European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 14, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                1aoazine More than a dozen Indian Pueblos dating Back Well before the arrival of tha Spanish consult Cadoret in the 16th Century Dot the Rio Grande Valley within a Hall Day s drive Trout not by James . The Washington Post new places i suspect can have been so thoroughly painted As the Dusty Little new Mexico town o Taos. And the High Mountain and deceit country wrapped around it like a decorative Indian Falan Keh n Sod tones of Green and red. Yellow and brawn. The Clear Brilliant Light of Ifie tags sky. Say the painters. Intensities nature s colors and inspires creative work. And the surreal landscape and the slim taling mix of Throe distinct cultures Indian hispanic and Anglo american has yielded a Rich treasure of subject matter. Taos is a celebrated artists Colony and has bean or most of his  the decades the local Oik Many of whom came Only to visit and then stayed on have put their impressions of he Lown and its inhabitants on Canvas and they Are still very much at it. Should a particularly Lovely Visla catch your Eye which is almost anywhere you look in this Scenic Region you Are Likely also to spot a Painter or a pair of them working at their easels beneath the morning Sun. The curious and entertaining result of All this is hat much of what you see As a visitor exploring Taos and its environs can be found framed and hanging on the Walls of the town s Many Art galleries the historic Adobe buildings with their weather worn beams the Spanish influenced town Teza shaded by lowering cottonwoods the centuries old but still inhabited dwellings of the Taos Pueblo indians at the foot of Taos Mountain. To step inside a gallery is to View in a sense an instant replay of your Day s sightseeing in a full Range of styles. Georgia o Keele is the most Lamous artist of recent years who made Northern new Mexico a primary subject she painted the simple but Graceful i lie san Francisco de Asis Church just South of Taos one of the most charming of the Spanish missions in America. And she made her Home near the Riverside Village of. Abiquiu. On Many occasions painting the High chills and desert valleys around ii. Abiquiu is West of Taos. Situated on c Scenic Circle Roule that makes an exec tent Days Outing. I imagined at limes along the Way that i was driving through a oper Yair gallery of her finest  surprisingly Taos is an unusually sophisticated. Community. In a Lown of Only about 5,000, there Are More than 60 privately owned Art galleries there s some schlock on display but also a lot of Quality several Hundred working artists by rough estimate at least two exceptional restaurants a wonderfully Tea san inn the Taos inn an excellent museum o. Indian and hispanic crafts and seemingly a Good Bookstore on every Block. The Check in clerk at the inn or the waiter at your. Table is Likely to be a Young artist attracted to Taos not Only by the deep Blue sky and exotic subject matter but because the town is so supportive of artists. To be a Painter sculptor Potter photographer woodcarver or Weaver successful or not is to to in the Community s mainstream As one transplant put it. Nobody asks you Why you Don t get a paying  gallery shows Art fairs and meet the artist lecture series Are year round fare on the Taos cultural menu. John Nichols author of the mite Geo Beanfield War is a longtime resident. The warm and Tunny movie made by Robert Redford from the novel set in this part of new Mexico was filmed just Down the Road in the Little Hillside town of Truchas. Another famous citizen is . Gorman the Multi talented Navajo artist from Chinle ariz., whose flowing images of Indian women in paint Slone and pottery have been successful artistically and commercially. Gorman is instantly recognizable if you happen to catch sight of him during your visit by the Bright headbands he wears ". Fans of British novelist . Lawrence who lived briefly Iri Taos in the Mld-1920s and wrote admiringly of in. Still come to make the pilgrimage to the . Lawrence ranch and shrine North of town where his ashes Are kept in the 1920s Mabel Lodge Luhan an author and socialite who married a Pueblo Indian set out to establish Taos As America s spiritual Eden based on the Pueblo religion. It was Sha who brought Lawrence his wife Frieda and others such As o Recife arid novelist Willa gather to Taos. Today her Beautiful Spanish colonial Home Las Palomas de 1 Taos is both an educational Center and a bed and breakfast inn -.-. Vav  --7.v. Tourism of course is big business in Taos How else could so galleries and several Hundred artists survive and summer crowds sometimes overwhelm the narrow streets and rough pebbled. Pathways. But the town has managed to hang on Toan authentic Frontier flavor reflecting us multiple. Heritage it has been an ancient Pueblo Village a Spanish colonial outpost dating Back to 1615 and Headquarters in the mid-1 Boos for the famous cavalry scout and Mou Leinman. Kit Carson. The House Carson Bough for his wife in 1843 is a museum today and he and his wife Are buried in tags in kit Carson slate Park. Despite the crowds Taos still looks very much Liko a Frontier town. The one and two Story structures lining the sides of tags Plaza now two centuries old Are a southwestern blend of two styles the red mud Adobe of the indians and Spanish and the territorial style introduced by american Sellers after the United slates won Mew Mexico in the mexican warofl846.-. The americans added overhanging balconies supported by slender columns to the Iron of the thick waited Adobe buildings. Just off the Plaza Many of the Side streets Are gravel or dirt and deeply rutted much As they must have been during kit Carson s Day. Dust settling heavily on everything adds to the. Worn look. -. The town s rugged Selling similarly enhances the image. Tags rests on a High arid plateau Al 6,950 Lee. To the immediate West is the Valley of the Rio Grande which has carved an impressive Gorge 650 feet deep in the otherwise table Flat landscape of sheep and cattle country. More than a dozen Indian Pueblos dating Back Well before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistador is in the 16th Century Dot the Valley within a half Day s drive to tha East Rise the High Pine and Pinon draped Sangre de Cristo mountains the Southern Range of the Rockies. The Spanish named them blood of Christ because he setting Sun bathes them in vivid red. -. Uke the landscape the Best an of Taos has a boldness to it and often a harshness. They Are not pretty pictures or romantic As Taos in t pretty or romantic. Life can be hard As Nichols illustrates in the Milagro Beanfield War. He makes his Home in Taw a Days because it is part of a Region where he poverty and hardships of Many of the people duplicate the kind of life most of the world s population leads today. Ii is a reminder of realities in what might otherwise be a very unreal town. A of this provides intriguing themes for a visitor to explore the Art the architecture Mountain trails. Desert spaces the overlapping history of three conflicting cultures. No wonder a recent Toad Story in the weekly Taos news reported an invasion of the  Yor pies warned the news Are Youngish retired professionals or potentially retired professionals who Are buying up real estate for retirement Homes. They too have seen Taos and want Oslay. House prices Are climbing and Taos is changing. And Many in the Community tear it will some Day become another Santa be just Over an hour s drive South. No Ottense to Santa be the state capital la too is an inviting Art Colony with a historic Adobe Plaza and splendid Mountain views. Bui its population is 10 limes that of Taos of More so the Small town Flavoris gone. ,. A. ,. Monday november 14, 1968 the stars and stripes