This is just a quick webpage I've posted in order to share some of my notes and images from my stay during the summer of 2006 at the Luna Artists' Retreat in southern Colorado. Luna is located in the town of San Acacio, between the Sangro de Cristo Mountains & San Juan Mountain ranges.

Above is the front of Luna, with San Juan Mountains in the background.

Luna is a converted adobe school house in the high desert (elev. 7800 ft). Owner and director, Dr. James Owens, had the place renovated over the last few years. He's turned each of the 4 classrooms into a large artist studio. It was suprizingly cool inside the building despite the very hot & dry conditions outside.

Each studio is huge with very high ceilings. There's no tv, no internet and I got no cell phone reception, so it was a very isolated setting. I was, however, able to use the quiet time to my advantage and I got lots of writing done (which was the whole point of my search for a retreat).

When I needed to check email or plug my laptop into the web, I headed out to a local library, about 8 miles away in San Luis.

Luna has all the amenities of a home; a modern bathroom, laundry fascilities and a common kitchen was available to guests. I took care of my own groceries, and on occassion Jim and I, and sometimes other guests prepared & shared a meal together.

The local area offered lots of wild life, including a herd of wild horses (above). I also saw black widow spiders, golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, vultures, foxes, rattlers, deer, two llamas (escaped from a pen), and hundreds of rabbits.

The head waters of the Rio Grand are located about 15 miles away. We used blow-up rafts to float down the stream for a couple miles.

Looking north from Luna is Mt. Blanca, one of Colorado's highest peaks, snow-capped year-round. Apparently, I brought the rain with me from Vancouver. During my stay the area got record rain fall (which didnt take much for the high desert in August) which produced spectacular skyscapes and magnificent rainbows.

There was lots to discover in the areas sorrounding San Acacio, including the famous D.H. Lawrence Ranch (pictured above). Writers spend a lot of money to stay at the UNM writer's retreat 3 miles down the road from the ranch. Located about 60 miles away, just over the Colorado-New Mexico state line, Luna was a great alternative. And just a few more miles down the road is Taos, New Mexico, a great artisan & ski town.

I also camped out at Kit Carson Park near the town of Red River, and the Wild Rivers area, near Questa NM. Also worth checking out were the hot springs, Ojo Caliente, and a couple vintage trains that will take you through the cool mountain passes for day or half-day excursions. There's a lot of history to discover; Native Americans, Spanish conquistadors, gold miners, trappers, and wild-west outlaws.

If you're looking for an inexpensive retreat I highly recommend this place. Contact Dr. James M. Owens, Ph.D. (Jim) at j.m.owens@hotmail.com - FYI, I found Luna by searching the web and coming across this webpage: http://artistsregister.com/opportunities.phtml#5

Wanna see more pics? Check out this link: http://www.343.com/shared_pics/US_southwest/ or, if you want to ask me some questions about my stay, feel free to send me an email: megaram@excite.com

And finally, a great big thanks to Jim. I couldn't have asked for a more pleasant and courteous host during my stay.

- Fabrizio Napoleone
Writer, Vancouver BC