Opening Reception: Drawings from The Taj Studies from the Figure

Friday, July 26th, 2024

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Price: Free

Encore Gallery at The Taos Center for the Arts

28 local artists, painters and sculptors, well known and emerging, will exhibit drawings in a weeklong pop-up in the Encore Gallery.

The artists draw weekly at a space donated by Tom and Holly Azzari, named Tajmagundi nicknamed “the Taj”. Drawing from the figure is a traditional method many artists use to keep their hand and eye active and engaged. All local artists are invited to join these weekly sessions.

The drawings, mostly pencil and charcoal, will be hung salon style from floor to ceiling.

Also on view in the pop-up exhibition will be a selection of new work by Aliah Sage. Aliah arrived in Taos in the mid 70s and opened her studio and gallery on Ledoux Street. A ceramist for years, she started painting imagery on tiles which developed into architectural installations in private homes and public buildings. In 1986 RC Gorman commissioned a tile mural. From that commission she made and designed even more large-scale projects around the country.

Sage has recently become fascinated with collage, using the patterns and images of traditional tile from around the world. Mixing, matching, manipulating, and layering these familiar patterns and designs has led to beautiful, fresh, unique, and intriguing art. The work is often based on the mandala. Aliah says, “My intention is to have the eye go to the center of every piece, to find peace in the symmetry of the design”.

The drawings will be for sale starting at $50 increasing incrementally to $500.

Featuring Works by: Tom Azzari, Steve Baumann, Fred Burns, Sherrie McGraw, Mary Shaffer, Emma Streshinsky, Lina Thewlis, S.D. Youngwolf.

Information on the name: Tajmagundi

Because of the space’s grand feel, it was nicknamed the Tajmagarage. When Tom and Holly became friendly with Tim Newton, who at the time was the Chairman of the Board of the Salmagundi Club in New York City. After a trip to New York with the group for a show in the Patron’s gallery, they became enamored of the club and morphed the name of our sketch space into the Tajmagundi.