El Dia del Arte

Back for a too-brief time, we discovered that our gate had been torn off its hinges. Thankfully the perpetrator (a would-be thief? a disgruntled neighbor?) had tied it closed to keep it safe from further destruction. We called our local fix-it guys, Handyman at Home, and they promptly sent out one of their crew, Rafael Vega, to do the repair work. As we were concluding business with Rafael, he told us that he was also a licensed electrician and plumber but that his true calling was as a sculptor of shamanistic art. He then produced a book of photos of his shaman figures, all of which were made of "found" items, such as feathers, bones, antlers, turtle shells, and lava rock, decorated with turquoise, copper wire, woven cloth, and other odds and ends. Most of his pieces were free-standing, but a few smaller ones were designed to be hung. The collection was impressive, and we wondered if the pieces would seem as haunting and eerie in reality as they appeared in the photos. He told us to see for ourselves at Open Space Gallery on the Plaza. (The link is the best we can do for an example of his art--look in the back corner of the picture, and you'll see one of his figures). After Rafael left, we hopped into the car and drove directly to the gallery, where many of his sculptures were on display. They were indeed haunting and eerie, and we were drawn to one in particular, a hanging figure about eighteen inches tall whose face was made of alabaster with a body draped in a black and white cloth. We might have bought it if we'd had no other uses for $450.00. (Rafael agreed to build a deck for us this summer, and perhaps after it's finished we can convince him to give us a preferred-customer discount).

While we were admiring the shamans at Open Space, we noticed that another artist had set up his easel and was painting a picture of a cow--a Picassoesque type of cow in orange, green and purple. We looked at one of the gallery walls and saw several similar pictures of cows and donkeys by the artist Michael Archuleta--the very same guy who was working in front of us. We were the only visitors to the gallery that afternoon, so Michael was happy to take a break from his painting and talk with us about his art and his life. He'd grown up in nearby Arroyo Seco and had enjoyed helping his grandfather herd the cows on the family farm. He's a realtor now, but he took up painting a short while ago to ease the pain of a recent divorce. We were tempted again to buy one of his cheerful and endearing cow pictures until we saw the price tag. The next morning, however, we were able to admire more of his paintings at our local coffeeshop, The Bean, where he's the featured artist this month.

It was a lovely warm day in Taos, so we continued our gallery browsing and walked about a half mile up the Paseo del Pueblo to Las Comadres, a women's art collective. Eight to ten women display their work there and take turns running the shop. That day the artist in residence was Dinah Baca, a sculptor from the Santa Clara pueblo. She makes female figures from clay and adds manure before the final firing, which turns them black. They're all about 12" high, and we would love to have one in our home! She told us to check out the Santa Clara pottery show in mid-July, since she'll be selling her mother-earth figures there without the gallery commission.

So what is it about Taos that turns mild-mannered plumbers, realtors, and housewives into wildly imaginative artists? Most would say it's the light or the famous Hum, but I think it's the Taos Cow ice cream. Look for us to have our own gallery by this time next year.