The historic downtown along Broadway and Main Street has quietly assembled one of the more interesting small-town art scenes in New Mexico. A mix of galleries, studios, and quirky shops occupies the old commercial buildings near the hot springs district, and several artists have made T or C their permanent base precisely because it is inexpensive and genuinely odd.
The art tends toward the eclectic rather than the Santa Fe-polished — ceramics, folk art, photography, and occasional installations that reflect the town's peculiar character. First Friday gallery openings draw a modest but enthusiastic crowd. The Sims Art Fence, a long stretch of chain-link fence on the edge of downtown decorated with found objects, painted panels, and accumulated curiosities, is a good introduction to the town's aesthetic sensibility.