Author: taosnews

The Santos of Millicent Rogers Museum

By Ellen Miller-Goins

Inside Millicent Rogers Museum, carved saints gaze quietly from gallery walls and display cases. Some appear stern; others, tender. Their painted robes glow in deep reds, blues and golds, their surfaces worn with the patina that comes from time, touch and devotion. Together, these bultos and retablos form one of the most significant public collections of Northern New Mexico santos in the world.

This is not a gallery to rush through. The best way to experience it is slowly, allowing your eyes to settle on the details: a saint’s face softened by age, the faint crackle of gesso, the brushwork along a sleeve, the way wood grain emerges through paint — a quiet reminder that these images begin as something living.

For those who grew up here, santos may feel as familiar as weathered adobe and cottonwoods lining an acequia. They appear in homes, chapels and churches, serving not only as works of art but as companions in prayer and daily life. In many families, they are passed down through generations, carrying both spiritual and personal histories.

At the Millicent Rogers Museum, that living connection remains central. “Part of what is so significant and rich about the santo tradition is the reference to the masters,” says Claire Pelaez Motsinger, museum curator. “These compositions and approaches are still being used in the contemporary tradition.”

The forms themselves are simple to define, yet impossible to reduce. Bultos are carved wooden figures. Retablos are painted panels, often displayed on household altars or in churches and chapels. Both are created by santeros — artists who have shaped a distinctly Northern New Mexico tradition over centuries, tracing back to the colonial period.

Spanish missionaries introduced Catholic imagery as a way to teach religious stories. Over time, local artisans adapted these forms. Early santeros worked with what the land provided — cottonwood roots, ponderosa pine, natural pigments and piñon sap varnish. The results are not polished European icons, but something more immediate and human: sacred images shaped by local hands, knowledge, and devotion.

The Millicent Rogers Museum is one of only a handful of institutions with a collection of this scale. “We are one of eight museums that have more than 100 Northern New Mexico santos in their collection,” Pelaez Motsingers says. “It’s a very small group of institutions that represent this work on that scale.”

That breadth allows the museum to tell a more complete story. The exhibit is divided between historic and contemporary traditions, revealing both the roots and evolution of the form. Earlier pieces reflect Spanish colonial influence, while more recent works show how artists continue to reinterpret the tradition today.

Spend time in the gallery, and the distinctions begin to blur. Across centuries, the same gestures repeat: hands raised in blessing, eyes lifted upward, bodies carved with quiet intensity. What changes is not the purpose, but the artist’s voice.

“The museum demonstrates not just the objects, but a real sense of place,” Pelaez Motsinger says.

That sense of place is everywhere — in the materials, in the forms, even in the gallery itself. The rooms echo the textures and tones of Northern New Mexico, grounding the collection in the landscape that shaped it.

Santeros, past and present, are valued not only for their craftsmanship but for their devotion. Their work reflects a tradition that remains very much alive. Santos are not separate from everyday life. They are part of it. They have been handled, prayed to, repaired and passed down. They are artworks, certainly. But they are also reminders of a living tradition.

For many who pass through the gallery, the experience is not only visual. It is deeply human.

A Museum Rooted in Place

The Millicent Rogers Museum, founded in 1956 by Paul Peralta-Ramos (one of Rogers’ sons), includes 15 galleries arranged around a central courtyard in a hacienda-style layout.

“It’s a home-like feeling combined with a formal museum setting,” says Claire Pelaez Motsinger. “We try to balance those two things.” One of the first stops for many visitors is the pottery gallery, anchored by the work of Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo. The museum’s collection traces the arc of her career, from early polychrome and redware to the iconic black-on-black pottery she developed with her husband, Julian, and later continued with her family.

Nearby galleries expand that story of place and tradition. The museum holds more than 7,000 objects, including Native American art, jewelry, textiles and Hispanic devotional works, offering a broad view of the cultures that shape Northern New Mexico. The museum is moving toward a more focused exploration of the cultures it represents, while continuing to refresh galleries and rotate objects.

“We represent Hispanic and Native traditions in the area,” Pelaez Motsinger says. “That’s really where deeper education can happen.”

Following the death of executive director Karen Chertok, the museum is in the process of hiring new leadership, with a new executive director expected soon.

Millicent Rogers Museum

1504 Millicent Rogers Rd, El Prado

575-758-2462

millicentrogers.org

Millicent Rogers Museum to host a tribute to promising Taos Pueblo artist

By Rick Romancito

The art of an emerging Taos Pueblo artist whose life was tragically cut short is on display in a tribute exhibition — “Honoring the Life and Work of DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo” — at the Millicent Rogers Museum.

The artist of Diné and Taos Pueblo heritage created work that “reflected the cultural significance, aesthetics, and strength of her communities,” a museum statement reads. She was by all accounts a rising star in the art world.

Then, on Nov. 13, 2021, Suazo’s life was cut short at the hands of her boyfriend, Santiago Martinez, who later was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. The sentence drew widespread disappointment from DeAnna’s family and supporters who publicly stated it did not reflect the severity of the crime, a TV news report stated.

The daughter of well-known artists Gary David Suazo of Taos Pueblo and Geraldine Tso of the Navajo Nation, DeAnna, 29, began making art at an early age, according to an article by this writer in the June 2024 edition of Trend Magazine. One of her fondest memories is from the time she attended the Taos Pueblo Head Start program as a young child.

“We were drawing on the floor with crayons and I remember one of the teachers was like, ‘Oh wow, DeAnna, you put a neck on your person!’ And, for some reason, that memory always stuck. Why wouldn’t you put a neck on a human figure?,” she said. “My art now is about Indigenous women present today, so what I’m doing is incorporating traditional attire — of course, it’s pre-contact attire.”

“I’m Taos Pueblo and Navajo, but we’re also very modern and know how to balance the two,” she said.

DeAnna graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in the spring of 2021 with a degree in studio arts. She also was admitted to IAIA‘s inaugural “MFA in Studio Arts” cohort in Summer 2021.

“DeAnna loved celebrating her Diné and Taos Pueblo heritage and creating art that reflected Pueblo cultural significance and aesthetics,” reads a statement from IAIA issued upon her passing. “Inspired by heroic figures of Japanese manga novels, including Sailor Moon, she imbued her work with memory, resilience and good intentions. Her most recent work emphasized figural paintings of strong Indigenous women that, in her words, ‘grind every day for a better community.’”

Her father said a small posthumous show at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque drew huge crowds, many of whom left comments like, “I’m so glad someone finally is doing something with pop culture for Native Americans. I loved the girl with the bubble gum. I loved the sunglasses.”

DeAnna showed artwork at the Southwest Association for Indian Arts Market (SWAIA) for over a decade. She was also a featured artist at many national art markets including the Heard Museum Indian Market and Fair, the Autry Museum Artist Market and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Artist Market. She was a SITE Santa Fe Scholar and a 2021 Taos Fine Arts Visionary Artist.

“She will be remembered as a dedicated student, a devoted friend, a kind person, and a passionate artist whose creativity knew no bounds,” the statement concludes.

In downtown Taos, anyone driving along Civic Plaza Drive will be reminded of her as one of the images on a mural painted on the south wall of the University of New Mexico-Taos’ Rio Grande Hall. The “Historical Women of Taos” mural by renowned artist Jenny Ustick also features images of ancestral matriarch María Rosa Villalpando, historic preservationist Cleofas Martinez Jaramillo and philanthropist Helene Wurlitzer. The mural was unveiled in May of 2022.

Inspired by her sister Shaundine, DeAnna began making drawings at an early age that reflected her interests in the world around her, “making them to her style,” her mom, Geraldine Tso, said. “She just did what she wanted.” Starting with small drawings, she eventually wanted to do larger and larger pieces. “I just let her go with it,” Tso said.

As one would expect, losing her daughter in an act of violence affected her deeply. “It struck me really hard when I was first told by Shaundine who called me early that morning,” she said. “All I could think was a beautiful girl has been taken away. It hurt a lot.”

“To this day, I feel very sad that she’s gone. I always wait for her to come through the door and say, ‘Hi mom!’”

Honoring the Life and Work of DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo

Exhibition continues through March 1, 2027. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Tuesday. General admission is $20, with $15 admission daily for veterans, students, and seniors (65+). Taos County residents receive free entry to the museum every Sunday. Free daily admission for children under 6, museum members, and tribal members.

Visit millicentrogers.org for updates about this exhibition and for winter hours.

Some of the town’s most remarkable art lives far beyond museums

By Haven Lindsey

In Taos, art is not always where you expect it. Yes, there are museums. Yes, there are galleries. But some of the most remarkable collections in town hide in places many visitors never think to look: hospital corridors, an active volunteer firehouse and even the restrooms at The Blake at Taos Ski Valley.

Inside Holy Cross Hospital, a quiet surprise stretches along the hallways: an art collection with well over 450 works. Paintings, photography, sculpture and mixed-media pieces line the corridors. Most pieces come from Taos artists, many of whom earn recognition far beyond Northern New Mexico.

The collection grows organically over decades as artists donate work — sometimes in gratitude, sometimes simply because art and community have always been intertwined in Taos. After all, the signpost banners declare: “Taos is Art.”

Today the result feels unexpected: a museum-scale collection embedded inside a place dedicated to healing. As visitors and patients walk the halls, they encounter landscapes, portraits and abstract works that reflect the artistic spirit of the region.

The art transforms an otherwise clinical space into something reflective, turning a simple walk down a hospital hallway into a quiet gallery experience.

If the local hospital’s art scene seems surprising, the next stop raises the element of surprise to a whole new level: the Taos Volunteer Fire Department, which may be the last place most people expect to find significant regional art.

Step inside the firehouse and the space tells a different story. Works connected to the artists who helped establish Taos as one of the most important art colonies in the American Southwest adorn the walls. Pieces by early Taos painters — including those who arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and helped define the visual language of the region — form an extraordinary and largely unseen collection.

But why the firehouse? The story behind the art is as unusual as the location. In the 1930s, fires threatened buildings around Taos Plaza, underscoring the need for an organized fire department. When the community rallied to support the effort, artists contributed paintings as part of fundraising drives.

The works never sold. Instead, the department kept them, gradually building a remarkable collection displayed inside a building dedicated to protecting the town and its residents. Over time, the firehouse became an unlikely steward of Taos art history — and likely one of the safest places for it to appear; after all, it is rare that a firehouse burns.

From one unexpected sanctuary to another, the art trail continues uphill at The Blake at Taos Ski Valley. At the hotel named after Ernie Blake, the visionary founder of Taos Ski Valley, the art collection begins the moment guests walk through the doors and continues into places few visitors expect.

Historic photographs of the pioneering Blake family and early layouts of the ski valley greet guests in the lobby. Paintings by Oscar E. Berninghaus, Walter Ufer, Ernest Martin Hennings and Georgia O’Keeffe capture the breadth of Taos’ artistic heritage. Navajo textiles, woodblock prints by Gustave Baumann and historic photographs of Taos Pueblo appear in corridors, seating areas, the spa and yes, even the restrooms, turning the entire hotel into an immersive and unexpected gallery.

The Blake offers guided art tours by appointment at no charge, inviting visitors to explore these treasures and learn their history. From classic portraits to early skiing aerials, each space tells a story of Taos past and present, proving that in this town, the unexpected appears everywhere.

In Taos, art does not stay confined to museums and galleries. Look at the signposts or the stoplight utility boxes and you will see it everywhere —part of everyday life and quietly reminding us that creativity thrives in the most
unexpected places.

By Ellen Miller-Goins

To understand Taos and Northern New Mexico, it helps to read it. At SOMOS, Taos’ literary hub, Executive Director Jan Smith and Bookshop Curator Danielle Freeman have assembled a reading list that offers a layered portrait of the region.

“Some are novels, some nonfiction, and some stories are accompanied buy photos,” Smith and Freeman said. “They each document life in Northern New Mexico in an earlier time — some more contemporary than others.”

Their selections explore “the cultural values and traditions of Northern New Mexico from different angles: fiction, historical, environmental, Pueblo life, Hispanic traditions, mystery, biography, agricultural and livestock issues.”

1. The Milagro Beanfield War

John Nichols

The first novel in Nichols’ New Mexico Trilogy tells the story of a small community’s fight to protect its water rights. When a local farmer diverts irrigaton to his beanfield, it sparks a broader resistance against development and outside control. Blending humor, activism and deep affection for rural life, the novel captures the enduring tension between tradition and change.

2. The Man Who Killed the Deer

Frank Waters

This classic novel follows a young Pueblo man whose actions set off consequences that are both legal and spiritual. Waters explores the conflict between Indigenous traditions and imposed Western systems, examining identity, responsibility and cultural balance. The story offers a thoughtful and enduring perspective on Pueblo life and values.

3. The Great Taos Bank Robbery

Tony Hillerman

In this collection of essays, Hillerman combines journalism, humor and keen observation to explore Northern New Mexico. From Crime stories to cultural insights, he captures the region’s distinctive personalities and contradictions. The results is an engaging portrait of place that is both entertaining and revealing.

4. Winter in Taos

Mabel Dodge Luhan

Luhan’s memoir reflects on Taos during the early 20th century, when artists and writers were drawn to the area. She documents a period of cultural exchange, creativity and misunderstanding, offering a firsthand account of a pivotal moment in Taos history. The book remains both a historic record and a complex personal narrative.

5. Coyota in the Kitchen: A Memoir of New and Old Mexico

Anita Rodríguez

Blending memoir, recipes and artwork, Rodríguez tells the story of family, culture and identity through food. Her writing reflects the rhythms of Northern New Mexico life, where traditions are preserved in kitchens shared across generations. The book celebrates memory, resilience and the everyday practices that sustain culture.