Public Art and a Little Mystery ... Solved

Monday afternoon, before the quilt guild meeting,  I spent some time walking around the plaza in Las Vegas, NM.  I appreciated the warm sunny day, interesting architecture and public art.  After driving for an hour across the miles of open space, entering the town of Las Vegas felt like a return to civilization.

Thread Bear is located near a corner of the Plaza.

 It's one of the many buildings with interesting architecture that wrap around the square.

(Yep, that's a windblown me reflected in the window.)






The plaza itself is a rare expanse of green grass, trees and public art.

A young family were enjoying ice cream cones as I walked around and enjoyed the day. It was already beginning to feel like summer–it seemed impossible that there had been snow there less than a week ago.

Here are photos of three of the sculptures on the plaza: El Campesino by Peter E. Lopez; A madonna by Margarita R. Mondragon and what looks to be a yet unidentified work in progress (carved from a downed tree?)





Political signs aren't art, but they were an indication of the upcoming election.



This abandoned building made me curious about what Navajo Textiles, Inc did there.

I poked around online and found only a reference to packing parachutes here during World War II in the description of someone else's photo.

I asked the quilters I met with later that day and they didn't have any local history to share, but they did have the answer to another question I had after walking around the plaza.

Next door to Thread Bear, there's a doorway, with beautiful oak details and this lettering.

What was a door, complete with gold lettering, from Wyoming doing in Las Vegas, New Mexico?

My aha moment came when, at the end of the guild meeting, someone asked if, "they had started filming again."

I don't watch Longmire, but I knew it was filmed in New Mexico and so I put 2 + 2 together and my little mystery was solved.  I did find this photo–a still from the show–on IMDB that shows two of the characters standing just outside the door

Apparently Longmire's Sheriff's office is next door to the quilt shop, which also has appeared in the show.  I've added it to my Netflix queue, to check it out. I may be quilting with Sheriff Longmire soon.