Meeting the Magical in Goldfield
By Hue Chen
Back in 2022, I got to meet Richard and Astrid, members of the Esmeralda High Desert Institute (EHDI) in Goldfield, Nevada. Astrid and I met online when I blurted out on a Nevada Arts Council discussion panel about how it’s important to just start making the community spaces you want to exist here in Nevada, even if you don’t know what you’re doing. Since then, Astrid and I have had a genuine and nurturing friendship, and even met up during the 2023 Basin to Range Exchange (BRX) conference hosted by the Nevada Arts Council in Ely. Together we dreamed up my artist residency at the “International Car Forest of the Last Church” as a way to explore the artistic possibilities in the deserts of Goldfield.
Fallon, the geologist working at a nearby mine, and Hue sitting over a pan of water with glass inside. Hue is demonstrating how to drill glass. Photo by Astrid Larsen at the International Car Forest of the Last Church, August 2023.
That August my partner, Ann, and I settled into the valley of cars with our temporary maker space. There, we created the project, “Are you a window or a mirror?” In which we began mending one of the broken car’s windows with glass harvested from an industrial glass supply company in Vegas. While we were doing this, tourists from around the world visited. We met locals who were curious, sat down and talked, even participated in drilling glass. We asked each person “are you a mirror or a window?” And that question led to beautiful discussions on what that may mean to them.
I met Fallon, a friend of Astrid’s, who is a geologist who works at one of the nearby Tonopah mines. She told me how she’s afraid to look at mirrors because mirrors are objects that have seen a lot, and what memories they hold are a mystery to us. A Burning Man attendee told us of a Russian folklore around mirrors. Another of being a window and a protector for their families. We listened to stories of how being a window means being open to what life may bring, of caring for our inner spaces by opening the window and letting fresh air in.
Hue standing beside one of the upturned cars that has mirror glass strewn up on the windows of the car. Photo by Astrid Larsen at the International Car Forest of the Last Church, August 2023.
We got to share meals and heartful conversations with Astrid and Richard, and also met their friend Bob, who is a sign painter, to hear of his loving philosophy of life. Bob showed us his home in Goldfield—one of mixed and matched old trailers-turned-magical-worlds in each.
Another Goldfield local walked us through some of the old buildings around downtown. He shared with us the history and the sights these buildings have seen in their time.
Across town, pieces of purple glass radiate from the old dump, remnants of people wandering across this desert. Now, only the burros evidence of that transience.
Goldfield is full of magic. The desert here holds a song that continues to draw me towards it. I’m grateful to EHDI, their animal companions, and the intricate artistic communities they’re creating here.
I encourage you to go, look carefully, and leave a piece of art, not just a tag, at the International Car Forest of the Last Church. There’s a song where the winds blow through that part of the desert. If you listen carefully you’ll hear its heartbeat.
Hue Chen is a cultural worker and multidisciplinary artist based in Las Vegas, Nevada, making spaces and fiber objects to ponder on what it means to be at home in the soul. Some subjects explored range from the murmuration behaviors amongst animals as a performance piece to then dreaming up a free community art space out of their home. They are a current member of the Scrambled Eggs Collective, organizing mutual aid events and redistributing art supplies across the Vegas valley. Recently they were selected for the Desert Companion’s 2022 Ones to Watch and have received grants from the Nevada Arts Council.
Double Down blogger photo by Oona Robertson.