"Orla, TX" Photos by Nicole Tappa

"Orla, Tx", from Milwaukee artist, Nicole Tappa will be on the walls August 15th through mid September. The collection is an eerie story of a lonesome ghost town textured by decay and vast blue skies. Join us for an opening reception August 22nd from 6-9pm.




Nicole Tappa graduated from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 2005 with a BFA in photography. She then traveled onto Chicago. After completing one year at Columbia College Chicago's MFA program in photography she has returned. Chicago taught her one thing, that if she goes any further away, she'll start coming back.


About Orla

It's a long way to anywhere from Orla, Texas. Orla is on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line, U.S. Highway 285, and Farm Road 652, five miles southeast of Red Bluff in northwestern Reeves County. The name is Spanish for "border" and refers to the countryside around the settlement. Orla was established as a section house on the Pecos River Railroad in 1890. A post office was opened there in 1906. By 1933 Orla reported the post office, a business, and a population of ten. Its population remained at ten until after World War II, but the number of businesses increased to two in 1943. The town grew between the late 1940s and the 1950s, the population to forty and then to sixty, and the number of businesses to three. In the mid-1960s Orla became a rural oil supply center. By the end of the decade its population had reached 250, and it had twelve businesses. From 1970 through 2000 its population was reported at 183, and it had variously anywhere from one to sixteen businesses. In 1990 Orla still supplied equipment for production in nearby Permian Basin oilfields. In 2005, its population stood at 2.