Burros of Carrizozo

[gerilnurse]

Is there photos online of these burros at Carrizozo? Also where may they be seen? I am visiting from Virginia Beach,VA. Thanks. Geri

[webmaster]

Thanks very much for the inquiry.

We presently have photos of 13 of the 22 burros that were offered for sale already on our site. There were another 9 for which we have photos but haven't had a chance to post them here yet. But I believe the burros are here somewhere on my PC. If I can find them, I will post them.

You'll find our content article about the Burros and the (then upcoming) auction here:

www.SONewMex.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=117 (http://www.SONewMex.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=117)

If you read it carefully, there's a link in that article to a gallery of burro photos here on our site.

All but 2 of the Burros were sold to the 250 guests who showed up at their auction on November 18 or to local Carrizozo businesses a week before the auction. But when I was at Gallery 408 in Carrizozo last weekend there were still roughly a dozen burros waiting impatiently to be picked up by their new owners. It's not easy to fit a 4 foot tall 5 foot long burro in the average passenger vehicle. I KNOW. We bought one for my mother and then had the dilemma of trying to figure out how to bring it home. Sales prices on the Burros ranged from just under $1,000 up to $2,200.

The article link above provides information on how to contact Gallery 408 which also has two $10 posters available that includes image of the 22 burros decorated and sold in Burro Serenade.

All proceeds from the auction beyond the gallery's raw costs to buy, transport and pay stipends to artists who decorated the burros went to local animal shelters. We understand roughly $13,000 was raised on behalf of the shelters. In east-central New Mexico, it was definitely a highly successful public art project!

Watch for those extra photos later today. Right now, it's 3:45 a.m. and I'm headed to bed. Sleep first... burro photos later. {YAWN}

Buenos Noches, señora.

[gerilnurse]

I found it difficult to find the Burros and the pictures and information re: them. Also the website is complicated and not user friendly for older folks like myself. Where may I see the Burros and the photos as a group rather then accessing each one individually. Thanks Geri I am visiting from VA BCH, VA and have little time here.

[webmaster]

I'm sorry you find the Steppin' Out site difficult to navigate. It was designed not as a simple one-issue website; but as a full-fledged web portal -- to give our visitors access to as many arts information resources as possible. I realize that for elders and inexperienced users having so many links and so much information available at once can be confusing at first. However, to provide access to as much information as this site contains in any other form would require thousand pages in any format I know of. In my experience, most users would find that far more confusing, intimidating and hard to deal with than the arrangment we offer now.

Please stop for a moment and consider the scope of what we tried to create here. At the moment, the Steppin' Out site allows you to access our last 7 back issues representing over 300 news and content articles, 2,700 arts events, over 2,300 high-quality art images, dozens of artist and gallery reviews plus 5 articles apiece from over 3 dozen external arts-related news syndicates worldwide. It was designed to automatically update its content every day whether we change it or not. In short, this on-line arts newspaper may well be the largest and most powerful arts news resource on the world wide web.

Sadly, even though the site is free, such depth and power does come at a price. The truth is such a site would be impossible for someone with your level of experience and Internet sophistication to navigate in any other format. In short, the richness and depth of the resource would be invisible and inaccessible to most visitors.

Please read the reply I posted above and then go back to the site and try again. The article about the burros contains three clickable images PLUS a clickable text link to a gallery which contains photos of 13 of the 22 burros. There is no one-page view of all the Burros on our site (or any other for that matter) for one simple reason... Such an image would be too large to show online and would require much longer to download than the average web user would be willing to wait. On a dial-up line, it would take at least several minutes to download an image that large. Even if you would be willing to wait that long, most users would not be.

As our alternative, we include a xompact two-page gallery featuring small thumbnails of each individual burro with 12 images per page. Each individual thumbnail in that gallery can be clicked to see a medium-sized version of the image and each medium-sized image can be clicked a second time to see the largest image of the burro that we have. The advantage to this approach is that even on a slow dial-up line those gallery pages each download in less than 30 seconds apiece.

That's all I can offer on this subject. Please accept my apology if our site is hard for you to figure out at first. But think back a bit... most of us had the same reaction to a public library the first time we entered one. Any resource which makes this much information available is bound to be bewildering and intimidating at first. My advice is to be patient, keep trying and remember you're visiting one of the largest arts information resources on the web! ;)

Best Professional Regards,
Greg Platt
WebMaster and On-Line Publisher
Steppin' Out New Mexico

[gerilnurse]

Hello and Thank You for your speedy reply. I was able to find the site that you referred to and enjoyed the photos very much. I am hoping to stop by the Gallery soon. Take care.


Geri Lainhart

[webmaster]

Dear Geri,

If you’ll look again today, at our cover page article (www.sonewmex.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=117 (http://www.sonewmex.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=117)), or visit the Burro Serenade Gallery again (www.sonewmex.com/pp-514/showgallery.php/cat/580 (http://www.sonewmex.com/pp-514/showgallery.php/cat/580)), you’ll find we added 23 more images to that gallery last night! No matter how many of the burros are left at the gallery when you arrive, you’re sure to like the place and enjoy your visit. They have lots of fine contemporary art on display in the gallery and a beautiful Sculpture Garden as well. If you watch carefully as you drive through town you’ll spot several of their decorated Burros scattered about outside local businesses. Stromberg’s Antiques just north of Allsups in town (at the flasher light on hwy 380 and state hwy 57) has two. I’ve also spotted them outside two other local businesses on Hwy 57 as well. The gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday 10 – 5 and their phone number is 505-648-2598 (www.gallery408.com (http://www.gallery408.com/)). When you get to town, turn south on Hwy 57 at the Rt 380 flasher light, then left beside the Wells Fargo Bank (I hear they own a burro too) and right on the first street you come to (12th St). Gallery 408 is just half a block down on your right. You’re sure to enjoy their sculpture garden. It’s a really serene and lovely place.

Also be sure to take a few minutes to visit the lava beds just 5 miles west of Carrizozo on Hwy 380. That’s a fascinating place and they claim it’s the most recent ‘new’ lava flow in North America – only about 10,000 years old (I guess they never heard about Mount St Helens! ;-) If you’re headed to Carrizozo via hwy 380 from I-25, there is a delightful family-owned gallery at the flasher light in San Antonio called Galeria Del Bosque (www.Bosqueart.com (http://www.bosqueart.com/)). I recommend a stop to visit them on your way through San Antonio. Also the best burgers in the state are kitty-corner across the intersection from Galeria Del Bosque at “The Owl Bar”. They’re world famous for their green chili cheese burgers.

You may also be interested to know Bosque Del Apache National Bird Refuge is just 10 miles south from that San Antonio flasher light and at this time of year they are host to more than 50,000 Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes. It’s QUITE a site to see. Last, but not least, if you have time, Carrizozo is 70 miles north of Alamogordo (straight south on Hwy 57). Alamogordo is the home of White Sands National Monument (a MUST see place) plus the Space Museum and the state’s only IMAX theater as well. Watch out for traffic cops on hwy 57 south of Carrizozo… they REALLY work that road. Trust me, I know (rubs wallet painfully)!

Enjoy your visit to the Land of Enchantment! And please tell each of the destinations I recommended that you learned about them in Steppin’ Out.

Best Professional Regards,
Greg Platt
WebMaster and Publisher