Terrie Mangat

Terrie Mangat: "I'm so excited that I'm finishing the commission. The subject matter is really simple. They just wanted a picture; they wanted an apparition of Mary. They other piece they wanted the portraits of the priests in it. Then the last piece they wanted, they wanted had to do with the school children

"And I kept trying to figure out how I would pull this triptych together. A triptych for a church. The other day I was talking to somebody about when we were little. My neighbor, her mother was a seamstress, and she used to make my prom dresses and stuff, but when we were like 12 or 13, or 11 or somethin', I used to go over there and Jeannie would get out those Vogue books and we would cut out the dresses we liked and then we would cut the heads off and then we would take the heads and pin them onto the top of the dresses. The way I'm doing Jesus and Mary taskin' their heads around on the plane reminds me of those paper cut out dolls..."

Randall LaGro

The power inherent in the paintings of LaGro is overwhelming. Using predominantly rich and somber tones on large-scale canvasses or wood panels, LaGro introduces viewers to figures of uncommon translucence, unsettling anguish, and uncertain perspective.

There is a musician seen through a rain-washed window; the dim androgynous shape in a blurred field leaning toward a bright, clear cluster of flowers; the blind artist working in his dark room, only vaguely aware of the demon lurking behind him. Much of the power of these works is in the ethereal atmosphere surrounding even the most mundane of subjects. LaGro also plays with reflective surfaces, such as glass and water, at times forcing the viewer to re-evaluate what his eyes may be seeing.

Inger Jirby Reception

In Taos, Inger has established the Inger Jirby Gallery on Historic Ledoux Street in a gracious adobe home. The gallery is, as she says, the biggest adventure of my life. To meet the vast demand for her work, she continues to have museum shows and gallery exhibitions around the world. She is thrilled to be settled in Taos being able to work right on her doorstep, and to be surrounded by the incredible landscape subjects for her art.

Her quest for color is unquenchable. In search of new subjects, she takes regular painting trips all over the world - lately Bali and then to Mexico. Morocco is next, and then India, countries where the people are as passionate about color as the big colorists.

In the course of her travels, Inger does far more than paint. With a restless intelligence and great curiosity, she immerses herself in the life and history of the countries she visits, pursuing interests in folk art, architecture, archeology and languages.

The Blumenscheins

The home is filled with a superb collection of the Blumenschein family's art, a representative sampling of works by other famous Taos artists, fine European and Spanish Colonial style antiques, and the family's lifetime of personal possessions. The home beautifully illustrates the lifestyle of Taos artists in the first half of the twentieth century.

In the early autumn of 1898, a fortuitous accident resulted in Taos becoming a great American art colony. Having recently returned from studies in Paris, young American artists Ernest L. Blumenschein and Bert G. Phillips were on a sketching trip from Denver to northern Mexico when the wheel of their surrey broke on the mountainous road just north of Taos.