Every time I find myself in northern New Mexico, my friend Jennylee tells me I must go to her favorite museum, Tinkertown. And, this time, I'm happy to say, I finally had the opportunity to experience this folk art roadside attraction, off the beaten path in the mountains between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and it was everything I hoped it would be. Jennylee's uncle, Ross Ward, was the mastermind behind this rambling and obsessive endeavor. He died in 2002, and his wife Carla continues to share his legacy with thousands of visitors a year.
Ward was a self-taught artist and a show painter for carnivals. He tinkered and collected and carved small kinetic figures in his free time, and then built Tinkertown to be a home for all of his creations so that he could share it with others. This dusty old west town, with its dash of Coney Island and its whiff of the county fair, is truly touching for the belief in one man's imagination enough to just follow it along.
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