HISTORIC FECHIN STUDIO
Roberto Cardinale "San Francisco de Asis"
11 ½” W x 15 ½” D x 19” H
Painted pine, 2025,
Drawer collage by PJ Cardinale
Sacred Spaces: Miniature Sculptures by Roberto Cardinale
On View: January 10 – March 1, 2026, in the Fechin Studio
Inspired by churches, chapels, synagogues, missions, and moradas throughout New Mexico and the Southwest, this exhibition brings together sculptural works that reflect the enduring presence of sacred architecture. The works are intimate in scale and rich in detail, inviting close viewing.
Built of pine and finished with layers of stain, paraffin, paint, graphite, and gold leaf, the sculptures evoke a sense of care and reverence. Many include hidden drawers containing small assemblages by the artist’s wife, PJ Cardinale, recalling traditions of milagros, offerings, and reliquaries found within holy spaces.
Deeply informed by the artist’s background, including years spent as a Benedictine monk, the exhibition places special emphasis on New Mexico and includes three new works created specifically for this presentation: miniature interpretations of the fireplaces found in the historic Fechin House and Studio.
On View: January 10 – March 1, 2026, in the Fechin Studio
Inspired by churches, chapels, synagogues, missions, and moradas throughout New Mexico and the Southwest, this exhibition brings together sculptural works that reflect the enduring presence of sacred architecture. The works are intimate in scale and rich in detail, inviting close viewing.
Built of pine and finished with layers of stain, paraffin, paint, graphite, and gold leaf, the sculptures evoke a sense of care and reverence. Many include hidden drawers containing small assemblages by the artist’s wife, PJ Cardinale, recalling traditions of milagros, offerings, and reliquaries found within holy spaces.
Deeply informed by the artist’s background, including years spent as a Benedictine monk, the exhibition places special emphasis on New Mexico and includes three new works created specifically for this presentation: miniature interpretations of the fireplaces found in the historic Fechin House and Studio.
HISTORIC FECHIN HOUSE
Nicolai Fechin, "Nude with Shell"
Oil on canvas, ca. 1923-1926
Nicolai Fechin: Figures, Nature, and Expression
On View: January 10 - September 6, 2026, in the Fechin House
Trained at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Nicolai Fechin combined rigorous classical training with a highly expressive approach to both drawing and painting. His work moves easily between careful observation and energetic handling, creating images that feel alive on the page and on the canvas.
From human figures to landscapes, the exhibition brings together works that show how close observation and energetic mark-making shaped Fechin’s work across subjects and media. Whether depicting a body, a landscape, or an organic form, his handling of line, paint, and color gives each work a strong sense of character and mood.
Presented in the historic Fechin House, the exhibition offers a vivid encounter with Fechin’s art, revealing an artist for whom expression and observation were inseparable.
On View: January 10 - September 6, 2026, in the Fechin House
Trained at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Nicolai Fechin combined rigorous classical training with a highly expressive approach to both drawing and painting. His work moves easily between careful observation and energetic handling, creating images that feel alive on the page and on the canvas.
From human figures to landscapes, the exhibition brings together works that show how close observation and energetic mark-making shaped Fechin’s work across subjects and media. Whether depicting a body, a landscape, or an organic form, his handling of line, paint, and color gives each work a strong sense of character and mood.
Presented in the historic Fechin House, the exhibition offers a vivid encounter with Fechin’s art, revealing an artist for whom expression and observation were inseparable.
JANIS AND ROY COFFEE GALLERY
Emil James Bisttram, "The Phoenix," Oil on canvas. Permanent Collection of Taos Art Museum. Gift of Ernest J. and Rose L. Martinez.
Taos Reimagined: Modernist Experiments in the High Desert
On View: January 17 through May 10, 2026, in the Janis and Roy Coffee Gallery
Modernist ideas emerging in Europe and New York began to reshape artistic practice in Northern New Mexico during the early to mid-twentieth century. As these ideas reached the region through the patronage and influence of Mabel Dodge Luhan, visiting artists, and postwar teaching and study, Taos served as a point of exchange where these ideas were tested, adapted, and reimagined across landscapes, daily life, cultural traditions, and symbolic imagery.
Rather than adopting a single visual language, artists working in Taos and throughout Northern New Mexico explored modernist ideas in individual ways. Some emphasized simplified forms and unconventional color, while others investigated flattened space or abstraction. These varied approaches reflect personal experimentation shaped by both modernist thinking and long-standing regional subjects.
Together, the works in this exhibition, spanning from 1918 through the 1970s, reveal how modernist experimentation unfolded over time, shaping a diverse chapter of twentieth-century American art in the high desert and leaving a lasting influence on artists working in the region today.
On View: January 17 through May 10, 2026, in the Janis and Roy Coffee Gallery
Modernist ideas emerging in Europe and New York began to reshape artistic practice in Northern New Mexico during the early to mid-twentieth century. As these ideas reached the region through the patronage and influence of Mabel Dodge Luhan, visiting artists, and postwar teaching and study, Taos served as a point of exchange where these ideas were tested, adapted, and reimagined across landscapes, daily life, cultural traditions, and symbolic imagery.
Rather than adopting a single visual language, artists working in Taos and throughout Northern New Mexico explored modernist ideas in individual ways. Some emphasized simplified forms and unconventional color, while others investigated flattened space or abstraction. These varied approaches reflect personal experimentation shaped by both modernist thinking and long-standing regional subjects.
Together, the works in this exhibition, spanning from 1918 through the 1970s, reveal how modernist experimentation unfolded over time, shaping a diverse chapter of twentieth-century American art in the high desert and leaving a lasting influence on artists working in the region today.
Interested in submitting a proposal to exhibit in the Fechin Studio? Learn more here!