- During the summer of 1917 artist Georgia O'Keeffe and her sister, Claudia took a summer vacation from Canyon, Texas to Ward, Colorado. Summer rains diverted Miss O'Keeffe and her sister to a route through Santa Fe and southwestern Colorado before arriving in the mining town above Boulder, Colorado. During her stay, Miss O'Keeffe created a dozen paintings and drawings of the Rocky Mountain landscape which are in a variety of collections around the country. 'Cordially, Georgia O'Keeffe' is an experimental documentary juxtaposing images of her work with current digital video scenes and live action by Paige Berry as the young Georgia O'Keeffe.—Anonymous
- Cordially, Georgia O'Keeffe is primarily based on a thank you note written by Georgia O'Keeffe to her host, Hazel Schmoll which recounts her stay in Ward, Colorado. In the three page letter, archived in the Boulder Carnegie Library, she writes about her adventures "tramping" around the Rocky Mountains.
She created well over a dozen paintings and sketches of Long Lake and Stapp Lakes, as well as of the community church in Ward. Painting the backs of churches became a theme in her later works.
She and her sister, Claudia, shared a cottage with an three other unnamed people including a "prize fighter". After a bit of research one possible boxer is the famous featherweight Abe Attell. He had a bout in nearby Nederland which would establish him in Boulder County during the time of the O'Keeffe's visit there. This was a rather tumultuous time in the love life of Georgia O'Keeffe and their relationship is being further researched.
Of most interest, she and her sister, Claudia, were rerouted through New Mexico due to flooding. Had she not visited Colorado, she wouldn't have had her first experience seeing Santa Fe. She writes, "I don't know if I like Ward or Santa Fe best". In the 1920s, Georgia's friends and colleagues Paul and Beck Strand, Marsden Hartley, D.H. Lawrence and others also trekked in New Mexico for a change of scenery.
The rest is history.
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