A memorial for esteemed Taos art gallery owner Tally Richards is planned Saturday afternoon (Aug. 9) at the Harwood Museum of Art, 238 Ledoux St. The public event, which is from 3-5 p.m., will be a celebration of Richards’ life and is planned to include music, readings from her memoir and friends who will speak about her life and times, according to her brother, Wade Stackhouse.
Richards died April 29 in Palm Springs, Calif., of complications stemming from lung cancer. Her Gallery of Contemporary Art, located at the corner of Ledoux St. and Camino de la Placita, was thought of as the hub of modern art in Taos for more than 20 years.
Born Barbara Anne Stackhouse March 11, 1938 in Atlanta, Ga., Tally was a young woman so beautiful it was inevitable that she’d end up under the spotlight, her brother said. In fact, he said, it was after several modeling jobs that she decided to legally change her name to the more glamorous sounding “Tally Richards."
Amid the busy-ness of her early life, she also quietly developed her writing talent. Stackhouse said she was “quite a poet.” Around the late 1960s, she wound up becoming fascinated by the artists in this burgeoning community.
“I moved to Taos from New York City Jan. 20, 1969 and decided to open a gallery of modern art even though everyone said it couldn’t possibly survive in the market for Western and traditional painting,” she once said. “When I was looking for artists, my appreciation goes to (R.C.) Gorman who mentioned Fritz (Scholder) as someone whose work he liked. Artist Gene Dobos, was with me in Santa Fe when we saw the bronze ‘Fritz Scholder’ sign on the wall of his adobe house. We decided to knock on the door. Fritz was there, and since I had just seen my favorite painter (Francis) Bacon’s show at Marlboro in New York I was just as excited by Fritz’ work.”
She represented such renowned artists as H. Joe Waldrum, Fritz Scholder, Larry Bell, Earl Linderman, and Lawrence Calcagno. Noted for her exciting and interesting parties and receptions, she designed many of them to be tied to the works on display and the artists who attended.
Richards had moved to Palm Springs a couple of years ago after she closed her Taos venue. She chose to have her remains cremated at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Palm Springs.
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