Parsons Gallery of the West | August 1-31, 2025 | Taos, NM

Summer in the West

By Chelsea Koressel

For the month of August, Parsons Gallery of the West in Taos, New Mexico, hosts the annual Big Summer Show,bringing Western art lovers fresh works from artists based in Taos and the vicinity. “It’s a great chance to catch up with our artists and community, while enjoying great art,” says Ashley Rolshoven, gallery co-owner and director. “This event is much anticipated by many of our collectors, with some guests traveling from as far away as New England.”

Amery Bohling, In the Shadows Lies the Blues, oil on linen, 30 x 40 in.

The summer celebration kicks off August 1, with an opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Many artists will be in attendance, with the roster including the likes of Amery Bohling, Nicholas Coleman, Chloé Marie, Ron Rencher, Dan Stovall, Richard Alan Nichols, John Moyers, Nathanael Volckening, Scott Yeager, Jerry Jordan, Drew Macias and many others.

Bohling, best known for her Grand Canyon paintings, offers the striking In the Shadows Lies the Blues. “This piece is about contrast—not just in light and shadow, but in feeling,” the artist explains. The title refers to the literal blue tones that collect in canyon shadows and to the quieter, more introspective side of being in such a vast space. I was drawn to these particular formations because of their strong geometry—the way the light breaks across the planes like a spotlight on stage, revealing texture, then falling away into mystery.”

Drew Macias, Smokey Solitude, oil on board, 14 x 11 in.

As for her process, Bohling shares that light is always the starting point, “how it moves across the canyon walls, how it divides space and how it can shift the emotional tone of a landscape,” she says. “I’m interested in precision but also in mood. It’s about capturing what it felt like to stand there, not just what it looked like.”

For artist Jerry Jordan, it’s all about color, and he savors the Taos region continuously as his main subject. “I’m always exploring different color combinations for [my] education,” says Jordan, “and color is my main interest. The subject matter is just the images I use to explore color theories.”

Ron Rencher, The Red Rock Remuda, oil on linen, 16 x 16 in.

For his painting Time Does Not Return What It Takes Away, set for display at the Parsons showcase, Jordan relies on the local landscape with the beloved Taos mountains as backdrop for the two young figures depicted on horseback. “I [created] them with an aura of light falling around them to illustrate their significance to creation,” he says. “Now 81 years old, I’m quite aware how time slips away—thus the title.”

Dan Stovall, The Breakout, oil on linen, 22 x 40 in.

Known as the “guy who does the smokin’ cowboys,” Drew Macias shares, “I [painted a smoking figure] on a whim a few years ago and it has become such a staple in my paintings. The smoke has such a personality and brings a whole different feel to the pieces. As for new things I am working on, I have been doing bigger pieces with cowboys on horses, so keep an eye out for those.”

Macias plans to include his smoking cowboy, Smokey Solitude,for the Parsons Gallery of the West show. It shows both his skill and playfulness. “This guy was in an old, random firefighter picture that I came across,” says Macias. “I used it as a loose reference, changing shapes and sizes to make it more of my own… As for the smoke, I kind of let it go where it goes. There are definitely times that I have a turn or a cross, and it won’t feel right, so even the smoke has to be placed in a certain shape to dance with the portrait just right.”