The Taos Society of Artists was made up of twelve American-born artists working out of Taos, New Mexico in the early twentieth century. The Forsyth Gallery at Texas A&M is currently hosting an exhibit featuring the work of three members of the Taos Society of Artists: John Henry Sharp, Eanger Irving Couse and Oscar Berninghaus. The some of the pieces are on loan from the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville and others are part of the Bill and Irman Runyon Art Collection with the Texas A&M Foundation.
Taos-native Carl Jones is the president of the Couse-Sharp historic site located in Taos.
“We live in Taos, so we’re surrounded by that sort of thing,” Jones said. “I took a tour of the site nine years ago and Jenny, the Couse’s granddaughter and her husband, who is now deceased, you can’t tell them no when they ask you to do something. First I was a volunteer, then I wound up on the board, then I wound up as president. It’s my new job.”
Jones doesn’t have any professional training in painting, but said he still enjoys many types of art.
“The only training I had was in high school, but I always played around with it, was always terrible, but enjoyed it anyway,” Jones said. “A friend of mine called me a dilatant, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. The definition is someone that is interested in all the arts. I thought I was going to architecture school, and then I thought I was going to art school. Still love architecture, still love art, but ended up going to law school.”
The Couse-Sharp Historic Site is a non-profit with many supporters across the United States, Jones said, and the site usually sees a couple thousand visitors per year.
“Many of our supporters are collectors and they live all across the United States,” Jones said. “We have a big gala every other year, it’s a banquet and art auction in Taos and people fly in from all over the country. [We see] probably about 2,000 guests, since we’re just open six months. But we have an open house the first saturday of each month, and we usually have about 200 people come through for each open house, and then all the tours and the lectures that we have.”
Engineering sophomore Ihsan Yuksel said he came to the event for extra credit.
“I did enjoy it. I had no expectations coming in,” Yuksel said. “I heard about it through my professor for extra credit so I had no idea what was going on, but I learned a lot, actually. It was very interesting. I’d like to attend something like this again.”
Amber Meler attended the event. Meler said this event she enjoyed the art and the event.
“I learned a lot,” Meler said. “My grandmother is into art. She basically has an art gallery in her room, and she knows that I love art too, so she told me about it. I just moved here two months ago, but I’d love to come to more events like this.”
