Taos Abstract Artist Collective: SPEX ‘26

Friday, May 8th, 2026

All Day

Price: Free & Open to the Public

Encore Gallery at The Taos Center for the Arts

Taos Abstract Artist Collective Presents

SPEX ‘26

May 8-16, Stables Gallery

Opening Reception: FRI, May 8, 4-8pm

GALLERY HOURS
Saturday 5/9: 11am – 6:00pm

Sunday 5/10 11am – 6:00pm

Monday 5/11: 10am – 6pm
Tuesday 5/12: 10am – 6pm
Wednesday 5/13: 10am – 6pm
Thursday 5/14: 10am – 6pm
Friday 5/15: 10am – 6pm
Saturday 5/16: 11am – 5pm
Closing Reception, 5/16: 3pm – 5pm

TAOS ABSTRACT ARTIST COLLECTIVE (TAAC) will hold its Spring Exhibition, SPEX ’26, from May 8th – 16th, 2026, at the Stables Gallery at the Taos Center for the Arts (133 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM, 87571). The opening reception will be held on Friday, May 8th from 4-8pm MDT and the exhibition will close with a reception on Saturday, May 16th from 3-5pm MDT. The Fall Exhibition features work by 78 abstract artists working across diverse media and disciplines. Gallery hours will be held throughout the week. The event is free and open to the public.

TAAC is an artist-driven idea platform. As the organization celebrates the conclusion of its 4th annual exhibition season (Fall ’25 and Spring ’26), the organization remains committed to its core values of accessibility in the arts. TAAC’s community exhibitions are built on a model of inclusivity, enabling artists of all levels an opportunity to show work alongside a talented cohort of Northern New Mexico creators. The open call solicited more than 340 works which were reviewed by curatorial team Brian Barreto, bianca gabrielle goyette, and Lauren Dana Smith. 150 works were selected and curated into the Fall ’25 and Spring ’26 exhibitions.

TAAC continues its collaboration with New Mexico School for the Arts in recognizing 4 exceptional high school seniors demonstrating dedication to abstraction with the TAAC HS Scholarship. This season we recognize Ayana Anaya, Zoé Penot, bri tweet, and Sofia Lansrud-Lopez. One TAAC HS Scholar will be awarded a scholarship to help further their artistic practice beyond high school.

TAAC additionally recognizes talent within the Northern New Mexico Abstract Artist Community with the TAAC Scholar Award. This Spring, TAAC is proud to announce Santa Fe-based Phoenix Savage as the award recipient. Phoenix is a medical anthropologist and sculptor creating interactive installations that evoke sensory engagement. Savage maintains a layered, research-based studio practice that investigates West African Yoruba philosophy and the meaning of being human. The TAAC Scholar Award is given to an artist whose work has pushed the bounds of abstraction within the Northern New Mexico artistic community.

TAAC promotes abstract artists living and/or working in Northern New Mexico, toward the exchange of ideas, new aesthetics, and creative concepts. Taos is synonymous with abstract thinking, with origins in indigenous geometries, transcendental and modernist movements, and conceptual and land art installation. Once the nexus for westward-bound artists, Taos unleashes expansive, abstract thinkers. It’s from this landscape that TAAC is pleased to present the 4th Annual Exhibition Series in Fall of 2025 and Spring of 2026, featuring works in painting, drawing, textile arts, sculpture, digital art, conceptual installation, photography, and printmaking. Represented amongst the artist group are established, mid-career, and emerging artists who show in Taos or Northern New Mexico, nationally and internationally.

TAAC is an inclusive group that amplifies self-identifying abstract artists living and working in Northern New Mexico, honoring our intersecting identities across race, national origin, ethnicity, culture, size, gender identity and expression, disability, sexuality, age, socioeconomic status, neurotype, religion, and/or spiritual practice. All abstract artists are welcome in their pursuit of provocative expression. This project is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Artists: Ayana Anaya, Mac Balentine, Stephanie Baness, Brian Barreto, Sidney Barrett, Kaylie Boyle, Ria Burnett, Jeanette Cooke, Claire Coté, Anna Bush Crews, David D’Agostino, Alma DeMange, Dora Dillistone, Donna Dufresne, Elaine Duncan, William Eager, Molly Elkind, Michael Forte, Emily L. Harper, M. A. Havens, Kate Henke, A. Jude Hunt, L. Thayer Hutchinson, Jessica Jeffery, Bill Jehle, Lydia Johnston, Jackie Kolbenschlag, Cynthia Ladds, Sofia Lansrud-Lopez, Katrina Lasko, Lizzie Layne, Tim Lehmann, Sandra Lerner, Alexia Lewnes, M. Lind, Petra Marguerite, Stephanie McCloud, Peggy McGivern, Brian McPartlon, Brigid Meier, Jess Merritt, Josh Mishell, Carol Mullen, Kristi Nelson, Jessica Nojek, Shan Ogdemli, Scott Palsce, Zoé Penot, Erin Plew, Veronica Primerano, Kate Raphael, Cathy Rapp, Jenna Ritter, Tom Rogers, Jim Romberg, Roxanne Rossi, Phoenix Savage, Lindsey Schreiber, Flor Serna, Jan Marie Sessler, Elena Sippel, Emily Spykman, John St. Peter, Christa Stephens, Nicki Stewart, A.K. Storm, Melissa Storrow, Christopher Sullivan, Sally Swisher, Nicole Thibodeau, Peggy Trigg, bri tweet, Rhonda Vanderhoff, Paula Verona, Lynzee Webb, Jamie Winslow, Frederick Yost.

This project is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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