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.