Spring has sprung and with it comes the return of Taos Spring Arts.
Thanks to David Mapes, the long dormant festival is on our agenda once more.
“It’s been some time in the making.” David told me when we chatted over the phone recently. “Rob Nightingale and I had been talking about reviving it for a few years, and suddenly, once I had the site up and running, it all fell into place.”
David, with Rob’s help and input, has reinvigorated the Taos Gallery Association and has built an incredible, interactive website for the organization.
Then Greg Moon (Greg Moon Fine Art), came up with an idea for an “Insurgency Collaboration” between his gallery, Wilder-Nightingale and DAFA in an effort to create more events for the Town to Market, and Spring Arts was reborn!
David Mapes is the owner of one of Taos’ finest contemporary galleries (David Anthony Fine Art/DAFA), on Kit Carson Road, home to the museum in his not always so sanctified in these parts, name. The strip from the Plaza to where the road dips before climbing the Canyon, is Taos’ own Gallery Row, with one after another lining each side of the street.
He is also a fine furniture craftsman (New Mexico Furniture Company), and an incredibly interesting man with a long history here in Taos, where his father and step mother owned Tio Vivo, the only toy shop in town for years. I’ve profiled David here on taoStyle.
Trying to bring these diverse and disparate Art Dealers into a united front, has in the past been somewhat akin to herding cats, but David Mapes has seemingly managed the impossible.
The past few years spent sinking time and energy into this project has paid off, and not only the site, but the revival of Spring Arts has given cohesion to our diverse Art scene here in Taos. David who is a student of UNM-Taos DMA Program, is hosting a Kickoff Spring Arts Benefit for UNM at DAFA beginning on March 24th.
David/ Gallery Association is very active in town affairs, attending Marketing meetings on a regular basis, and worked with the town, installing art into the Waite Company office during the Paseo Project Party weekend last year. Together with the Town’s Banner Ad Promotion, David has been a huge force in bringing Art back to the forefront in regards to Marketing Taos.
“It’s a great time to be in Taos,” he noted enthusiastically, ” our Town Council and the Mayor and his Staff are doing great things.”
“Karina (Armijo) is rocking it and people are coming again for the right reasons.”
Kit Carson may be rolling in his grave these days while the Town rocks in his eponymously named park, but Art in Taos is as vital and relevant as ever.
For all the events planned and everything else about the Spring Arts Festival, the Taos Gallery Association and David Mapes/DAFA, please visit the sites linked below.
Photo of David Mapes thanks to David, all other images, Stock Files.
