Taking Time for Tinkertown

A Gateway into Wonder

A bright spot in a rather tough week was a visit from our friend the Bartels: Julie, Ken, and Nora.  Sunday they picked us up and we drove up into the Sandia Mountains (east of Albuquerque).  On our way up to the Crest, we stopped at an idiosyncratic and wildly imaginative museum.

Tinkertown is sort of like a dollhouse grown large.  Sort of like a craft festival gone mad.  Sort of like, well, nothing else I can think of.  Ross Ward, the creator, believed in upcycling before the word had been coined.  He could paint.  He could carve.  He could do metal work.  His displays often included handwritten notes explaining an element in a diorama or just making silly comments on the scene (like noting the type of tea Mary Poppins drank during her trip to the Western U.S.).  I’ve included a link to the site, in case you want to know more.

The ages of our little group spanned early seventies (Jim) all the way down to not quite sixteen (Nora).  Not a single one of us were bored or restless.  Jim took photos of some of the dioramas, and on Monday he and I spent a quiet half-hour using the zoom feature on his computer to get a closer look at some of the displays.  We’re actually considering going back and taking more pictures, because it’s impossible to absorb everything while walking along.

One of the things I love about the displays is how little ego is involved.  Ross Ward’s dioramas included his own carefully carved figures, but also plastic “junk,” objects from tourist traps, bits of repurposed hardware, and, well…  If you’ve ever read either E. Nesbit’s The Enchanted Castle or Edward Eager’s Knight’s Castle, the displays show the same delight in making a pretend landscape out of whatever seems beautiful and fun at the time.

I’m off to PT in just a bit, so I’ll close here.  Hope you all are well.  May you find beauty and happiness in unusual places.