Fine art photographer Meredith Garcia and painter Tera Muskrat are emerging artists in Taos who have come together to mount a Norteño-themed show as part of the “TCA Exhibits” series at The Taos Inn. Both were poster artists for the Taos Fall Arts Festival [Garcia in 2015 and Muskrat in 2016], and they share a love of the people and culture of Northern New Mexico – “El Norte.”

Merediths photographs are from a suite of work entitled “Española Redux.” Meredith taught for several years at Northern New Mexico College, where she learned to love and appreciate the people of Española and their distinctive lifestyle. If Taos is the "Soul of the Southwest," Española is its viscera.  With its people steeped in the traditional culture of Northern New Mexico, with the accompanying blood, sweat, toil and tears of its agricultural and blue-collar roots, the heart of Española beats to a different drum. Her photographs capture the gritty reality of life in the town that was once known as the Low Rider Capital of the World, whose culture is being changed by the influx of modern life. Several of the subjects of her photographs have disappeared since she took their images – most notably, the iconic watering-hole Red’s Bar, now replaced by a gas station – and others have closed and are suffering demolition by neglect, such as the Arrow Motel. Her work serves to celebrate as well as to enshrine these elements of Norteño culture.

Tera has truly become a New Mexican and as an artist, she has managed to paint daily life in a very authentic manner that expresses the real dignity and beauty of the people with whom she has become friends and family, with an emphasis on women. She paints contemporary expressions of New Mexican women in daily life. Tera’s paintings capture an authentic experience, which shows all of the beauty in Northern New Mexico. Her New Mexico Calendar Girls are celebrations of the strength, durability, power, diversity, and uniqueness of the women here, inspired by the calendar artists of Mexico from the 1930s and ‘40s and the folk artists of northern New Mexico. Tera’s art is powerful, witty, and transgressive, pushing at the boundaries of the Taos art scene with a playful finger. Her work is unique.

The opening reception for the show will be at The Taos Inn on Friday, June 9 2017, from 4:00-6:00 PM. Light refreshments will be served and a cash bar will be available. The work will be on display through September 11.

Artist Talk - Thursday August 17, from 4 to 6 pm.

Migration, is a mixture of wall vessels and boxes made of paper clay, as well as Sang Roberson’s traditional terra cotta box forms on pedestals. The title alludes to the transition from pedestals to the walls of Encore Gallery. Sang says the many colors of the Southwest, in particular the flowers in her Taos garden, have influenced the shapes and palette for this exhibit.

Roberson describes her work as non-functional sculpted boxes and vessels inspired by the organic shapes of nature. Roberson’s work is hand built from slabs of terra cotta or paper clay. Each piece is burnished with terra sigillata, a fine clay slip. The work is fired twice in electric kilns, then often pit-fired outside in hay, sawdust, bamboo and other plants. All findings are organic and the cording used is waxed linen.

Sang Roberson grew up on a lake in the Mississippi Delta where she was surrounded by nature. Her work is inspired by her love of nature’s organic forms. She also believes that her signature box shapes are derived from the many Sundays she and her family spent at the construction sites of custom homes that her father, a builder, designed. Roberson got her start in pottery from a class she learned about in a newspaper ad. The class offered free babysitting, so she took her son and took the class. Since that introduction to ceramics, she has refined her craft and distinctive style. She describes her relationship to clay as “Love and Obsession.”

Sang attended Sophie Newcomb College and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi. Her sculpted clay forms have been exhibited in galleries nationally and internationally and in juried exhibitions such as SOFA Chicago, SOFA New York, the Smithsonian Craft Show and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. She is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Fellowship and a Visual Artist Grant from the Florida Department of State. She has led clay workshops at the Penland School in Penland, NC.; La Universidad Nacional in Bogota, Columbia; and Gaya Ceramic, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, among numerous others. Her artwork is in many public and private collections.

Roberson is currently represented by Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC., and Watson MacRae Gallery, Sanibel, Florida.

Tunnel Books

The current Taos Books Arts display features tunnel books, a form of three dimensional
art. Tunnel books are a series of pages held together by folded strips of paper, giving
an illusions of depth and perspective. Originally called peep show art, this form has been
around since the mid 18th Century.

Dolls Theatre, Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico by Sherry Carlton
The Storm by Jane M Farmer
Poppy, Sound Flower and Magnolia by Carol Farmer
Early Taos Days by Sara Jean Gray

Have you noticed the exceptional art that has been exhibited on the small wall in the right hand vestibule leading into the auditorium? If not please have a look. This wall is curated by artist Theresa Gray and changes with each exhibition in the Encore.

George R. James
Untitled Location # 9
Archival Inkjet Photograph with
Mixed Media
Price: $500
Website: www.georgevjames.com

The "Around the World" theme sets the tone for the 34th season of Music from Angel Fire Summer Music Festival. The two-week festival offers sixteen concerts featuring world-class musicians performing chamber and classical music. The Festival is a touring organization serving the rural Northern New Mexico Rocky Mountain communities of Angel Fire, Taos, Raton and Las Vegas.

September 2, 7pm - Austria
Taos Center for the Arts
HAYDN Trio for Piano and Strings in G Major, Hob. XV:25, “Gypsy Rondo”
JOHANN STRAUSS/Arr. Schoenberg, Berg, Webern Selected Waltzes for Strings and Winds
SCHUBERT Quintet in C Major for Strings, D. 956/op. posth.163

TICKETS $35 AT THE DOOR

PICTURED: IMANI WINDS

Paper, Paper, Paper Exhibition

The Paper, Paper, Paper Exhibition (Sept 4 to Oct 29) will call for works of art created with paper as a medium. Cellulose must be involved in the concept of the artwork and works may be handmade papers, manipulated papers, prints that feature paper in some way, artist’s books made with papers etc.

Lynn Sures, Professor Emerita and former Chair of Fine Arts at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC, has been invited to jury the exhibition and conduct a pulp and paper workshop. Lynn has traveled within the US, Italy, Japan, Australia, Sri Lanka, and Turkey to exhibit, lecture, and offer workshops on hand papermaking. Lynn has recently been awarded an Artist’s Research Fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution for research in Washington, DC and Kenya. The expertise that Lynn brings to both is not found among Taos artists and there has been an expressed interest among printmakers and bookmakers for instruction in pulp drawing and paper making.

Call for submissions pending. Stay tuned.

Pulp and Paper Workshop

The Pulp and Paper Workshop (Oct 26 to Oct 29) at the Stables Gallery will provide participants with the opportunity to prepare several types of natural pulp fibers –including hand-beating kozo pulp, pigmenting abaca and flax pulp to create collaborative and individual pulp paintings. Participants will also make sheets of handmade paper and pulp paintings on Himalayan style molds. The final day of the workshop will include a public presentation/demonstration and a closing reception/gallery talk for the Paper Paper Paper Exhibition in the Encore Gallery. To register contact the TCA at 758-2052. Only 12 slots available. $395 for TCA Members and $425 for non Members. First come first served.
 

Photographs of the historic churches of New Mexico by Mark Goebel fill the public areas of Taos Inn.

Reception for the artist on September 14, 4:00 - 6:00pm

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, The Woman in Black), Joshua McGuire (The Hour) and David Haig (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Witness for the Prosecution) star in Tom Stoppard’s brilliantly funny situation comedy, broadcast live from The Old Vic theatre in London.

David Leveaux’s new production marks the 50th anniversary of the play that made a young Tom Stoppard’s name overnight.

Against the backdrop of Hamlet, two hapless minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, take centre stage. As the young double act stumble their way in and out of the action of Shakespeare’s iconic drama, they become increasingly out of their depth as their version of the story unfolds.

Runtime is 2 hours 45 minutes including intermission.

Tickets are $15 for TCA members, $18 for general admission and $10 for youth 17 and under and may be purchased in advance by calling (575)758-2052 or in person at the TCA office behind Caffe Renato. Tickets will also be available at the theatre box office, which opens at 10:15am the morning of the performance.