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.