meet me at the Cantina in Willard, April 23, 2022 1-4PM Saturday Earth day, for a reception and demo of my newly acquired tortilla rolling skills.

When ClearSky.Willard invited me to ACTIVATE the art box outside the Cantina, all I knew about Willard was that it was in the eastern plains of New Mexico, an hour and half from Santa Fe, and that the passenger train upon which the town boomed, stopped running in the mid 20th century.

Resonating with untold stories sets a lot of my art projects in motion. ‘How to Roll a Mean Tortilla’ is a fabric construction, dyed with avocado skins and pits headed for the compost, chamisa also known as rabbit brush, a plant that grows all over the high desert and considered a nuisance to some, and fresh leaf indigo that I grow in my garden- a delicate annual non-native and the main character throughout history to address labor and power. Other materials in the construction are Levis and quilt fragments, thread, paper and flour.

An online search led me to Tina Tapia, who grew up in Willard and currently lives in Albuquerque and owns Adorabella Beauty Academy. In an Albuquerque Journal interview she said that she and her sisters were taught to clean and cook, and that she could ‘’roll a mean tortilla’’.

I called her.

She introduced me to her mother, Marcy Aragon, whose parents left Tajique, NM for Willard when her father got a job on the railroad. She remembers the depot and hopping on the train. Willard had an elementary school, a bank and a hotel, restaurants, a post office, a church or two. “It was a good little town” said Marcy,

I hope I get to meet Marcy and Tina and other Willard residents on April 23rd, along with diners at the Cantina and all you out there who are curious about this place who want to eat, gather, and watch me roll tortillas. It’s a big view out west – stay tuned to Instagram Clearsky.Willard for more.