La Luz de Taos 2024 Exhibition Catalog

Exhibition & Sale

Hello Friends,

La Luz de Taos refers to the exquisite light here in northern New Mexico that has delighted and inspired generations of visual artists. Our biennial Gala exhibition, La Luz de Taos 2024, not only showcases an astonishing collection of contemporary art, but also celebrates the 23-year history of The Couse Foundation, which owns and manages Couse-Sharp Historic Site.

The exhibition is on view in our beautiful Lunder Research Center, a 5,000-square-foot museum facility dedicated to the Taos Society of Artists and their inspirational legacy. The research center archives, collections, library, and exhibitions promote increased awareness of and appreciation for the multicultural story championed by the artists of Taos.

I thank our participating artists, sponsors, donors, attendees, and purchasers for their generosity and committed support of our mission and vision.

Davison Packard Koenig Executive Director and Curator Couse-Sharp

Historic Site

We firmly believe that the Couse-Sharp Historic Site is a vital resource for preserving the legacy of the Taos of Society of Artists, and hope that you will join us in supporting its programs by attending La Luz de Taos events and participating in the gala art sale.

Peter and Paula Lunder La Luz de Taos Honorary Chairs

The 2024 La Luz de Taos exhibition is dedicated to the memory of our good friend, the talented artist

Ed Mell (1942–2024)

Please see page 6 for a tribute.

Exhibition April 12–June 13

The Lunder Research Center

Couse-Sharp Historic Site

Taos, New Mexico, USA

Art sale June 15, 2024 at La Luz de Taos Gala Proceeds benefit Couse-Sharp Historic Site programs and preservation

The reason for La Luz de Taos: Couse-Sharp Historic Site

La Luz de Taos showcases, and the art sale benefits, the national treasure that is Couse-Sharp Historic Site (CSHS). The 2+ acre campus encompasses the homes and studios of E. I. Couse and J. H. Sharp, two of the founders of the Taos Society of Artists (TSA). Formed in 1915 with the mission to promote American art and the native art of the region, the TSA focused on the vibrant Native American and Hispano cultures set in the dramatic landscape of the Taos valley.

Through its archives, collections, and programming, CSHS preserves and interprets Taos’ crossroads of cultures, promoting and facilitating research, education, and new perspectives on the Taos Society of Artists, early artists of Taos, and regional and Indigenous communities in relation to the greater story of the multicultural American West.

Our initiatives include interpretive tours and open houses, exhibitions, fellowships, lectures, symposia, publications, demonstrations, Taos Pueblo Day School education program, and the Estate Art Program. Because of its authenticity and relevance, CSHS has become an international destination.

La Luz de Taos 2024 hangs in in the Dean Porter Gallery of The Lunder Research Center, a 5,000-square-foot museum facility. Incorporating the remnants of Sharp’s home, the LRC includes archival and collections storage, a research library, and curatorial and administrative space. We are engaged in cataloguing, preserving, digitizing, and making publicly available a wide array of materials.

In the future, we envision residencies for scholars and artists, expanded K–12 education programs, additional books and videos, preservation projects, and collaborations with scholars, artists, museums, gallerists, collectors, community members, and other stakeholders.

CSHS is in the midst of an endowment campaign to help sustain our vision for the future. Come pay us a visit in Taos and see for yourself what makes our Site so special, and why the shared vision of the Taos Society of Artists remains relevant today.

Rules of the Sale

Most La Luz de Taos exhibition works will be sold by draw at the price set by the contributing artists. Three artworks (Lots 14, 18, and 31) will be sold by secret-bid auction.

INTENT-TO-PURCHASE BALLOTS

Each person who purchases a Gala weekend ticket will receive a set of “ballots” with your buyer number, including one unique ballot for each artwork that will be sold via draw and secret-bid ballots for the three works being sold in that fashion. At the Gala, you’ll place the ballots for any works you wish to purchase into the corresponding ballot boxes adjacent to each artwork. For the secret-bid works, you will write in your bid on the corresponding ballot and put in the corresponding box.

You may enter the drawings for multiple artworks but may only put in one ballot per artwork. Each ballot used signifies intent to purchase.

ABSENTEE BUYERS

You do not need to be present at the Gala to have a chance to purchase artwork. Through June 12 at noon, you may buy absentee ballots for $50 (limit one set per person). At your direction, a proxy will place ballots on your behalf. When you purchase a set of ballots, you will be required to supply your credit card information in case your name is drawn. You will not be charged unless you win a draw.

DRAWING and AUCTION PROCESS

The drawing will take place beginning at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at El Monte Sagrado Resort in Taos. Up to three names will be drawn for each draw sale artwork and will be posted in the order they are drawn. If the person whose name is drawn first is present, they will have 10 minutes to accept or decline to purchase the artwork. (For absentee purchasers, a proxy will act on your behalf.) If declined, the option to purchase will pass to the next name drawn. This process will repeat if necessary.

At the same time, the secret-bid ballots will be reviewed and the highest bid will win for each of those three artworks, with the same option for the winner to accept or decline.

If you are present and your name is drawn for multiple artworks, you are not obligated to purchase all (though you may do so if you like). If you decline a piece, please notify the attending volunteer quickly so the next person drawn may have their chance to buy.

There are a few sale items that can be purchased as sets that will be handled in a slightly different manner. Please see LaLuzdeTaos.org/sale for full details.

PAYMENT, PICKUP, SHIPPING

Cashiers will be available at the Gala to receive cash, check, PayPal, and credit card payments. Credit card and PayPal payments will incur a 3% fee. Upon completed payment you are welcome to take your artwork with you—it will be packed in bubble wrap.

If you wish to have your purchase shipped, it will be your financial responsibility. Couse-Sharp Historic Site will arrange with you during the subsequent week for packing/ crating and shipping through the method and carrier you choose, subject to availability.

Absentee participants will be notified within 24 hours if they have won their desired artwork. You will be asked to authorize your credit card on file for the purchase price or a 10% deposit if you prefer to mail a check for the balance. Shipping or pickup will also be arranged with you.

How to participate

La Luz de Taos Gala weekend begins with the Friday, June 14 open house of the historic site, followed by the closing reception for the exhibition. Saturday morning, June 15, features a lecture on Julius Rolshoven of the Taos Society of Artists, and in the evening is the Gala celebration with the draw sale, secret-bid auction, and trunk sale of wearable art.

For more details, and to purchase Gala weekend tickets ($275 per person) or your set of ballots ($50), visit LaLuzdeTaos.org.

The Dean Porter Gallery at CouseSharp Historic Site is the venue for the exhibition portion of La Luz de Taos. The gallery is in the former home of J. H. Sharp, the remnants of which were incorporated into The Lunder Research Center.

A remembrance by Josh Rose

Ed Mell (1942–2024)

“I’m not a joiner, Josh,” Ed once told me when I asked if he were participating in some new Western show. Fiercely independent, even until the end, Ed was gracious, kind, caring and, above all, humble.

What I admired most about Ed was his dedication to his craft. A true creator, he was happiest painting (and, of course, talking about his children and wonderful wife, Rose Marie). He created all day, every day. Ed dealt with tragedy in his life, and this was transformed by his capacity to create art. Creating beauty. . . for us. I marvel at the human ability to turn tragedy into beauty, and he did so seemingly without effort.

Ed’s struggle was not to get into the studio, but to leave. This is why his studio always felt like a sanctuary to me. Ed loved talking about his work, which made so many young artists glow in the knowledge he happily shared with them. Sometimes, he’d ask me to arrange a group of new and upcoming artists for him to share a meal with. He was eager to learn about them; it was important to him to have these connections. Ed would share and listen and support, always with a positive comment and that generous, wonderful smile and laugh we all remember.

Ed and Rose Marie had arranged to rent a house in Santa Fe this summer. When I visited him a few days before he left us, his last words to me were, “Josh, I will see you in Santa Fe this summer. Don’t count me out yet.” He’s here.

The 2024 La Luz de Taos exhibition is dedicated to the memory of our good friend

Changing Seasons, Ed Mell’s painting for La Luz de Taos 2022

Exhibition

The Taos Society of Artists, TSA for short, left a profound artistic and social legacy. Inspired by the light, landscape, culture, and people of Taos valley, twelve artists shared their skills and resources to achieve together an impact that far outweighs what they could have accomplished as individuals. They were both drivers and beneficiaries of social and economic factors that created a new zeitgeist in early twentieth century America. Their shared vision, of creating a uniquely American art, permanently influenced not only the world of art but also prevailing perceptions of Native America and the West.

The assembled artists in La Luz de Taos 2024 represent a breadth of backgrounds, drawing inspiration from the vast landscape and culturally diverse peoples of Taos and the American West. Together their work presents a contemporary vision of our region, its people and the nuanced history and traditions imbued in the landscape. In many ways, the legacy of the Taos Society of Artists rests with these artists, to remind us of the beauty that surrounds us and to encourage us to appreciate the richness of culture that makes us stronger as a people and a nation.

Taos Society of Artists members (from left to right) Ernest Blumenschein, Bert Geer Phillips, Joseph Henry Sharp, and Eanger Irving Couse critique a recently completed Couse painting, White Goose, in the garden of the Couse home in 1915.

The Art and the Artists

We thank our stellar array of artists for their generosity in donating large portions of the proceeds from sales to benefit Couse-Sharp Historic Site—Bringing the Legacy of Taos Art to Life!

Those who are supporting our programs with a 100% donation are noted with a by the price.

Prices are set by the artists except for the three auction items. The price shown is exclusive of credit card fees (3% upcharge) and any packing and shipping costs that the buyer may choose to incur. All two-dimensional artworks are framed.

For expanded descriptions of many of the works, please see the online catalog at LaLuzdeTaos.org/exhibition.

At an early age, Bill Acheff (Alaskan Athabascan heritage) had an intense interest in painting, yet he never dreamed of becoming a professional painter. It took a chance encounter with the Italian artist Roberto Lupetti at a hair salon to reawaken his artistic aspirations. After a European-style apprenticeship with Lupetti, Acheff dedicated himself to painting and honed his trademark trompe l’oeil (“fools the eye”) style of realism. In his compositions, Acheff frequently represents objects and themes indicative of the Southwest. Specifically, his work often contains artifacts from different Native American cultures, for which he has a special affinity. As Acheff explains, “Artifacts and traditions of the past seem to hold more mystical and aesthetic value than those of contemporary times.” In 1973, Acheff moved to Taos, a major turning point in his career, one which allowed him to find his niche and “develop my own style early on.” When asked about motivators for his practice, Acheff states, “I do it for the pure joy of painting . . . and I hope my paintings bring people inner peace.”

$15,000

Fancy Potter, 2024 oil on linen, 10 x 20 in.

Bill Acheff

Big Little Bear, 2022

kiln-fired vitreous enamel on glass mosaic on tile board, 20 x 16 in.

Angela Babby

Angela Babby revives and combines ancient techniques into a unique form of art: enameled glass mosaic. Unlike other glass artists, she expands upon traditional stained glass techniques with kiln-fired enamel details in her mosaic art. Her “glass-on-glass” approach combines her love of painting with the luminosity and saturation of color uniquely expressed in glass. The artist explains, “Glass contains light. When I depict a person from the past in glass, it has a threedimensional depth that I could never achieve with paint.” A hallmark of her work is how the subject matter strikes the viewer with its emotional content. An enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe, Babby’s Lakota ancestry influences her work and the mysterious nature of glass. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting in 1990 from Montana State University in Billings.

$5,500

Mitch Baird

Mitch Baird believes that painting is a celebration of life and the beauty that surrounds us. He is devoted to the traditions of the late 19th-century artists who looked to the figure and nature for inspiration regarding light, color, and design. Baird works directly from life to capture the qualities and nuances of natural light and color harmony.

This painting portrays the entry to Victor Higgins’s old studio in Taos. Baird said he was “struck by the color of the entry-ways and the character that the elements created on these structures” upon his first visit to the town. He has a conviction that great artistic communication depends on solid draftsmanship, design, and vision. His desire is to “portray a positive visual statement and hope the viewer will experience what I see and in some sense be inspired, uplifted, or moved by my painting, whether it is of a small intimate setting or a grandiose subject.”

Baird resides in the desert Southwest in Mesa, Arizona, with his wife and children. He is a Signature Member of Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society, and the prestigious Plein Air Painters of America, of which he is the current president.

$4,800

Taos Blues

oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in.

Fight at the Pool Hall

(The Nearly Impossible Shot)

oil, 24 x 36 in.

Shonto Begay

Diné (Navajo) artist Shonto Begay captures the striking beauties of a Navajo upbringing and the realities of modern reservation life. A traditional life of sustainability and prayer helped Begay endure the brutality of the US government boarding school he was forced to attend as a child. He paints in a series of small brush strokes that repeat like the words of a traditional Navajo blessing prayer. His images hearken heartfelt childhood memories and resonate the constant struggle for balance and harmony with humankind and Earth. Begay began professionally writing, illustrating, and painting in 1983. He is represented in numerous museums and fine-art galleries. A true storyteller, he has written and illustrated several books for Scholastic and Random House publishers. Begay speaks to audiences of all ages about inspiration and the importance of education and embracing cultural backgrounds.

Courtesy of Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, Arizona

$6,500

Prosperity Parrot, 2024

hand-coiled clay, burnished and painted slip, turquoise, 6 1/4 x 8 x 7 3/4 in.

Autumn Borts-Medlock

Growing up in Santa Clara Pueblo, in a family whose connection to clay goes back generations, pottery has always been an important part of Autumn Borts-Medlock’s life. She began working with clay at an early age under the guidance of her mother and grandmother in the ancient Pueblo technique of coil-building. The lessons she learned working alongside them, sculpting clay they gathered and processed themselves and drawing from the spiritual symbolism and nature-oriented aesthetics of Tewa culture, continues the traditions instilled by her mother and grandmother; she says, “They remain among my strongest influences even now.” Her connection to the Tewa people and culture is defined “more by cultural legacy than by place, more by experience than by genealogy. It becomes part of the larger collective memory of heritage.” The artist has won numerous awards at Santa Fe Indian Market, and her work is in the permanent collections of the Denver Art Museum and Heard Museum, among others.

$10,250

For as long as he can remember, Oregonbased Eric Bowman has had an affinity for drawing. Through exploration and self-education, he has developed a unique style of painting that draws from Russian Impressionist and American Impressionist predecessors. In his compositions, Bowman emphasizes light and shadow with oil paint, which he calls “a very organic and sensual medium that engages my senses.” While he loves “the cowboy as a heroic American image” and tackles Western subjects in his work, Bowman asserts, “You’ll never find me wearing a big belt buckle and a hat and boots . . . I’m not a cowboy.” Yet he is clear that he has loved the West since childhood, loves the outdoors, and loves painting. His current work is a reflection and combination of those loves.

$3,500

Buena Vista oil on linen, 10 x 8 in.

Eric Bowman

Jicarilla Future

acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 in.

Nocona Burgess

Nocona Burgess presents strikingly modern depictions of Indigenous men and women from tribal Nations of North America. Painting with vibrant pigments onto dark backgrounds, Burgess has perfected a method he describes as “painting outward.” This approach produces the richly contrasting colors of his canvases and gives his art a vivid depth. As a member of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, the son of a former tribal chief, and the great-great-grandson of one of the most revered Native American leaders, Chief Quanah Parker, Burgess’ paintings mix research, firsthand knowledge, and passion. Combining brightly colored shapes with crisply outlined facial features and traditional dress, Burgess explores the cultural context, life story, and identity of each sitter. He urges us to update our perceptions of Native people and consider the intriguing and often politicized place of Native American portraiture. Burgess strives for an intimate connection with each subject, eager to know their characters. Through his paintings, he thanks his ancestors for their sacrifices in helping to make Native identity what it is today. Burgess’ paintings inspire and educate through their unusual techniques and positive dialogues between past and present.

$8,000

Cold Morning in the High Desert

oil on linen board, 24 x 30 in.

Chloé Marie Burk

Born in Poitiers, France, Chloé Marie Burk grew up in the French countryside in a family of artists and artisans. While she started creating art at a young age and studied fashion in London and Paris, she had “always known” that something was waiting for her in the United States, and she moved to New York City in 2013. Her work, however, is inspired by the simple way of life and country living of her childhood, hard to find in the bustling city, and she quickly moved westward. Burk has lived extensively in Taos and Montana, and finally settled in Milford, Texas. She is interested in preserving the Old West in a modern way through her work. Similar to many others in her field, Burk has studied and recreated artwork by old Western masters such as W. H. Dunton and Frederic Remington, which aims to capture the truth and classic feeling of the Southwest.

Courtesy Parsons Gallery of the West, Taos, New Mexico

$8,650

Summer Heat

oil on linen on panel, 11 3/16 x 21 1/4 in.

Arturo Chavez

Arturo Chavez was born in 1949 in Embudo, New Mexico, near Taos. Raised amid the spectacular vistas of Northern New Mexico, Chavez is dedicated to preserving the landscape by painting it. Intrigued with light and space on a two-dimensional plane, Chavez began painting with oil when he was about 8 years old. Although Chavez painted throughout his youth, he did not turn to art as a full-time career until the 1980s. Since then, he has received international recognition for his landscapes. Like many gifted artists, Chavez possesses many other talents. He is a talented musician and tango dancer, having studied classical concert guitar at the University of New Mexico, as well as having worked as a mission pilot for the Civil Air Patrol. In his artistic process, Arturo Chavez uses a combination of “on location studies,” multiple compositional drawings, and intermediate painting studies that he creates in his studio to arrive at a finished painting for exhibition in a gallery or a museum.

$6,000

Double Down

S. M. Chavez

Stating that he has “always been artistic,” Sean Michael Chavez has been painting and drawing for as long as he can remember. Rendered in oil paint, Chavez’s compositions present distinctive takes on the land and people of the Southwest through a marriage of old and new. Frequently featuring Native American, cowboy, and Mexican subjects, Chavez’s work reminds viewers of past ways of life and traditions through a decidedly modern style. As Chavez notes, the resulting effect “is my unique vision and experience of being native to the Southwest and more specifically, to the beautiful place known as New Mexico.” Chavez finds a kinship with the land and states that New Mexico “is a place that is part of me more than anything else I can think of. I cannot help but express myself through it. We are one and the same.” Looking forward, Chavez hopes that, one day, his artwork might “inspire the next Dixon, the next Dunton, Couse, or Sharp . . . If that was my role, it would have been well worth living.”

$5,500

oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in.

At Dusk, 2024

on linen, 9 x 12 in.

Nicholas Coleman

Working out of Provo, Utah, Nicholas Coleman was brought up in an artistic home, and by the time he was 21, he knew that he wanted to be an artist like his father, Michael Coleman. Not your “stereotypical” fine artist, Coleman hunts, fishes, and traps in addition to painting naturalistic landscapes. In his compositions, Coleman focuses on the American West and often paints scenes of wildlife, Native American culture, natural history, and exploration. To Coleman, the goal of his work is to “preserve the heritage of the American West,” which, he notes, has “many untold stories to tell!” Coleman hopes that audience members viewing his work are provoked to explore the natural environment, a desire that comes from his belief that individuals who value Western landscapes will be motivated to protect them.

In addition to his father, Coleman has been inspired by the work of artists such as Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, and Philip R. Goodwin. Despite these numerous influences, Coleman asserts that, “I’ll paint what I paint. I know who I am. I think that’s a big part of . . . what I’m doing.”

$4,000

oil

$14,000 Campfire Stories, 2024

oil on linen, 24 x 30 in.

A Mother’s Journey, 2023

bronze, edition 2 of 20, 25 x 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.

John Coleman

Residing currently in Prescott, Arizona, John Coleman started his professional artistic career at 44 years old. Today, Coleman is known for his narrative sculptures and his paintings, all of which emphasize technical accuracy and the conveyance of emotion. As a child, his mother’s support helped foster his interest in art, and Coleman remembers fondly family trips to Laguna Beach where he “first fell in love with the smell of oil paint” while walking through art stores. To inspire his artwork, Coleman looks to Western artistic icons such as Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. In addition, viewing Western films “flooded his imagination with subject matter,” which has led to an interest in depicting Native Americans in his work. Regardless of subject, Coleman feels compelled to communicate to others his passion for representing figures and narratives of the American West.

$9,500

Glenn Dean

Largely self-taught, Glenn Dean was aware of his interest in creating art by age 13, but it took several years for him to realize his passion for landscape painting. At the age of 20, Dean completed his first outdoor painting in Arizona, and he has been dedicated to the art form ever since. Early in his career, the work of Western landscape painters of the early 20th century, including Maynard Dixon and Edgar Payne, directed the path of his own practice. From these influential artists, Dean learned to observe carefully “the simple and basic characteristics of a specific location” while recognizing the “importance of seeing the color of light.” Painting on location throughout the Southwest, including four years spent in New Mexico, Dean is intrigued by the relationship between a figure and their surroundings. With a bold, graphic look to his compositions, Dean’s artwork aims to honor “the things in the world that [he] finds to be beautiful.”

Sold as secret-bid auction

Minimum bid: $6,000

Taos Dreamer, 2024 oil, 18 x 12 in.

Day Moon, Monument Valley

oil, 24 x 28 in.

Josh Elliott

As a child, Josh Elliott, who is a third-generation artist, was raised with an appreciation for art. In addition to his grandfather, a classmate of Grant Wood’s, Elliott’s father, Steve, has been the most important influence on his career. Elliott learned about not only value, composition, and color from Steve, a wildlife artist, but also the importance of painting outdoors. With a deep respect and awe for Mother Nature, Elliott views his outdoor paintings as reactions to what is in front of him and attempts to “capture the transient light and the overall beauty of [a] place.”

To Elliott, who lives currently in Helena, Montana, the terrain of the Southwest provides an interesting intermingling of ancient and modern subject matter. He says, “You can’t help but feel the sense of time in the desert,” and he enjoys portraying the theme of “man against the elements.” Regardless of location or evidence of man’s interference in nature, Elliott tries to “tell the story of the place” in his work.

$11,200

Storm, 2023

acrylic on board, 20 x 20 in.

Phil Epp

Raised on a ranch with his days spent riding horses, playing in the pastures, and taking care of cattle, Phil Epp states that he is “strongly imprinted into the open spaces of the Great Plains where I was born and have spent most of my life.” As a young child, Epp knew that art was something that came to him naturally, and he has been painting for more than 40 years. The emptiness of the American West is of great interest to Epp, whose unique paintings depict windswept prairies, vast deserts, and billowing cloud formations. As he describes, these paintings “celebrate the naïve, the simple, the pure, the unspoiled and spiritual.” Working mostly in acrylics, Epp, who lives in Newton, Kansas, uses up to 16 layers of the medium to achieve the brilliance for which his images are known. With his painted scenes, which he notes are seldom of a specific location, Epp strives to “incorporate timeless universal icons into the landscape” and hopes to engage the viewer in the isolation of the land.

$3,500

Large Jar with Asymmetric Rim and Mosquito Man Design

hand-coiled clay, leather, watercolor, 13 x 9 1/2 in.

Susan & Jody Folwell

This large jar was made and polished by Jody Folwell and designed by Susan Folwell, her daughter. Jody is one of the essential innovators in Pueblo pottery. Her revolutionary work of the 1970s changed Santa Clara pottery with distinctive firings, various clay slips, creative patinas, and non-traditional design. Her designs follow elements of traditional Pueblo subjects and reach out to current events of the world. Jody continues to evolve her art, and each piece brings together different aspects of her long history of making pottery.

Descended from a long line of revolutionary artists, some of Susan Folwell’s earliest memories are of working in clay with her mother and grandmother. Susan is now known for works addressing contemporary issues, bridging humor, history, and popular culture. Susan emphasizes the importance of tradition, which she asserts, “is living history, and I am a part of that.” In addition to drawing from pop culture and Santa Clara tradition, Susan has studied the Taos Society of Artists and created a series of works that respond to paintings by TSA members.

$4,850

Rio Grande and Hollyhocks, 2024 oil on linen, 20 x 16 in.

Logan Maxwell Hagege

As a young boy, Logan Maxwell Hagege showed significant ability and interest in creating art. Visits with his grandmother who lived in the Californian desert provided inspiration for his early practice. Today, working out of a studio in Ojai, California, Hagege creates modern visions of the American West in a style he has coined “stylized realism.” In his paintings, the sky is prominent, and his signature clouds frequently mimic the forms of the cowboys and Native Americans in the foreground. To gather subject matter and establish deeper relationships with the land and peoples of his paintings, Hagege travels extensively throughout the Southwest and southern California. In addition to finding inspiration in nature and his subjects, Hagege has been guided by the work of painters such as N. C. Wyeth, Maynard Dixon, and Gustav Klimt. While he might be influenced by a particular location, Hagege notes that the scenes that he creates are solely original: “It’s my vision of the world; that’s where it starts and that’s where it ends.”

Sold as secret-bid auction

Minimum bid: $10,000

Above the River, 2024 oil on canvas board, 12 x 16 in.

Brett Allen Johnson

Childhood trips to Arizona to visit his grandmother, a landscape watercolorist, proved to be a milestone in the career of Brett Allen Johnson, who would grow up to paint the Southwestern landscape himself. Based currently in Lehi, Utah, Johnson worked as a carpenter for 16 years after college.

This career path has proven beneficial in his artistic practice, helping him visualize and execute an idea. The work of the Taos Society of Artists and Maynard Dixon showed Johnson that the West “could be as modern as he wanted.” He has enjoyed blending contemporary and traditional aesthetics in his images of the Southwest ever since. While Johnson makes regular pilgrimages throughout the West, his paintings do not represent specific places. Instead, “I like to invite observers into a world which is merely similar to the one they know, an adjacent world. Perhaps, the adjacent West.” Johnson has spent most of his life living in and visiting various states in the West, including New Mexico. “I’ve developed a real love for Taos,” he says. “I just adore it all.”

$4,200

Perfectly Harmonized, 2024 oil on clausen mounted linen on source Tec wood, 6 x 8 in.

Jerry Jordan

Born in Texas, Jerry Jordan expressed an interest in art at a young age and knew by age 16 he wanted to be a painter. At 19, Jordan took a trip to Taos with his family and fell in love with the Taos Society of Artists paintings hanging on the walls of the Kachina Lodge, where he was staying. He notes the importance of his first glimpses of the artists’ work: “My first view of Taos was through those paintings. So when I looked at the landscape, I interpreted it as those early painters had seen it.” Eventually, Jordan, who identifies as a colorist who wants to understand color as more than just a visual experience, moved to Taos, where he resides and which has become his constant muse. His oil paintings capture the landscape and Pueblo life of Taos and the feeling of the town itself. Spirituality is also inherent in Jordan’s work, and he signs all of his work with the acronym, “t.a.o.s.,” or “Together Always Our Spirits.” Jordan has no fear he will ever run out of Taos scenes to paint. “I find the subject of the area of Taos one of the inexhaustible resources,” he says. “It never ceases to excite my whole being.”

$3,250

Hopi Maiden

giclée from original wet plate collodion tintype, 19 1/2 x 15 1/2 in.

Model: Joannika, Hopi, Second Mesa, Corn Clan

Joseph Kayne

Joseph Kayne photographs the American landscape, the Heartland, and Native American archaeological sites with a 4x5 large-format view camera. His latest projects involve working in the rare antique process known as wet plate collodion tintype photography, using an 8x10 old wooden camera and a brass Petzval lens from 1870. With wet plate collodion, there is no negative or film. Rather, the plate is poured, exposed, and developed on-site. The whole process, from beginning to end, must be finished while the chemistry is wet, which is approximately 15 minutes. Kayne’s interest in photography started while he was working in archaeology in Egypt and Israel during his college years. He was one of the first color photographers to portray Ancestral Puebloan archeological sites and dwellings as an art form, and he is well known for his barn images and large-format nature photography.

The History Maker

giclée from original wet plate collodion tintype, 19 1/2 x 15 1/2 in.

Model: Deb Haaland, first Native American United States Cabinet Member (Secretary of the Interior) and one of the first two Native American women elected to the US Congress

$875

Homeward #12 - Two Flows, 2021 oil on panel, 48 x 48 in.

Jivan Lee

Inspired by the artists and landscapes of the Southwest, Jivan Lee is an oil painter who explores the nature of paint as a raw material and catalyst for emotional response in his work. Now based in Taos, Lee grew up in Woodstock, New York, and studied both environmental policy and painting. As result of his earlier studies, in his artistic practice Lee addresses frequently the complexities of how humans see and shape the environment. Emphasizing the importance of direct observation, Lee creates most of his work outside, on location. Lee is known for the manner in which he puts paint on canvas: he applies thick strokes with silicone spatulas, large brushes, dirt, paper towels, and his bare hands. Up close, the resulting canvases might appear to celebrate “paint for paint’s sake,” though from a distance, the paintings reveal themselves to be studies of landscapes, architecture, light, and figures. When asked about his paint application, Lee notes that, “Paint interests me first on a visceral level. . . it also becomes a remarkable tool for helping us find this world anew. . . for being a vessel for learning and feeling.”

$16,000

Daytime

Drama oil on panel, 18 x 18 in.

John Lintott

Landscape painter John Lintott’s love for the outdoors began when he was a child. His father took him along with his three older brothers on camping trips in the wilderness as often as he could. In 2001, Lintott graduated from Colorado State University with a BFA, concentrating in painting. Nowadays, Lintott notes, “As a landscape painter, I feel like my interest in the outdoors has grown exponentially. Now I notice things that I never would have looked at as a child, and it seems the world has gotten that much bigger. Painting in the outdoors allows me to try to encapsulate the love I have for what I have come to take in, and translate that love into something believable, convincing, and emotional. To view the beauty of the world around me and try to communicate my impression of the experience is the ultimate struggle. I love approaching new challenges in the landscape. Tweaking my process to adapt to new problems forces me to constantly evolve my painting and keeps me interested and passionate about it. Seeking out the beauty and solitude of the landscape is the best way for me to put everything else aside and enjoy the outdoors.”

$2,600

Still Life

oil on board, 5 x 7 in.

Melinda Littlejohn

Melinda Littlejohn was raised on quarter-horse ranches in New Mexico and Northern Oklahoma. Surrounded at an early age by the artists and writers who frequented her maternal family’s home, the Taos Inn, she gravitated to a career as a fine art painter and sculptor. Her aunt, Helen Martin, founded the historic inn and was one of the first Anglo woman artists active in the area. As a young child, Littlejohn sketched and painted with various artists that frequented Martin’s salon, as well as that of her mother, a well-known art collector and patron of Taos museums. Littlejohn spent her childhood summers painting and showing five-gaited Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses on the Western show circuit. She studied sculpture in Paris after attending Interlochen Arts Academy in Traverse City, Michigan. After developing an interest in animation and film graphics, she graduated from Cal Arts with a degree in film and the fine arts. Littlejohn moved to Malibu and began working in the animation film industry and raising her family. In 2010, she moved back to Taos to paint full time.

Courtesy Parsons Gallery of the West, Taos, New Mexico $1,200

USS Kiqötsmovi, NCC 1680 Constitution Class (Starship Enterprise), 2024

mixed media: cottonwood, parrot feathers, pigment; 30 x 20 x 16 in.

Gregory Lomayesva

Gregory Lomayesva is an internationally recognized painter, sculptor, and mixed-media artist who lives and works in Santa Fe. Drawing from a rich palette of personal experience that includes his Hopi and Hispanic heritage, a wry look at American popular culture, and a keenly evolving aesthetic sensibility that combines abstract imagery with razor-sharp observations, Lomayesva’s work is at the cutting edge of American contemporary fine art. Lomayesva explains the varied sources of his artistic inspiration: “Hopiland is where my father’s side of the family comes from . . . and I begin most of my pieces with imagery from Hopiland. But I am not a ‘Native American artist’ per se—I’m an American artist with Hopi roots.”

Courtesy Bryan’s Gallery, Taos, New Mexico

$4,000

Lookin’ for A Soul to Steal, 2024

wood, natural and water based pigments, gold leaf, found objects; 52 x 22 x 11 in.

Arthur López

Born and raised in Santa Fe, Arthur López is proud to be working in the long tradition of New Mexico santero artists. His close attention to detail has garnered him many awards, and he is esteemed as one of the state’s most popular santero sculptors in wood. López explains, “My work comes out of my faith. I am a firm believer that you can still use traditional methods to create contemporary work. Though the majority of my work is of Saints, you do not have to be of any particular religion to appreciate them as art.” Equally important to López is his need to transcend the bounds of the traditional santero and use his art as a medium for expressing the full range of his culture and the world around him. López notes that this piece was inspired by the 1979 Charlie Daniels song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

$12,500

Rio Grande Gorge Track

woodblock, edition of 12, 11 1/2 x 18 1/2 in.

Leon Loughridge

Having grown up on a northern New Mexico ranch, Leon Loughridge’s connection to the Southwest landscape came naturally. His grandmother’s involvement in regional art circles exposed him to the arts from an early age. Later study at the Colorado Institute of Art, along with private study, reinforced his abilities. While in the Army, stationed in Germany as an illustrator, he was able to travel extensively throughout Europe. On his return to Colorado, Loughridge began to study intaglio techniques and selling prints in mountain-town galleries. In 1998, he purchased his first letterpress and garnered immediate success with woodblock prints. In 2005, Loughridge started using the Japanese method of printmaking. The versatile layering of color in the woodblock process allowed him to better capture the atmospheric qualities of the Southwestern landscape that has such a strong meaning for him.

$1,900

Red Quail Olla

hand-blown glass, height 8 1/2 x diameter 8 1/2 in.

Ira Lujan

Born in Albuquerque but working out of Pojoaque, New Mexico, Ira Lujan (Taos/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) was first introduced to glassblowing in Taos, where he apprenticed with glass artist Tony Jojola (Isleta Pueblo). Working with Jojola opened Lujan’s eyes to combining Pueblo themes and subject matter with the ancient art of glassblowing. To create his work, Luhan, who also studied under Preston Singletary (Tlingit) at the Pilchuck Glass School, uses the ancient techniques passed down from Italian glass blowers. Today, Lujan is known for glass chandeliers, Pueblo pottery-inspired vessels, and totem poles, all influenced by and responding to everyday themes in contemporary Native America. He notes that teaching and collaborating with other Native glassblowers has inspired his own practice, and his integration of Pueblo culture into the art of blown glass “reflects a visual language that I have connected to.”

$3,000

Hold Tight

oil on panel, 24 x 18 in.

Drew Macias

Drew Macias went to community college, where he did not study art, but drew often in class.

Excelling in baseball, he was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 2002 first player draft and made his way through the minor leagues until he made his major-league debut in 2007. After retiring from the game in 2012, Macias turned to another childhood dream and pursued acting. He worked on multiple commercials, movies, and television shows—even guest starring on Oprah Winfrey’s Cherish the Day. Macias has learned many lessons that he now channels into his art. Whether it’s the hard work, love, and dedication he learned from baseball, or the raw emotions and presentness he developed as an actor, the life he has lived is poured into his career as a fine artist.

Courtesy Parsons Gallery of the West, Taos, New Mexico

$4,100

Brother by Blood, 2024 oil on panel, 26 x 26 in.

Mark Maggiori

At the age of 15, Mark Maggiori, who was born in Fontainebleau, France, first glimpsed the American West through the front windshield of a car journeying from New York to San Francisco. Many years later, after an education at the Académie Julian and a successful career in the music industry, Maggiori would return to the United States with his wife, artist Petecia Le Fawnhawk.

In 2010, following a visit to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Maggiori was inspired to dedicate his life to documenting the American West. Known for his visions of modern cowboys and the nostalgic West, Maggiori says, “I love to paint and dream about the good old times. Cowboys always represented, for me, a time when America was still a promised land . . . a huge dream for whoever wanted it.” In addition to his scenes of cowboys and open spaces, Maggiori, who bought a home in Taos in 2020, has researched and created work inspired by the people of Taos Pueblo and the photographic archives of E. I. Couse.

The textiles in this painting are available for sale as Lots 32 and 33. The winning bidder for the painting will have right of first refusal to purchase the textiles as well. If the winning bidder declines, the normal draw sale for the textiles will be conducted.

Sold as secret-bid auction

Minimum bid: $45,000

Third Phase Chief’s Blanket

Navajo (Diné), late classic period, ca. 1870

This striking example of a third phase Navajo textile is woven with a desirable combination of cochineal dyed yarns, the majority being 3-ply English tapestry yarn, and raveled “bayeta” visible in the horizontal bands between the lozenge devices. Minor quantities of early aniline 3-ply yarns complete the reds utilized in this unique example. Saltillo influences can be seen in the serrated concentric diamonds within the lozenge devices, further enlivening an otherwise classic third phase example. The high incidence of earlier cochineal yarns suggest a weaving date in the latter 1860s to early 1870s.

Courtesy of Tres Estrellas Designs, Taos, New Mexico

Navajo (Diné) Man’s Sarape

late classic period, ca. 1875-1880

$58,000

Red sarapes were the Navajo man’s choice of outerwear. The Navajo tribe was the largest, most powerful tribe in the greater Southwest, and the most vibrant power color; red was emblematic of Navajo culture. Red was also the most expensive, difficult color to obtain, so it was an exception to see it lavishly utilized in the 19th century. Woven with earlier cochineal plied yarns in the design devices, and hand spun aniline dyed red yarn in the field, this example employs a common Navajo practice of sourcing numerous reds to complete the overall design. Indigo, vegetal green yarns along with another commercial purple tapestry yarn round out a vibrant statement of power that had long characterized the Navajo warrior in the 19th century.

Courtesy of Tres Estrellas Designs, Taos, New Mexico

$22,000

Madonna Pendant Bamboo Coral Necklace and Earrings

hand-painted sterling silver, bamboo coral, sterling silver beads

Pendant: 3 x 3 1/2 in.

Necklace Length: 20 in.

Earrings Length: 5 in.

Bernadette Marquez

Bernadette Marquez works in the artistic medium of precious metals, with a main focus on sterling silver jewelry. A native New Mexican raised in Santa Fe, Marquez has always appreciated the craftsmanship and intricate detail of precious metals. Fine metalwork is an art form as old as the city itself, having been introduced by the Spanish some 400 years ago. While her work is rooted in these long-honored traditions, Marquez transforms the tradition, making it relevant for the taste of today’s sophisticated buyer. With a mindful approach to originality, Bernadette is at the forefront of contemporary jewelry design, using only the finest materials to create a statement with which to be adorned. Marquez also enjoys incorporating other elements into her jewelry, including collaborations with her husband, awardwinning sculptor Arthur López, adding hand-painted or hand-carved and painted images that transform their pieces into wearable art. “My work celebrates the culture of my Hispanic heritage that I am so blessed and proud to be a part of,” Marquez says.

$3,800 set

Antlers in the Mist, 2024

hand painted silk organza, painted and beaded bustier, Size 8

Patricia Michaels

From a young age, Patricia Michaels (Taos Pueblo) knew she wanted to be a designer, and by the second grade she had created her first garment. Growing up in Santa Fe, Michaels admired the designs and models in fashion magazines, but her grandfather taught her that the most beautiful part of life is found in nature. As a child, she spent considerable time at Taos Pueblo, where many of her family members lived. Vowing to keep her Native traditions alive through her fashions, for over 20 years Michaels has been producing unique haute couture that draws inspiration from nature and her Native roots. The name of Michael’s company, PM Waterlily, includes her Native name, and recurring themes in her work include cloud patterns, eagle feathers, and rain. In 2012, Michaels was on the television show Project Runway, in which she was first runner-up and the first Native designer to appear on the program. She returned for a season of Project Runway All Stars. Michaels has definite inspirations for her garments and says, “My clothes tell a story, where the wearer gets to incorporate their own history and energy into the garment.”

$2,700

Set of three artworks: Treasure Jar, Firelight Interior, Sacred Deer Bowl Ritual

In the draw sale, ballots for the set will be drawn first. If no ballots for the entire set have been placed, then ballots for the individual pieces (Lots 37, 38, and 39) will be drawn.

$7,800 set

Paul Moore

A fifth-generation Oklahoman, and former longtime resident of Santa Fe, Paul Moore (Muscogee [Creek] Nation), is a self-taught sculptor who aims to present Western themes in new ways through his work. As a 13-year-old, Moore visited the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, where James Earle Fraser’s End of the Trail sparked the longing in him to create his own monumental works. While Moore enjoys experimenting with form and drawing subject matter from the West and his Native heritage, he notes that “I’m just a jack-of-all-trades who does it all. But the Western work, I do it for myself. It really gives me that thrill.” These three paintings are inspired by photographs taken by E. I. Couse in the early 20th century of Taos Pueblo models.

Treasure Jar, 2022

acrylic and gold leaf on board, 15 1/2 x 15 1/2 in. (with frame)

Photo model Jerry Mirabal

$2,600

Firelight Interior, 2022

acrylic and gold leaf on board, 16 x 12 1/2 in. (with frame)

Photo model Ben Lujan

$2,600 No. 38

Sacred Deer Bowl Ritual, 2022

acrylic and gold leaf on board, 18 x 18 in. (with frame)

Photo model Leandro Bernal

$2,600 No. 39

Epiphany, 2021

oil and metal leaf on panel, 33 x 19 in.

Patrick McGrath Muñiz

Patrick McGrath Muñiz is from Puerto Rico and now lives in Texas. His current artwork is comprised primarily of drawings, “retablo” paintings, and tarot cards, inspired by one of the few personal items he managed to recover before Hurricane Maria hit his childhood home and studio on the island in 2017. The artist combines figures and icons from Spanish colonial iconography, American pop culture, and tarot, layered with personal myths and memories. His work reflects on the colonial roots of our consumer culture. Muñiz explains, “Adopting Renaissance pictorial techniques on canvas and ‘retablos’ reminiscent of Spanish colonial art allows me to emulate earlier indoctrination strategies and devices from the time of the conquest and colonization of the Americas.”

Muñiz obtained a BFA (magna cum laude) from the School of Fine Arts in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2003 and an MFA (summa cum laude) from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2006. His paintings can be found in the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, Albuquerque Museum, Spanish Colonial Arts Museum in Santa Fe, and the Mesa Contemporary Art Museum in Mesa, Arizona.

Courtesy Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico

$6,200

Grande

Andrew Ortega

Artist Andrew Ortega comes from a long line of New Mexican artisans stretching back to the 1700s. Following in the footsteps of his ancestors, Ortega learned the art of weaving from his family who passed down their skills through generations. Ortega is the seventh generation to weave in the family. In 1900, Andrew’s grandfather, Nicacio, and grandmother, Virginia, established a weaving business in Chimayo, New Mexico where they sold handwoven textiles. In 1917 he opened a storefront that included a general store that evolved into what is now the Ortega’s Weaving Shop. In the mid 1980s, Ortega and his wife, Evita, opened Galería Ortega, a space dedicated to showcasing the arts and crafts of New Mexico. Today, Andrew and his brother Robert continue the Ortega legacy at Ortega’s Weaving Shop, where they and their weavers create handwoven blankets, rugs, and apparel. With each of his weavings, Ortega honors the traditions passed down by his ancestors and ensures the quality craftsmanship and the rich cultural heritage of New Mexico. The weaving for La Luz de Taos is inspired by those done by his grandfather and his father, David; it was one of their favorite patterns, called the Rio Grande.

$2,500

Rio

Textile, 2023 wool, 54 x 84 in.

Sky Raiders, 2023

ink and colored pencil on antique stagecoach ledger, 17 x 11 in.

John Isiah Pepion

John Isiah Pepion is a Plains Indian graphic artist from the Piikani Band of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Pepion is based out of the Blackfeet reservation in north-central Montana, where the Rocky Mountains meet the plains. He is best known for his ledger art, which is an art tradition that developed in Plains tribes: as the buffalo hide traditionally used for painting became scarce, Plains people were forced to adapt by making artwork on ledger paper from accounting books. He comes from a longstanding artistic background; “Ledger art has been in my family for hundreds of years,” Pepion says.

$2,800

Sun Salutation, 2024 oil on canvas, 12 x 12 in.

Paige Pierson

Paige Pierson is a classically trained fine artist who borrows her imagery from the American Southwest as well as interweaving homages to space and offworld landscapes. Pierson completed her BFA in drawing and painting at the University of North Texas and possesses a MS from Texas Woman’s University. Inspired by rural America, specifically the Southwest, as well as space, Pierson is drawn to the openness of this land as it relates to the painter’s palette. For Pierson, “The Southwest continues to represent the concept of space as precious and finite.” She hopes that viewers of her work will be able to gain an understanding of the grandeur of the epic environments she depicts. Pierson currently lives in northern New Mexico with her husband and three Old English sheepdogs. She is also a psychotherapist and splits her time between both careers.

$2,000

Howard Post

Howard Post is a thirdgeneration Arizonian who grew up on a small ranch near Tucson. He attended the University of Arizona where he completed his BFA and MFA degrees. In the early 1970s, he worked as a graphic designer and illustrator for a variety of clients throughout the United States. After serving on the faculty at both University of Arizona and Arizona State University, he began painting full time. He remains true to his heritage as he still competes in roping competitions throughout the West, yet he still considers himself an artist rather than a cowboy.

$2,800

The Pair, 2024 oil on canvas, 6 x 12 in.

The Canyon, 2024

$2,800

oil on canvas, 10 x 8 in.

Two Horse Tipis, 2018

on canvas, 30 x 24 in.

Kevin Red Star’s art is honored throughout Native America for its authenticity. It presents a vision of centuries-old Crow (Apsaalooka) culture through the eyes of a thoroughly contemporary consciousness. In the world of museums and private collections, he is respected for his unique imagery, artistic productivity, and the enduring value of his work. Red Star grew up on the Crow reservation in southern Montana, a member of a highly creative family. He was among the first group of students at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe in the late 1960s, when the founders visited Native villages and reservations and recruited the most talented youngsters from each. He is known for attention to historical detail in his depictions of warriors, ceremonies, costumes, and tipis. Each element, no matter how small, has specific meaning within the context of tradition. Red Star’s deep experience is expressed in color and composition, and his subjects spring vividly to life through masterly style and technique. Red Star continues to evolve and refine his art in his studio near the Crow reservation and the resort town of Red Lodge, Montana. He also spends time in Santa Fe, where his career began.

$16,000

acrylic

Kevin Red Star

Seeking Shade

oil on linen, 22 x 20 in.

Ron Rencher

Ron Rencher was born in St. George, Utah, and spent his early years on the family’s ranch north of the town in the Pine Valley Mountains. Rencher credits those early years as being critical to his lifelong love of nature, which led him into landscape painting. He started painting in oils during his junior-high years, pursuing art throughout his secondary education, and earned a BA in fine art at Southern Utah University, graduating in 1975. In his early career, Rencher painted southern Utah landscapes, then moved Taos in 1987. Nature and its living elements have always been a source of inspiration. He believes that “any artist who is devoted to realism is obligated to work from life, or nature, whether the subject is landscape, figurative, or still life.” He hopes that his art conveys the beauty of nature to the viewer, and raises awareness and appreciation of the natural world and the spiritual connection that we all have to the world we inhabit.

Courtesy Parsons Gallery of the West, Taos, New Mexico

$5,800

Oh, The Places They’d Go, 2024 oil on canvas, 26 x 22 in.

Andrew Roda

Andrew Roda’s development as a Western realist painter comes through a combination of personal heritage and an appreciation of the objects of classic Americana and their stories. His appreciation for the subject lies in a belief that everyday objects are artwork in and of themselves. From the craftsmanship and skill that went into making an object to the stories they tell through wear and tear, Roda finds value in the details of everyday objects. Through detail, scale of work, and soul, his paintings are his way of capturing the beauty inherent in these objects and imprinting that sense of appreciation on the canvas. Roda writes: “The story of this painting shares literal and figurative references to Couse history as well as moments from my own life. The picture in the frame is referenced from a real photograph taken by E. I. Couse of fellow Taos Society of Artists member Bert Geer Phillips during a camping trip in 1910. I came upon this image while exploring the nitrate negatives archive at The Lunder Research Center in October 2023.”

$5,495

Eric Romero’s art explores the relationship between myth, philosophy, and culture. Born and raised under the New Mexican sun, Romero draws inspiration from the Land of Enchantment. His allegorical figurative paintings echo the Old Masters in technique and methodology. Catholicism, mythology, and the New Mexican social landscape have influenced his oil paintings to tell a rich story of history, culture, and mysticism. Working in the medium of oil, he tirelessly and painstakingly pays close attention to detail within the paintings and often paints hidden symbology within the composition. As a self-taught artist, Romero creates paintings with a feeling of mannerism, combining bold color with metaphorical imagery. The painting depicts the Dance of Los Comanchitos in Carnue, New Mexico, a ceremonial dance celebrating the heritage and history of the Genízaro people. Masked dancers adorn themselves with clothing rich in symbolism and deliver blessings as they pay homage to the land, religion, and people of New Mexico.

$6,000

La Luz, 2024 oil on canvas, 36 x 24 in.

Eric Romero

Sweet Pea set of pendant, bracelet, and earrings

In the draw sale, ballots for the set will be drawn first. If no ballots for the entire set have been placed, then ballots for the individual pieces (Lots 51, 52, and 53) will be drawn.

$8,500 set

Maria Samora

Creating jewelry that combines Pueblo influences with Taos’s “simple and grounded lifestyle,” Maria Samora (Taos Pueblo) makes wearable art with her husband, Kevin Rebholtz, at Samora Studio. After college, when she embarked on an intensive course with a master goldsmith, Samora realized that jewelry was her passion. Now known for clean designs, Samora states, “The purpose of my art is to accentuate the body and capture the movement of the human form.” Her work is inspired not only by Pueblo tradition but also from the hands-on manipulation of patinas, stones, textures, and metals. Drawing from nature, Samora designs can be described as “natural forms made contemporary.”

oxidized sterling silver, 18K yellow gold, turquoise

$3,500

Sweet Pea Naja Pendant with Turquoise

Of these three works, Samora writes: “Symbolizing blissful memories, friendship, and gratitude, each piece in this collection is meticulously crafted to reflect the elegance and richness of our culture. Inspired by our ancestors and their connection to the squash blossom Naja necklaces. The Naja is traditionally the crescent shape that acts as a talisman for strength. It is a symbol of creating something beautiful out of despair, of rising from the ashes, of fertility and new life.”

Sweet Pea Lace Bracelet

oxidized sterling silver, 18K yellow gold, 17 diamonds No. 52

$4,200

Sweet Pea Lace Earrings

oxidized sterling silver

$895 No. 53

Water and Fire, 2024

micaceous clay, slip and reduction fire, height 10 ½ x diameter 10 in.

Yellowbird Samora

Son of Frank Samora, a well-known model and public figure of Taos, Yellowbird Samora is a potter from Taos Pueblo who works with micaceous clay. Samora first attempted pottery while at a boarding school in Colorado. He had an accident while skiing, which resulted in a broken back. “During the accident I had a vision of myself in a wheelchair with a sketchpad,” he said. As a result of the accident, Samora enrolled in the Institute of American Indian Arts, where he took pottery classes with Preston Duwyenie and Diego Romero. Through these classes, he learned traditional pottery skills and developed his own style. Pottery is a part-time endeavor for Samora because “there are too many things to do in life.”

$4,700

Mystical Christmas Eve, 2024

oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.

As a child, a freak accident left Ed Sandoval in a body cast for a year. To entertain himself during the long days, he turned to art. Today, Sandoval, who was born in Nambé, maintains a connection to this childhood imagination, in part due to his lasting respect for the New Mexico of his boyhood. A painter working in “romantic expressionism,” Sandoval draws, as he puts it, “divine inspiration in creating the old life of New Mexico,” and frequently includes adobe homes, workhorses, dirt roads, and pickup trucks in his compositions. In most of his work, Sandoval’s devotion to the “rule of three” is apparent; architecture, people, and the land are wholly united. Sandoval’s signatures, however, are the inclusion of “El Viejito” (the little old man) and the stripe of crimson lining the mountainous horizons in almost all of his images. Sandoval currently works from a studio on the Couse-Sharp Historic Site campus.

$6,500

Ed Sandoval

Contemplation, 2024 oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in.

Billy Schenck

Billy Schenck is a contemporary artist with work in more than 40 museum collections and corporate collections that include Sony, IBM, Saatchi and Saatchi, American Airlines, and others. His subject matter spans genres from Western landscape to cowboy pop. He has been exhibited widely in the United States and Europe. He is a World Champion Ranch Sorting winner and the proprietor of the Double Standard Ranch in Santa Fe, his home for the past two decades.

$13,000

Buffalo Wings, 2022

oil on canvas panel in antique arched window frame, 26 1/2 x 28 in.

Jim Vogel

Growing up as the self-professed “weird art kid” in Roswell, New Mexico, Jim Vogel comes from a family of storytellers, a background that now pervades his own artwork. At home in the heart of New Mexico, Vogel paints scenes of New Mexican myth and folklore in an attempt to “put images to these stories I’ve heard over and over from my mother and father.” Reminiscent of Thomas Hart Benton’s social realist and regionalist works, Vogel’s narrative paintings feature frequently New Mexico’s working-class and rural poor in an attempt to relate the common man’s struggle. In addition to his paintings, Vogel creates elaborate, handmade frames to enhance his scenes. Based in Dixon, New Mexico, Vogel participated recently in “Taos Six Collection: An Homage to Joseph Henry Sharp” at the Blue Rain Gallery, in which he showed his work MatchingtheColorofSangredeChristo, after Joseph Henry Sharp’s The Old Santos Mender. The frame for Buffalo Wings was made in collaboration with his wife, Christen Vogel.

$15,000

Soaring Gaze

oil on panel, 16 x 20 in.

Nathanael Volckening

Nathanael Volckening is an oil painter based in Colorado. Growing up in Taos, in a family of artists and craftspeople, Volckening was deeply influenced by the surrounding landscapes, cultures, and luminaries of the Taos art colony. While his paintings today often verge on abstraction, they remain firmly rooted in his formative studies of light, shadow, and the human figure. Volckening says, “There is something truly enchanting about the light—la luz—of Northern New Mexico. Just as that light has inspired the work of generations of artists before me, it continues to ignite my own passion for painting. Participating in this exhibition is a homecoming to the artistic roots that continue to shape my own journey. I am honored to be part of the continuum that is Taos’ artistic legacy and very grateful to the CSHS for its mission and invaluable stewardship.”

$5,500

Bracelet, Earrings, and Ring

Sonora Sunrise turquoise and sterling silver

Lyle Wright

Silversmith Lyle Wright (Taos Pueblo) was introduced to working with silver when his brother offered him a job making concha belts for Buffalo Dancer gallery in Taos. Despite the valuable experience, Wright needed more income to support his family and turned to construction work. Recently, he has resumed his art practice, primarily making jewelry from turquoise and silver. Wright now runs a gallery on Taos Plaza, Lyle’s Creations, which features his own work as well as that of other artists from the Pueblo. In addition to his own art-making, Wright models for other artists. Reflecting on his experience as model, he says that it is hard for people to understand the true relationship between artists and their models. “People look at it differently . . . and take it in another way. They see the money, not the friendship.”

$1,000 set

Scott Yeager

An avid fisherman and all-around outdoorsman, Scott Yeager offers a visual diary of his love for the outdoors through his paintings. In his youth, Scott filled sketchbooks with drawings and paintings of plants, animals, and all things of the natural world that inspire him. He could often be found seated beside a marsh or river with a field scope and a sketchpad, studying the forms and rhythms of waterfowl. In his adulthood, Scott studied at the prestigious Scottsdale Artists’ School in Arizona and has sought individual study with other artists. Firsthand experience of the subject is at the core of his work, and he creates a constant flow of plein air paintings as a result. Many of these stand on their own as works of art, and many are the springboard for more developed and larger works in the studio. Scott’s travels take him from Maine in the East to Alaska in the West. Most of his favorite destinations are in the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest. Scott resides in Woodland Park, Colorado, with his wife, Marie, and their son, Joseph.

$9,000

Llano Estacado oil on linen, 24 x 36 in.

But wait—there’s more!

One more accomplished artist rounds out La Luz de Taos 2024, though we did not have his artwork before catalog press time:

No. 61 Tony Abeyta

Please visit LaLuzdeTaos.org to read more about Tony Abeyta and updates on his artwork for this exhibition and sale.

FRONT COVER:

Indian Artist, E.I. Couse, ca. 1920, oil on canvas, 24 x 29 in.; Ben Lujan, model. In the Couse-Sharp Historic Site collection, Cat. No. 0935

PHOTO CREDITS:

Page 2: CSHS interiors, Patrick Coulie

Page 3: CSHS exterior, Gina Azzari; interiors, Francis Smith

Page 6: courtesy of Rose Marie Mell

Page 8: Couse Family Photograph Collection (Ms. Coll. 7)

Exhibition artwork photos courtesy of the artists and staff

Page 43: Bill Curry; Emileah Lujan, model, in Couse Home courtyard

Inside back cover: CSHS interior, Patrick Coulie

Back cover: CSHS exteriors, Gina Azzari ©2024 The Couse Foundation, all rights reserved

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Couse Sharp

Statement of Purpose

Through its archives, collections, and programming, the Couse-Sharp Historic Site preserves and interprets Taos’ crossroads of cultures, promoting and facilitating research, education, and new perspectives on the Taos Society of Artists, early artists of Taos, and regional and Indigenous communities in relation to the greater story of the multicultural American West.

couse-sharp.org