The View from the Rim: Why I Write About Bisbee

To truly understand Bisbee, you have to develop a kind of double-vision. You have to see the vibrant color of the galleries on Main Street while acknowledging the industrial grit of the mines that carved these canyons. You have to appreciate the beauty of the ‘Now’ without ignoring the ‘Bust’ that made it possible.

My relationship with this town is deeply personal. For nearly a decade, I built a life here that felt as solid and high-yield as the copper veins beneath our feet. When that era ended with sudden, industrial finality, I was left with a choice: to leave the ruins behind, or to begin the work of alchemy—transforming a personal ‘Bust’ into a creative ‘Rebirth.’

My work is rooted in the transition from extraction to expression. Having lived through the ‘Boom and Bust’ of a decade-long partnership in Bisbee, Arizona, my creative practice is now centered on the ‘Residual Interest’ of what remains. I explore the metaphor of the industrial void—the Lavender Pit within the heart—and the necessary transformation of turning ruins into a living gallery.

Today, I operate the Jonquil Motel, a vintage property in the heart of Bisbee, and curate this guide not just as a business, but as an act of stewardship. I live in the ‘Interim’—that beautiful, complicated space where the past and the present coexist. This guide is dedicated to those who want to go beyond the superficial. It is for the travelers who want to see the art and hear the music, but who also feel the gravity of the Lavender Pit and the resilience of a place that refused to disappear when the lights went out.

Whether through hospitality, curation, or photography, my goal is to document the ‘double-vision’ of high-desert life: the tension between the cold brutality of an ending and the vibrant, neon-lit resilience of what comes next.

Welcome to Bisbee. Let’s look beneath the surface.