Tucson, AZ - WMR Conference

I was in Tucson, AZ late last week for the Western Mountain Region (WMR) Conference for the AIA. Late in 2011 I was awarded the AIA WMR Jason Pettigrew Scholarship which paid for my trip to Grassroots in Washington, DC this past March and then for my trip to the WMR this year in Tucson.

I decided to drive out and left very early on Wednesday morning so that I could arrive in time for a business meeting at the conference that started at 9:00am. I then did a half day drawing class on Wednesday before two full days of conference seminars and meetings. I had a really great time and got to visit with a lot of great people and even see some friends I have not seen in some time.

The conference ended on Friday, but I had the room for another evening so I went out to dinner with some architects from Las Cruces on Friday evening then had a drink with them back at the hotel before turning in for the evening. Since I had been getting up pretty early all week I decided to relax a little and sleep in on Saturday then headed out to explore a little of Tucson before heading home.

I decided to go and visit the Mission Church called San Xavier that is just south of Tucson and I am very glad I did. This is now one of my favorite places, it is a beautiful church and the paintings and carvings on the interior are amazing. Here are a couple photos that I took, I will be posting more in the future and I will be visiting this place again next time I am in Tucson.

The exterior of San Xavier del Bac also called the "White Dove of the Desert" construction began in 1783 and was completed in 1797, Franciscan missionary Fr. Juan Bautista Velerrain hired architect  Ignacio Goana to design and build the church.

The alter and just a small amount of the painting and sculpture that are inside the church. Little is know about the artists but some of the original sculptures still exist int he church. The dome is a masonry dome, and it is amazing.