Expanded Taos Art Museum Improves Display And Care Of Collection

Visitors will appreciate the Taos Art Museum’s new 2,000-square-foot gallery building, increasing exhibition space by 50%. More room for paintings by the Taos Society of Artists–Joseph Henry Sharp, E. Irving Couse, Ernest Blumenschein, et al.–by Nicolai Fechin, by the Taos Moderns including Dorothy Brett.

For executive director Christy Coleman, a new building guests will never step foot in is as important: a new art storage vault. The previous storage–closet–might be the best word, maybe nook, was 200-square-feet, non-climate controlled, and couldn’t house the entire collection together.

“It really made me nervous about our collection; we’re caretakers of this work and need to take care of it properly,” Coleman told Forbes.com. “(The new vault is) climate controlled, very secure. We have art on racks now. The former storage facility used to have bins that you would pull art in and out of; every time you do that, you risking damaging the art and the frames.”

The Nathaniel “Nat” Troy Art and Archival Building also contains a research library, office space, and storage area for the large crates used for shipping artworks. It joins the new Janis and Roy Coffee Gallery, opened to the public on April 30, 2025, the end result of a $2,000,000 capital campaign upgrading facilities across the museum’s campus.

Fechin House

The museum’s full name is the Taos Art Museum at Fechin House.

Nicolai Fechin (1881–1955) immigrated to the United States from Russia with his wife and daughter in 1923. His first stop was New York City where he quickly established himself as a top portraitist. Fechin learned about Taos’ favorable climate and established arts colony and in 1926, on the invitation of famed Taos arts patron Mable Dodge Luhan, headed west for the summer.

The family set up residence there the following year.

Alongside his art practice, Fechin began constructing a studio and apartment, then moved on to a full, six-year renovation and expansion of the two-story house that previously existed on the property. It’s amazing. Fechin was a gifted woodworker. His father taught him carving, construction, carpentry, and gilding as a child. Craft traditions with deep roots in Russia. He’d later take courses in architecture.

The Fechin House displays an astonishing level of craftsmanship, attention to detail, decorative and architectural intrigue, and cleverness on behalf of the maker. Its 51 unique doors are especially noteworthy. He made all the furniture. Look for carved pinecones–Fechin’s shorthand for Taos–and sunflowers–his shorthand for Russia.

In 2002, the Taos Art Museum Board of Directors moved its collection to the historic Fechin House and Studio. Fechin’s daughter Eya was aging and wanted to see the property and her father’s legacy preserved.

The home, and the studio behind it, have served the museum ever since. It makes for both the perfect place for the Taos Art Museum and a ridiculous place for the Taos Art Museum.

Fechin House is a 100-year-old, handmade, distinct work of art in its own right never intended to display artwork to the public and receive thousands of visitors each year. It doesn’t meet contemporary collections management standards or the highest requirements for exhibition security and climate control.

Big for a house, small for a museum, it also never satisfied visitors.

“We try to show a variety, both Fechin and other Taos art, and there was always the complaint, ‘Oh, there wasn’t enough Nicolai Fechin art,’ or ‘Oh, there wasn’t enough Taos Society artists,’” Coleman explained. “Now we can give everyone both, plus the studio. We’re still showing contemporary living artists in the studio, so it’s a nice chance to get the whole Taos art experience.”

Taos art, presented in completely different contexts.

“The new gallery enables people to see the work. It’s a different feeling from the historic house, and that contrast is intentional,” Coleman continued. “Whereas the Fechin House offers richness and detail and atmosphere, the new gallery offers stillness and clarity, and together, they create this really beautiful, layered experience.”

Janis And Roy Coffee

Janis and Roy Coffee are Texans who’ve been visiting Taos since childhood. Soon after they married–65 years ago this year–they began collecting art. Gradually, their focus shifted to Taos artists. The classics, the Taos Society of Artists and the Taos Moderns.

Roy Coffee served as Taos Art Museum Board of Trustees president for many years. His family was involved in ranching in Texas and New Mexico. He made his fortune in legal work, investments, oil and gas companies, banking, and a short line railroad.

In 2023, the couple decided to gift 150 choice pieces of Taos artwork from their collection to the museum. It roughly doubled the museum’s holdings. Wonderful news for the museum. A transformational gift.

“One thing I really appreciate is that they’ve expanded the number of female Taos artists that are represented in our collection,” Coleman said. “You have people like Gene Kloss, Bee Mandelman, Eleonora Kissel, Dorothy Brett.”

But remember, in 2023, the museum had no capacity to house, care for, or display the new additions.

Spurred by the Coffee’s gift of artwork, the Taos Art Museum undertook the first capital campaign in its history. That campaign was also spurred by the Coffee’s gift of $1.2 million–the largest in the museum’s history–to get the project off the ground. That’s why the museum’s new gallery bears the title Janis and Roy Coffee Gallery.

“It’s not just a win for the museum, it’s an investment in Taos as a cultural destination,” Coleman said. “Taos has always been a place that draws artists and thinkers and we see the museum as both the steward of that history and a space that continues to participate in the creative life of the region. The new spaces enable us to do that more fully. We have the ability to care for our collection responsibly and present exhibitions that reflect both our roots and more current conversations.”

The Coffee Gallery helps take pressure off the Fechin House as well, and it will continue honoring Nicolai Fechin’s important legacy by showing works by, about, and related to the artist, enabling visitors to see his renowned masterpieces in the context of the exquisite home he designed and crafted by hand.

Sadly, Fechin only lived in the house for six years; he and his wife divorced. He never seemed to recover from the blow. A heartbreaking chapter of Taos art history that also includes such prominent figures as Victor Higgins, Millicent Rogers, Georgia O’Keeffe, Ansel Adams, Dennis Hopper, Agnes Martin, Larry Bell, and, of course, generations of artists from Taos Pueblo. Taos owns the greatest artistic lineage and institutions of any small town in America–population 6,000 (elevation: 7,000, feet.)

That history lives in thousands of artworks, and books, and is now safely protected for the public to enjoy at the Taos Art Museum at Fechin House.

“People recognize that it’s not just about new buildings, it’s about long-term stewardship, and the expansion makes clear that we’re investing in Taos and its cultural legacy and the experience of people who live here and visit here,” Coleman said. “It’s brought a new energy and engagement, both from longtime supporters and from people who are discovering us for the first time.”

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