Falling out

Oct. 27—When Plein Air Painters of America leaders select a location for the group's annual exhibition and show, color and variety are key factors they consider.

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Dean Porter Gallery, Lunder Research Center, Couse-Sharp Historic Site, 138 Kit Carson Road, Taos

Free admission; donations welcomed

575-751-0369; couse-sharp.org

Taos Valley famously rates highly in both realms, and Couse-Sharp Historic Site was a comfortable fit for several reasons — including the fact that namesakes Joseph Henry Sharp and Eanger Irving Couse both did plein air, or outdoor, painting. One thing the exhibition's organizers didn't know in advance: just how much the valley can inspire as it crackles in autumn's fiery hues.

Members were there in early October to paint the landscape; some of their creations then became part of Out West, an exhibition of that work running through January 20 at the site. The fall colors were just reaching full splendor on the day the group departed, says board president Mitch Baird, adding that the teaser left many eager to return to the valley this winter with their paint brushes.

"I don't think they realized that they would actually be here [near] peak season, when Northern New Mexico is at its most beautiful," says Davison Packard Koenig, executive director and curator at Couse-Sharp. "So I don't think they were quite ready for just how stunning the valley is this time of year."

SEE THE SITE

Couse-Sharp Historic Site includes the former homes and studios of Eanger Irving Couse and Joseph Henry Sharp, both of whom were involved in forming the Taos Society of Artists in 1915. A major attraction opened at the site in 2022: the Lunder Research Center, a 5,000-square-foot facility that houses art and artifacts of the 12 founding members of the Taos Society of Artists.

Out West appears in the Dean Porter Gallery in the Lunder Research Center. That gallery is named for a watercolor and oil painter who played a key role in making the research center a reality. He died in September 2022.

The Dean Porter Gallery is open 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, through January 20, 2024. Two-hour tours of the site are available Monday through Saturday by appointment.

Out West began September 29, and members of Plein Air Painters of America, or PAPA, visited Northern New Mexico for five days starting October 2. Baird appreciates the convenience, adding that not all sites are able to accommodate both the exhibition and the show in the same season. As a result, the group sometimes holds its exhibition in the fall, followed by a show in the spring.

PAPA was founded in 1986 and held its first show and exhibition at Catalina Island off the California coast. Baird says the events since have been held at Glacier National Park and Kalispell in Montana; Santa Barbara, California; and Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. The group is looking at Maine for next year.

All of the nearly 75 pieces in the show are for sale; 44 were brought to Taos, while PAPA members created about 30 during their visit. The show was in the works for about 18 months, Koenig says. While this is the group's first foray into Northern New Mexico, it had been set to converge at the Taos Art Museum at Fechin House in 2020.

"We had everything geared up to go, and it was only months away," Baird says. "COVID hit, and everything shut down."

Baird visited the region while preparing for that scuttled gathering and was able to see Fechin House.

"He's my hero," he says of Russian American painter Nicolai Fechin (1881-1955), famed for his depictions of Indigenous New Mexicans. "I'd been wanting to go to Taos for 30 years, since I was a college student."

In praising Taos Valley as an exhibition site, Baird doesn't spare the feelings of other less-picturesque sites around the country.

"We knew there would be full color and the mountain canyons, and you have all that great adobe architecture," he says. "We obviously try to go to places that are beautiful, and no offense to people who live in Kansas, but it wouldn't be the best spot to set up in a cornfield."