Taos Springtime at Touchstone Inn

March is upon us here in Taos  and Touchstone Inn is getting ready to start greening up! The first flowers that arrive are our tulips, then our iris and day lilies. We need some help thinning out the iris in the labyrinth so let us know when you arrive if you would like to take a plant home with you. I planed them about 15 years ago and they are very healthy and very hearty.

Brad and the gang took out all of the juniper bushes on the backside of the house and will soon be working on seeding grass. It looks fabulous! The cedar tree that Tony Luhan planted when the house was built will no doubt feel the ease of being the only water drinker posted by the door now.

In our smallish town of Taos, the roads are a little dusty and we are all ready for the transition into full foliage. The winds can be brisk this time of year. So if you are traveling to Taos, or traveling in Taos, then bring a favorite jacket and a scarf.

Touchstone Wild Trukey

This Thanksgiving we have decided to have a fairly traditional sit down dinner for 15 to 20 family members and guests as well. On the thanksgiving menu:

Appetizer Course:

Shrimp Cocktail with Spiced Sauce

House Made Pickles and imported Olives

Vegetables with Dipping Sauce

Main Course:

Roasted Turkey and Smoked Turkey with Brad’s Special Rub

Sweet Potatoes with House Made Marshmallows

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole

Root Vegitable Stuffing

Corn Bread Stuffing

Giblet Gravy

Waldorf Salad

House Made Rolls and Sage Compound Butter

Dessert Course:

Persimmon and Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Pecan Pie

Tripple Berry Cobbler

Vanilla Ice Cream

Thanksgiving is a special time for us to spend with our friends and family. We invite you to join us for Thanksgiving and enjoy some great food and company.

The Taos News is a weekly, award winning, news paper produced here in Taos. This week Touchstone Inn is a feature in the column Innovators and Entrepreneurs written by Susan Sims for The Taos News. Susan did an excellent job of telling our story — the Brad and Amber story of how we came to find ourselves here at Touchstone. The Taos News features the Innovators and Entrepreneurs column every week and we are very happy to be included. The interview session with Susan, from The Taos News, went well — she was easy for us to talk to and we were able to give her twice the amount of information that she actually needed to write the piece. Read it at http://www.taosnews.com/news/business/article_2e04b248-252e-11e2-96cc-001a4bcf887a.html and let us know what you think via face-book!

Clay Monoprinting Workshop

June 17-21, 2013

Painter?     Potter?    Printmaker?

Mitch Lyons is not an artist who fits neatly into the established art categories.  A potter turned printmaker, he has not abandoned clay, but has expanded the possibilities into another medium – that of printmaking.

“Viewing Mitch Lyons’ prints could be compared to viewing the interior walls of an old house being demolished, when layers of paint and wallpaper reveal the stratum of lives lived, lives changed, and the elements of time and history.”
Fibre Arts Australia

About Mitch Lyons

Mitch Lyons earned his Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Ceramics from Tyler School of Art, and his Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree in Graphics from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His clay monoprints can be found in numerous private and public collections throughout the United States, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Woodmere Museum, American University, Delaware Art Museum, and the University of Delaware.

Lyons has had exhibitions of his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Noyes Museum, New Jersey; Kalmar Lans Museum, Kalmar, Sweden; and the Vonderau Museum, Fulda, Germany. He is a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Visual Arts Grant. He has taught at West Chester University, Moore College of Art, Rowan University, Alfred University, and the University of Delaware. In the past 10 years he has led over 100 workshops.

About Clay Mono prints

Since 1968 Lyons has been pioneering his image making from a slab of clay. First a slab of stoneware clay is rolled out about 1/4″ thick. After allowing the slab to dry to a “leather hard” consistency, colored slips are made using China clay and permanent pigments. These colored slips are brushed on, dried and rolled into the clay slab, one color over another, building the design with images, colors and textures on the “matrix”.
Once the slab is rolled flat, a moistened piece of paper/canvass is placed over the slab. Pressure is applied using a rolling pin to transfer the clay slips onto the substrate. Because China clay is inert and the pigments used are permanent and stable, the clays remain intact and will give pleasure for many years.
Come learn this unique clay printmaking process in the beautiful Touchstone Inn located in Taos, New Mexico.  Students will apply colored slips, pigments, textures, images, and marks to a leather-hard clay slab, and learn to pull prints.  This is a process in which everyone succeeds and will experience the power of the clay printmaking process.  Open to all levels.

5 Days of Workshop

June 17 through June 21
Workshop Fee:    $ 500.00
Materials Fee:     $   50.00
Contact Mitch Lyons @ 302-545-4839 to sign up for the class.
Contact Touchstone Inn directly to reserve a room

4 Nights Lodging

Arrive June 17, 2 013, Depart June 21, 2013

- Room Share: $340 + tax of $47.60
- Single Room: $480 + tax of $67.20

Add nights for $120 for singles or $85 for doubles. Add maid service for $20 per day.

Includes:
Lodging, Breakfast
Refrigerator and Microwave Oven Available

Inn Kitchen is off Limits
Not Included: Maid Service, Model Fees, Restaurant Meals & Drinks
Some materials Available, Any  Fees and Field Trips are assessed by Mitch as they happen and are Charged Separately by Mitch Lyons.

Space is Limited
Must Call or email to Reserve Space ASAP:
575-779-8217 or 575-779-1174
Must Call or email for Price Adjustment for Non-Participants
Room Placement is done by the Inn
50% non-refundable deposit  is Due upon Booking
Methods of Payment: M/C, VISA
Check – Must be received within 7 days of Booking and made to simply:  TOUCHSTONE
Mail to: P O Box 1885, Taos, NM 87571

http://www.touchstoneinn.com

Payment Amount  May be Transferred in case of Medical Emergency, But is Non-Refundable; Trip Insurance is Advised.
touchstoneinn@gmail.com

Bacon is our new specialty item.

We now make our own bacon at Touchstone Inn!

Chef Brad mixes specialty rubs that feature either sweet or savory flavors like salt and thyme or maple syrup and cayenne. These are the simplest rubs and often Chef Brad works more complex notes into them. Then he puts a 96 hour cure on the bacon. He uses Hickory and Applewood to smoke the bacon to perfection. Guests absolutely love the flavor and it tastes so much heartier than any bacon that can be store bought. People say that it is the best they have ever had! This bacon is treated with respect and passion. It is nitrate free, preservative free, and chemical free. We source our pork belly from a local pig farmer and turn it into amazing bacon. Come and taste!

If you can’t stay but would like for us to ship you some bacon then call 575.779.8712 for pricing and available poundage. Learn more about the history of bacon.

Click here to see our rooms and availability. We look forward to seeing you!

$175 cost of one-day ISEA2012 workshop includes materials; bring your lunch.  Brit’s book, The Truth about Collodial Silver is available for sale on line at $25.99.

Rooms at Touchstone Inn will be discounted 15% off regular rate for ISEA2012 workshop participants and ISEA2012 visitors  who want to stay through the weekend. Code:  SILVER

The Eighteenth symposium for the International Society for Electronic Arts, ISEA2012 Albuquerque:  Machine Wilderness,  is a symposium and series of events exploring the discourse of global proportions on the subject of art, technology and nature. The ISEA symposium is held every year in a different location around the world, and has a 30-year history of significant acclaim. Albuquerque is the first host city for ISEA in the U.S. in six years.

Last year, Singapore was the host city for ISEA and the year before, Istanbul hosted the ISEA symposium.   This project will bring together a wealth of leading creative minds from around the globe, and engage the local community through in-depth partnerships.

Brit Lowe has been helping people with her colloidal silver generator design for the last 15 years and is offering her services to the general public for this very special ISEA2012 symposium.

This project is part of ISEA 2012 Albuquerque: Machine Wilderness  www.isea2012.org

ISEA2012 is organized by 516 ARTS, and hosted with The University of New Mexico,
The Albuquerque Museum and partners.

The ISEA2012 symposium will consist of a conference September 19 – 24, 2012 based in Albuquerque with ISEA2012 outreach days along the state’s “Cultural Corridor” in Santa Fe and Taos, and an expansive, regional ISEA2012 collaboration throughout the fall of 2012, including ISEA2012 art exhibitions, public events, performances and educational activities. The ISEA2012 project will bring together a wealth of leading creative minds from around the globe, and engage the local community through in-depth partnerships with ISEA2012.

Through ISEA2012, Machine Wilderness references the New Mexico region as an area of rapid growth and technology alongside wide expanses of open land, and  aims to present artists’ and technologists’ ideas for a more humane interaction between technology and wilderness in which “machines” can take many forms to support life on Earth. ISEA2012 Machine Wilderness focuses on creative solutions for how technology and the natural world can sustainably co-exist.

The ISEA2012  program will include: a bilingual focus, an indigenous thread, and a focus on land and sky-scape. Because of our vast resource of land in New Mexico, proposals from artists are being sought that will take ISEA2012 participants out into the landscape. The Albuquerque Balloon Museum offers a unique opportunity for artworks to extend into the sky as well.

Taos Wedding

The gorgeous grounds and catering services at Touchstone Inn provide a wonderful option for a beautiful Taos wedding ceremony on the grassy lawn or within the labyrinth.  Your Taos wedding reception catering, and a romantic honeymoon suite are all available at Touchstone Inn.   Brad is an ordained minister who can  perform your Taos wedding  ceremony indoors or outdoors at one of the many options on the Touchstone grounds.

Catering to couples as a romantic getaway, Touchstone offers the tranquility of intimate patios, cozy rooms with fireplaces, Jacuzzi tubs, and gourmet natural foods served at intimate tables. The serene atmosphere of Touchstone provides the perfect setting for a Taos wedding with outdoor arch and candelabras to enhance the chosen site of the ceremony.

THE TAOS PAINTING WORKSHOP

with M. Douglas Walton at Touchstone Inn was a huge success this year.  See our Events page for more details on the upcoming Taos painting workshop for next year and call us to sign up – dates are being decided now and your interest in the Taos painting workshop is important in planning our next season.  This will be the fifth annual Taos art workshop with Doug Walton who  enjoys teaching beginners as well as the seasoned artist.  Don’t miss out, participation  space is limited, let us know of your interest.

Shown at the Taos painting workshop above is critique of Atlin, Yukon artist, Shirley Connolly’s work in progress at second Touchstone workshop.  Shirley attended the fourth annual Taos painting workshop this year and as always an inspiration to all the participants in the Taos painting workshop.

All Taos painting workshops are sponsored by Touchstone Foundation, Inc. a 501C-3 entity that promotes creative education and cultural exchange programs worldwide.

Through the screen door, the Tree house at Touchstone Inn actually looks pretty cozy this morning.  With so many mature trees on the property, adding snow makes for a winter fantasy. Come make snow angels with us for this President’s Weekend.

PRESIDENT’S DAY WEEKEND

at Touchstone Inn is like a winter wonderland today with new snow and sunshine  for  skiing in Taos Ski Valley, and even though there is snow everywhere it is another warm winter day in Taos!  Check out our specials under Rooms and Rates here at Touchstone for President’s Day Weekend:  get a third night lodging FREE when you book two nights at the regular rate at Touchstone Inn for President’s Day.