Director’s Foreword

What if creativity is a tangible substance? What if inspiration is its own unique form of matter, as real as water, and capable of existing in various forms, changing from a nebulous gas to a flowing liquid or an absolute solid? Spend enough time in the Piedra Lumbre basin, rimmed by the cliffs of Ghost Ranch to the north, punctuated by Cerro Pedernal to the south, bisected by the Rio Chama hidden beneath the gathered waters of Abiquiú Lake, and it becomes quite easy to imagine creativity as a multi-phased matter. It is carried on the wind like a whisper. It crunches under foot in the alkaline soils. It rains down from the azure sky. Our species has been inspired by this place for as long as it has known human habitation, as evidenced by the abstract petroglyphs, elegant flint-knapped tools, and time-worn dwellings that dot the landscape. In modern times it has and continues to inspire makers of all manner, from the workshop participant picking up a brush for the first time to artists like, well, Georgia O’Keeffe, and now, Josephine Halvorson.

In 2019 the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum welcomed Josephine as our first artist-in-residence, offering the rare opportunity to be immersed in the landscape and light of Ghost Ranch, and moreover, unparalleled access to the home and belongings of Georgia O’Keeffe. This residency was an extension of our “Contemporary Voices” exhibition series, which is intended to enrich our understanding of the relevance and vitality of O’Keeffe’s legacy as seen through the eyes of contemporary artists. Josephine has been the recipient of an impressive list of residencies and worked in other significant artists’ studios, from Robert Rauschenberg to Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres. This residency perhaps is distinct in that we invited Josephine to experience all the resources of the O’Keeffe Museum, not just our galleries and art collections in Santa Fe, but also our archive and collections of O’Keeffe’s personal belongings, and of course the artist’s two homes in Northern New Mexico, at Ghost Ranch and Abiquiú. Her sensitivity and sensibility, creating work that is in dialogue with the past in ways that are subtle and surprising while also being wholly original, made Halvorson ideally suited to be our inaugural artist-in-residence. Brimming with fresh insight and revealing aspects of O’Keeffe’s homes, belongings, and the surrounding landscape that are (as yet) largely hidden from public view, the resulting artwork is evocative and compelling. While the museum has aspirations to open the Ghost Ranch home to the public, for the time being, Josephine’s work provides a rare glimpse of some of the unique treasures found within.

Inviting an artist to work in a remote historic site while fulfilling our responsibilities as stewards for these important cultural resources took significant planning and effort from a dedicated team of professionals. I want to extend my gratitude to Stephanie Wilson for coordinating the residency. Judy Chiba Smith, Registrar/Collections Manager, and Sherri Sorensen, Associate Registrar/Collections Manager, were essential in providing access to collection materials and creating appropriate procedures to ensure that Josephine could enjoy unfettered access at both the Ghost Ranch House and the Abiquiú Home and Studio. The project required the assistance and support of all our historic properties staff, including Agapita Judy Lopez, Projects Director, Belarmino Lopez, Steve Lopez, and Margarito Lopez. We could not have created this catalogue and exhibition without the assistance of Sascha Feldman at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. This electronic publication is a team effort, led by Liz Neely, Curator of Digital Experience. We thank Julia Featheringill for catalogue photography. And none of this would have happened without the inspired collaboration of our Curator of Fine Art, Ariel Plotek, and the artist herself, Josephine Halvorson. We are grateful to Josephine and honored to present this catalogue and accompanying exhibition.