TAOS FALLARTS GETS READY
‘Last year was supposed to be a time of special celebrations,” recalled Norlynne Coar, the marketing and promotion director for Taos Fall Arts Festival. “2020 was the 50th anniversary of both Earth Day and the return of Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo.” As happened everywhere, the best-laid plans went awry. The annual festival had been given a theme: “Taos Vision: Return to the Land, Water, Sky.” The painting, “A Place of Stories,” by Jonathan Warm Day Coming, had been selected as the poster commemorating the festival, Coar noted. Then the 2020 Taos Fall Arts Festival “fell victim to the COVID-19 restrictions and fiscal shortfalls.”
Since 1974, however, the festival has not only survived, but thrived and this year will be no different. In 2021, “Taos Fall Arts is definitely back.”
If you follow the regional art scene and have been a patron of previous festivals, this probably comes as no surprise to you. In fact, you most likely visited the virtual Taos Fall Arts Spring Exhibition – an extraordinary online experience of works for sale from 100 Taos artists or those with local gallery affiliation – that is a precursor to events happening later this year.
“Due to its popularity we’ve extended the spring exhibition through June,” Paul Figueroa said. The president of the TFA Board of Directors indicated the exhibit continues to be successful in providing a venue for the artists as well as generating excitement after a yearlong dearth of comprehensive art shows.
And it’s a visually arresting experience, designed by Coar to interactively guide you through the “gallery” and its rooms filled with landscapes, representational and abstract art, sculptures, jewelry and more. By clicking on each item of interest you are directed to the item’s pedigree and its purchase information, which may be completed online or using other instructions provided by the website.
“‘A Place of Stories’ will remain as the commemorative poster for the 2020/2021 Taos Fall Arts,” Figueroa continued, noting this year’s dates are Sept. 24 through Oct. 3 at the Guadalupe Gym. “And as in previous years there will be a variety of events happening throughout, such as Pressing On at the Stables Gallery and Outside the Lines at Bareis Gallery.”
The adaptation of Taos Fall Arts to the world in a pandemic is just another example of how its evolution has allowed the festival to remain vibrant and relevant.
“Taos Fall Arts has been, and remains, the biggest festival of any kind in Taos. That said, particularly in the last decade Taos Fall Arts has seen a transformation, some of which derives from new residents – including new artists – who have injected fresh energy into the community and its art scene.
Some comes from an internal shift in direction that, for example, welcomed fledgling festivals and helped bolster them, added the satellite art shows and consolidated our festival to one blowout, non-juried event.” Figueroa and Coar noted the early days of The PASEO as one such success. “In PASEO’s first year, Taos Fall Arts was able to provide it with some financial and marketing assistance, giving it the space to piggyback onto our schedule,” Figueroa explained. “It was synergistically advantageous in that its first year was when Taos Fall Arts was staged in venues scattered throughout the historic district, and PASEO served as a connection for us between those venues.”
The PASEO has since grown into its own dynamic event, noted for featuring large-scale interactive and projection art, and now is typically held the week prior to Taos Fall Art’s opening. “We participated in their 2021 outdooronly Spring Art Walk, with a preview of the spring exhibition projected in a continuous two-evening loop on the walls of the old Taos County Courthouse,” the two recalled, citing
the collaborative efforts as a perfect example of the strength and determination of the Taos art family.
The Taos Environmental Film Festival, whose roots are also to be found in early support from Taos Fall Arts, is another example of a joint achievement. “Collaborations equal success for all,” Figueroa said.
Taos Fall Arts has proven that dictum time and again. In 2019 the festival attracted 3,700 attendees, bringing significant revenues to the town coffers with record art sales; filling rooms in hotels and guest houses; and crowding the tables in restaurants and cafes. Expanded visibility for the regional galleries, museums and shops likewise energized the familiar audience and introduced a new one. Their accreditation several years ago as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization allows them to write grants through which funding supports special events bundled into the festival.
Art, after all, is closely intertwined with the history and romance of Taos: impossible to divorce from the experience of a visit to this part of the country. And Taos Fall Arts can’t likewise be separated from the economic engine that ensures the community’s standing as a world-class destination.
So it is with a grateful optimism that Taos can look forward to the upcoming calendar of events for Taos Fall Arts. In addition to poster artist Jonathan Warm Day Coming, this year’s other honorees have been selected and include the following: John Suazo for the Charles R. Strong Lifetime Achievement Award; and Agnes Chavez and DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo for Visionary Achievement Awards.
“It’s exciting to have such an inclusive representation in this year’s festival,” Figueroa said. As to art submissions, “Artists may choose works to reflect the festival’s theme or not; we welcome a consortium of others in any of the categories we accept for inclusion.” For the 10th year, the festival’s board of directors will announce the Kids Give Back awards, a monetary prize that recognizes both the next generation of artists and the mentors inspiring them across schools, community centers and museums offering art programs. (An early recipient of the 2021 award is the Harwood Museum of Art for the creation of a curtain of origami peace cranes led by Izumi Yokohama.) And, perhaps the most popular of all, the Taos Fall Arts Festival Art Show Awards will return: the People’s Choice award, and the juried Best in Show and Honorable Mention awards.
Coar noted their website contains links to the festival calendar and submission information, but it also offers a variety of videos for you to enjoy. View a stirring interview with Jonathan Warm Day Coming, or revisit some of the previous festivals’ highlights. They will surely remind you of the many reasons why Taos Fall Arts is emblematic of the community’s best.
Visit taosfallarts.com for further information.