Questa ‘Milagro Beanfield Wars’ mural
‘IT ALL BEGAN when I gave a presentation about murals up at the Taos Ski Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center in 2019, where I met Mark White, and he asked if I could do a mural in Questa,” recalls David Vedoe.
Vedoe, an artist and architect who has become known for his striking, large-scale murals; Tempo covered his project at the Kachina Lodge last year. “Mark told me that he was aiming for the mural to become a visual part of the ongoing economic development of Questa,” Vedoe said.
The mural pays homage to Taos resident, author John Nichols’ book, and film, “The Milagro Beanfield War,” which covers the serious water issues in this region that remains ongoing into this time. ‘The mural wall at Andy Martinez’s Roadrunner Welding shop is a bit unusual as a wall for murals: It is a large wind shelter wall for the shop made out of steel. The two large curved segments, to the left, are old pieces that were once used as a gunny sack slide up in the Red River Brandenburg Park, I was told,” he continued.
“The two next panels are very heavy old sliding steel doors, the last panel is part of a tool box for the shop.”
“I did some sketches that would fit the unusual shape of the wall and be simple enough to be clearly visible all the way from the highway below the shop. I chose bold vivid colors as we have here for the New Mexico Sunsets, red for the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and green bean plants in various stages of growth fitting the variations in the panel sizes. Mark wanted the feature of water — Agua es Vida = Water is Life — to be part of the image, so we added irrigation water between the rows of dirt the beans grow in,” Vedoe explained.
“The cross was already there when we began the mural painting process,” he noted “which is a bit dependent on nice sunny winter weather — the large dark primed metal panels get really hot in the summertime, almost like an oven — the paints have to be applied when the temperature is at least 40 F — so the timing here in the warm, sunny, not too cold, not too hot, part of January was pretty perfect. “
White said that he and Andy Martinez are in the process of fabricating and installing a large white painted metal sign under the mural.
Vedoe inserted the text on the photo, positioned on the steep dirt slope right under the mural wall. The sign will be put up in a week or so. I was standing on a tall ladder that I partially dug into the steep dirt in order to take the photo. Vedoe observed that, “
‘Mark wanted the feature of water — Agua es Vida = Water is Life — to be part of the image, so we added irrigation water between the rows of dirt the beans grow in,’ David Vedoe explained.
COURTESY DAVID VEDOE
it is always interesting to work directly with clients, in this case two different people, Andy Martinez, the shop owner and Mark White who commissioned him to create the mural, to transform an environment, to create site specific artworks and to make sure everybody is happy and satisfied with the end product that will be visible and hopefully a beloved landmark over the Town of Questa for many years to come. They both told me they were very happy with the result,” he said. The mural location is situated high up on the top of the hill West of Questa Highway 522 at Andy Martinez’s Roadrunner Welding Shop. For information and directions,
call 575-779-4239. Mark White can be reached at 575-224-4006. Contact mural artist David Vedoe at 575-7793789 and at facebook.com/vedoe.