Postcard from Tubac

Never heard of Tubac, you say? Am not surprised. It’s pretty small. Tubac lies about 40 miles south of Tucson. About 1,100 people live there today, but its history goes back over 250 years.

First established in 1752 as a Spanish presidio, it was the first Spanish colonial garrison in Arizona. Tubac was one of the stops on the Camino Real (the "Royal Road") from Mexico to the Spanish settlements in California. (By the way, "Tubac" is an English borrowing from a Hispanicized form of the local Indian name, which translates into English as "rotten")

In the 1840’s, Apaches repeatedly attacked the town, eventually forcing the most residents to abandoned the settlement. It was also the scene of a four-day siege in 1861, between Tubac’s remaining male citizenry, Confederate militia and Apache Warriors. Not sure who won, but the town pretty much remained a memory until around 1908 when some enterprising folks started to rebuild.

But what about the Tubac of today? Well it’s an artist colony. According to the Chamber of Commerce, there are, “over 100 eclectic shops and world class galleries situated along meandering streets punctuated by hidden courtyards and sparkling fountains.” All that is quite true. It’s a town totally dedicated to the arts (even if some may come from China).

To call it an artist colony might be a bit of an exaggeration, at least today. For several years, it was just that, but as it became more popular, bigger shops and galleries came in and prices went up…high enough the most of the artists were forced to leave. Not many left in town today. All to sadly, this is a common occurrence for artist colonies.

According to one local resident, the little town was hit hard by the economic collapse of 2009. When I first saw it in 2006, it was swimming with tourists, snowbirds and other AZ residents. On my visit there last week, it was close to empty. I realize it was the middle of the week, but when hard times hit, art is one of the first things to go. Too bad, as it is a cute little town and I hope it can rise from the economic ashes.

I wandered around town with my camera and took several interesting photos…but few more interesting than this collection of large metal flowers. I found different kinds of metal flowers all over town in all shapes and sizes. But I really like this collection. And the colors…wow!

If you are ever down this way, make sure you make a stop at Tubac and take it all in. It is really designed for tourists, but if you come here, that is what you are.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com