Art Trails

Loom and fiber rule at Weaving SouthWest

ART OVERLOAD IN TAOS
Article and photos by Anne Jenkins

Long an acknowledged art center, Taos continues to outshine just about any other art town. It's reputation for the arts started back in 1898 with a visit by Bert Phillips and Ernest Blumneschein, who promptly fell in love with the place. Within a couple of years they were joined by Joseph Sharp, W. Herbert Dunton , Irving Couse and Oscar Birminghaus and these famous "original Taos 6" formed the Taos Society of Artists. Over 110 years later, Taos is home to well over 1,000 artists and stacks of art galleries.

It seems around every corner is another gallery, another sculpture or pottery exhibit. It can be a little overwhelming. Not wanting to blow my artistic wiring completely, I took the easy approach and selected a few that looked a little different from the rest, added a historic hotel and a museum and left the others for another time.

Next door to Wannamaker's studio is Taos Clay and some interesting sculptures.

I started a couple of miles north of the main square, and stopped in at Logan Wannamaker's pottery studio which is right next door to Taos Clay. There are huge creative sculptures of horses outside which drew me to stop in the first place. Wannaker's is low-key and a little dimly lit but the studio is right off the gallery, which if filled with potters would make it lively.

One can't live on feasting your eyes on art alone - exploring an art town requires a fuel to keep you going. Just down the road towards the main center of Taos is a fun restaurant, Orlando's featuring New Mexican fare. It's a colorful place with a dining garden which won my heart immediately. I wish more restaurants in the U.S. had outdoor dining. Without meaning to state the obvious, Taos is a ski town, so the outdoor dining is limited to warmer weather - luckily I was there in August. Another fun experience at Orlando‘s, apart from their good food, is a trip to the bathroom… you go right through the kitchen. It can get a bit hectic trying to avoid the servers.

Orlando's serves up good New Mexican fare

After lunch, I concentrated on four galleries on the Paseo de Pueblo Norte - Act I Gallery, Weaving SouthWest, J Fine Art Gallery and Las Comadres - because they were close together and for their variety.

Act I's appealing entrance

Act I Gallery, one of the well established galleries in town started back in 1989, is tucked in behind a green patch looks small because of it's tiny store front. But it is a colorful, absorbing gallery with a lively mix of artists and mediums. Owner Anita Ellison, justifiably proud of her artists, greets you and lets you wander at will without interruption, but is a mine of information if needed.

Weavers work in the studio of Weaving SouthWest

Weaving SouthWest is a wonderland of all things fiber and yarn. Started by the doyenne of New Mexico's weavers, Rachel Brown, back in 1987 and now run by her enthusiastic granddaughter, Teresa Loveless, it‘s breath-taking experience. They have yarn, contemporary tapestries, rugs and much, much more. I picked up a load of information about the Fiber Arts trails of New Mexico and just had a marvelous time there. I'm not a fiber artist - I just love it. Fiber art is honest, homespun, sophisticated, comforting and always fascinating. As a side note, one thing I've noticed is how the fiber arts always seems to have really strong and interesting women involved with it.

J Fine Art has impressive and bright sculptures

J Fine Art Gallery is a smooth, upscale gallery with lots of really cool sculptures and unusual works of art with a large abstract collection. It has that quiet, sophisticated feel of a big town gallery some folks find intimidating but, in reality, at J's they couldn't be more friendly and relaxed.

Las Comadres features only women artists

I thought Las Comadres would be an interesting stop as it's a gallery specializing in the women artists of the area. Unfortunately I got fed up with it because the lady in charge was more interested in talking to her friends about money and ignored us so much we just left after a look around and then waiting for some time. As a result, it clouded my view so I found the art wasn't that interesting. I guess it's not fair but that's how life goes.

Hotel La Fonda on the square

We drove on down to the square to the historic La Fonda Hotel for a peek at the "Forbidden Art" of writer and artist, D.H. Lawrence of Lady Chatterley fame. Remarkable artists have wandered the streets of Taos over the years. A famously rich lady, Madge Dodge Luhan, enticed many of them to the area including Ansel Adams, Georgia O'Keefe and D.H. Lawrence. Lawrence was fed up with his native England for banning his paintings in 1929. His art was deemed scandalous back then, and would hardly raise an eyebrow now. The colorful Greek immigrant owner of the hotel bought the paintings from Lawrence and they still hang in a private room. The staff give you a detailed and fun fact tour of them on request.

Horse sculpture between Wannamkers & Taos Clay

The small and unobtrusive Harwood Museum of Art was hosting an exhibit by Dennis Hopper and a few of his friends. Being of a certain age and Easy Rider fans, we couldn't resist. Hopper adopted Taos when he took a wrong turn while location scouting for the movie and fell in love with the place. He's a great movie legend and seems like a really nice normal person as you watch the video of him talking about his experience of being curator for the exhibit. But after going through the whole show, I couldn't help feeling he got the exhibit because he's famous rather than for his, or his friends, talent.

It seemed I covered so much but hardly scratched the surface of all Taos has to offer. Now I'm just working out how to get back soon to see more of the laid-back, friendly town in the enchanting mountains of New Mexico.

Information on businesses:

Orlando's New Mexican Restaurant, Hwy. 64, 1.8 miles north of Plaza, on Paseo de Pueblo Norte Taos, NM Tel: 575-751-1450

http://www.taosclay.com

http://actonegallery.com

http://weavingsouthwest.com

http://www.jfineartgallery.com

http://harwoodmuseum.com

http://www.lascomadresgallery.com

http://www.lafondataos.com

Click to learn about Anne Jenkins