Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Benna Sayyed: CMI staff photoClovis Community College graphic design student Robert Straub, left, and his wife Jennifer observe paintings at the opening reception of the Early Taos Masters art exhibit at the Eula Mae Edwards Museum and Gallery at CCC. The exhibit will run through March 22.
The paintings of pioneer Taos artists are on exhibit at the Eula Mae Edwards Museum and Gallery at Clovis Community College.
The exhibit showcases work from some of the earliest Taos artists, including Bert Geer Phillip, Ernest L. Blumenschein and Joseph Henry Sharp. The artists with works on display are deceased.
The display is comprised of 25 oil and pastel paintings and sketches and one piece of pottery. The majority of the art was collected during the 1980s.
Benna Sayyed: CMI staff photo
Clovis Community College graphic design student Robert Straub, left, and his wife Jennifer observe paintings at the opening reception of the Early Taos Masters art exhibit at the Eula Mae Edwards Museum and Gallery at CCC. The exhibit will run through March 22.
CCC president Becky Rowley said the collection of paintings was acquired by CCC faculty and staff from a variety of sources throughout the past 30 years.
"It really is a museum quality exhibit," Rowley said. "It's an important art collection from artists from our state. It represents a significant piece of New Mexico art history."
Rowley said her favorite painting pictures an aspen tree forest with a path running through.
Six artists known today as "The Taos Founders" formed the Taos Society of Artists in 1915 to promote their work in traveling exhibitions, according to promotional material provided by CCC.
These individuals were the first artists to settle in Taos. Their work in painting was the birth of the Taos Art Colony.
These artists trained in Europe and ended up in Taos, according to Clovis Community College Resource Development Director Natalie Daggett.
"I know a lot of the Taos artists of that period were kind of enlightened by the West," Daggett said. "In the 1800s a lot of the West was undiscovered and a lot of these artists were used to the east coast. They were coming from places like New York and Chicago. They were fascinated by the people and landscapes."
Daggett said the collection contains a piece from each of the six Taos Founders.
"That is something you usually find in major museums. It's a rare experience for people in this community."
Daggett said an educational event on "Early Taos Masters" is being planned for later this month or March.
