On Which It Rests

July 5 — August 30, 2024

Dean Porter Gallery, Lunder Research Center

Couse-Sharp Historic Site

On Which It Rests is an exhi­bi­tion and visu­al dia­logue intend­ed to fos­ter con­ver­sa­tion on the impor­tance of place with­in the artis­tic process. The exhi­bi­tion, a col­lab­o­ra­tive cura­to­r­i­al endeav­or between Taos Abstract Artist Col­lec­tive and the Couse-Sharp His­toric Site, will be held in the Dean Porter Gallery, Lun­der Research Cen­ter at Couse-Sharp His­toric Site from July 5th – August 30th, 2024, and fea­tures con­tem­po­rary abstract artists work­ing, or find­ing inspi­ra­tion, in Taos Val­ley. On Which It Rests deliv­ers a micro­cosm of con­cep­tu­al intro­spec­tion and pro­motes illus­tra­tive didac­tics sur­round­ing the ped­a­gogy of the artis­tic process.

A ful­crum is the place on which we, as artists, rest; the place where we set­tle into our prac­tice and begin to under­stand what we are doing. It is a tip­ping point, a bal­anc­ing point, a sup­port. It is a piv­otal space on and by which our work is and becomes. These spaces and/or places are those which we cen­ter this exhi­bi­tion in and with and for. A thing that adds up to that which we make, that which we are, on which we rest.

Select­ed works with­in this exhi­bi­tion rep­re­sent the his­tor­i­cal cre­ative thread con­nect­ing artists to those who have come before, paving the way for new and excit­ing intro­spec­tions and con­ver­sa­tion in this dynam­ic land­scape. The fol­low­ing artists are dri­ven by a deep cul­tur­al and artis­tic tra­di­tion and a vis­cer­al con­nec­tion to some­thing greater than self.

Curatorial Team

Davison Packard Koenig

Executive Director and Curator of Couse-Sharp Historic Site

Davi­son Packard Koenig’s back­ground as a muse­um con­sul­tant spe­cial­iz­ing in all aspects of exhi­bi­tion exe­cu­tion led him to spe­cial­ize in the art, cul­ture, and his­to­ry of the Amer­i­can South­west. Koenig has also served as Cura­tor of Exhibits for the Ari­zona State Muse­um at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona (the Southwest’s old­est and largest anthro­pol­o­gy muse­um) and as Gallery Direc­tor for Dada Fine Art in Tus­con. He has pro­duced over six­ty exhi­bi­tions, gain­ing exten­sive knowl­edge of the liv­ing cul­tures and artis­tic expres­sions that have shaped the South­west, specif­i­cal­ly Taos. Koenig holds an MFA in Muse­um Exhi­bi­tion Plan­ning and Design from the Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts in Philadel­phia and a BFA in Anthro­pol­o­gy of Art from Hobart Col­lege in Gene­va, NY.

Alexandra Terry

Curator of Contemporary Art at the New Mexico Museum of Art

Before the New Mex­i­co Muse­um of Art, Alexan­dra Ter­ry was Chief Cura­tor at the Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary Art San­ta Bar­bara (MCASB), where she orga­nized exhi­bi­tions by artists includ­ing Shana Moul­ton, Genevieve Gaig­nard, Bar­ry McGee, Simone For­ti, Paul Mpa­gi Sepuya, and Gabriela Ruiz to name a few. Ter­ry was also Cura­tor & Artis­tic Direc­tor at MOP Foun­da­tion, a Lon­don-based non­prof­it ded­i­cat­ed to con­tem­po­rary Iran­ian art. She has curat­ed exhi­bi­tions in the US, UK, and UAE and con­tributed inter­na­tion­al­ly to art pub­li­ca­tions. Ter­ry holds a BA in Art Prac­tice from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Col­orado, Boul­der, and an MFA in Curat­ing from Gold­smiths, Uni­ver­si­ty of Lon­don, UK.

Artists