Tammy Garcia

Anyone who sees one of Tammy's works is struck by her ability to stretch the boundaries of the clay to contain her vision. A potter's art is generally limited by the size and shape of the vessel he or she designs. In Tammy's case, it is as if the clay itself attempts to expand to better convey her dramatic design work. Part of that sense stems from the amazing proportions of Tammy's pots. She thrills at self-imposed challenge, and this often leads her to create pottery of almost unheard-of size. The other part, however, comes from a true symbiosis between Tammy and her medium. Pottery has been an outlet of creative personal expression for two millennia; Tammy was brought up in a family steeped in the tradition, and is both respectful of, and thankful to, the powers that allow her to share her exquisite talents. In exchange, it seems she has been rewarded with clay and ash that yearn to hold the voluptuous shapes she molds and display her intensely animated designs.

By Betsy Carey

Taos is one of the foremost places in the entire world absolutely wonderful, excellently created, deeply inspired individual original art of all types. This video piece will give you a sample of the work of a very wide range of Taos artists from one of the centers of widely divergent creative art in the world.

Taos Artists' Open Studio Tour 2008 takes place in Taos September 26 to October 5, 2008. Check below the video for more information about Taos Artists Organization (TAO).

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.