I like El Paso. I’m not sure I’d want to live there but it’s fun to visit. Much like Santa Fe, there are little bits of art everywhere you look and the architecture has a unique flair to it. This year our hotel room happened to look right down into the local baseball stadium, all lit up in the evenings. It was a fun view.

We went down a day early so we could wander around and have fun before getting down to volleyball. We went to the free art museum, which feels like three tiny museums all housed in the same building. Most of the art, sensibly enough, is by local artists from West Texas and northern Mexico. Most of this art has political themes dealing with immigration and U.S.-Mexico relations. The museum also has a lot of Catholic religious art, which is pretty common for the southwest. And then there’s a room full of Renaissance portraits and such, donated by the Samuel Kress foundation. It has nothing to do with Texas or Mexico or anything, really, but what museum’s going to turn down free art?

^{The museum’s website specifically said it’s fine to take photos without flash, so I took pictures of some of my favorites.}

I have a hard time connecting with political art, but I still found the contemporary stuff the most interesting. We had fun at the art museum, but next year maybe we’ll try the El Paso history museum next door.

After the museum we wandered around looking for vintage an curiosity shops. Our quest led us to Tooth and Veil, my new favorite place. It was dark and moody and very goth, with Joy Division playing in the background and a couple of coffins on display, and it was stuffed full with beautiful things. There were all sorts of witchy herbs and tinctures on one side, a whole rack of deliciously black vintage clothing, cute little picture frames and costume jewelry and decorative boxes, and skulls and skeletons galore. I wanted to buy most of the store, but I managed to limit myself to two adorable little boxes, a vintage perfume bottle, and a lovely little diorama. I’ve been looking at diorama and collage style art for years, waiting for something that spoke to me, and I finally found the perfect one for me.

The woman who sold us our stuff said Tooth and Veil will be selling at the Oddities and Curiosities Expo in Albuquerque this year. You know, the one I can’t go to because we’ll be in Denver for volleyball that weekend. Now I’m even sadder about the scheduling conflict. I’ll just have to save my money and visit their shop in El Paso again next year.

And that’s about all the excitement I have for this week. This week we get back to our normal routine, and hopefully you all have a cozy week as well. Until next time. –Corvus