Community Treasure Works to Preserve its Legacy
The Taos Art Museum at Fechin House remains a destination for visitors from all over the world. It is a place that, like a time machine, transports the visitor to the creative life of the renowned Russian-American artist Nicolai Fechin.
One enters the artist’s studio and can imagine the high desert sun or moonlight cascading through the immense steelframed north-facing window onto Fechin’s canvas or carving. When a visitor walks into the studio space, conversation slows, for they are entering the heart and soul of the Fechin property. Today, the rain, wind, sun and snow have taken a toll on the decades-old adobe. There is evidence of leaks that threaten the structural integrity of the historic building.
Christy Schoedinger Coleman, the lead steward and executive director of the Taos Art Museum, said the studio is “where the magic happens, preserving [Fechin’s] legacy is what the Taos Art Museum is all about. We have some leaks that in time will place the studio in jeopardy. The roof has multiple layers of roofing and has received many patch jobs over the years. The entire roofing system will need to be removed first, and any necessary repairs of the roof deck completed before installing the new roof. Part of the studio has worn down metal roofing which will also need to be completely removed – 2300 square feet of roofing in all. With the museum closed to the public for now due to COVID-19, and the leaks becoming an immediate concern, the timing couldn’t be better” to replace the roof.
The history of this Taos jewel began when Fechin and his family purchased the modest adobe with land on Paseo del Pueblo Norte in 1927. Fechin expanded the existing studio’s footprint, adding a substantial north-facing window, which starts on the wall and continues onto the roof, to ensure he had consistent light for painting, and an asymmetrical adobe fireplace that provided heat to the studio. From pictures in the museum’s archives, there was ample wood stacked nearby, and a porcelain sink under a sleeping loft where Fechin washed his painting supplies. There was a large pond next to the studio where Fechin swam almost every morning. Everywhere you look there are details, clues to how the artist lived and worked.
The construction details of the studio were informed by Fechin’s experiences in his homeland and his passion to make art whenever the muse appeared, which for Nicolai occurred often, keeping him working days and nights at a time.
Throughout his years as a teacher, in dark sub-zero Russian winters in Kazan, Fechin wrote in his autobiographical notes: “During the very first winter the new building of the Kazan Art School lost its central heating. The thick stone walls froze through the winter frosts and the cold inside was unbearable. We set up small iron stoves, but the icey cold pipes would not draw and all the smoke remained inside, eating our eyes out. We drew and painted in fur coats, mittens and heavy felt boots.”
The Fechin Studio today has evolved into a warm, magical place for artists, writers and musicians. It has become a community performance space with concerts, exhibitions, discussion groups and readings. Even during the pandemic, the Taos Art Museum has continued community outreach and long-term planning, including an exhibition of Fechin’s work curated primarily from rarely seen private collections from all over the United States, scheduled for the spring of 2021.
The Taos Art Museum, like most museums in the country, has been shuttered since March 2020 (with a very brief opening in the fall) because of COVID-19. Missed revenue support from visitors during the height of tourist season, coupled with cancelled fundraisers, rentals and exhibitions, have diminished museum resources. Right now the Taos Art Museum needs support from the community to ensure this Taos treasure continues to be a beacon of creative inspiration for travelers, world citizens and the broader Taos and New Mexico community.
You can donate to this Taos treasure’s New Roof Project and double the impact of your gift. Thanks to generous supporters of Taos Art Museum, all end of year donations to the museum’s Annual Fund will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000 in support of a new roof for the Fechin Studio!
Visit taosartmuseum.org/make-a-donation