Couse-Sharp Historic Site
The national treasure that is Couse-Sharp Historic Site encompasses a 2.5-acre campus featuring the homes, studios, and gardens of E. I. Couse and J. H. Sharp, two of the founders of the Taos Society of Artists (TSA). Formed in 1915 with the mission to create a uniquely American art and promote the native art of the region, the TSA focused on the vibrant Nuevomexicano cultures set in the dramatic landscape of the Taos valley.
Through the art and history of Taos, we seek to transform our shared understanding of the American story. Through its archives, collections, and programming, CSHS preserves and interprets Taos’ crossroads of cultures, promoting and facilitating research, education, and new perspectives on the Taos Society of Artists, early artists of Taos, and regional and Indigenous communities in relation to the greater story of the multicultural American West.
The Couse Foundation
The Couse Foundation was established in 2001 to preserve the treasure the Site represents. Our purpose has since expanded: Initiatives include interpretive tours and open houses, exhibitions, fellowships and internships, lectures and panels, symposia, publications, demonstrations, Taos Pueblo Day School education program, and cataloguing, preserving, digitizing, and making publicly available a wide array of materials. Because of its authenticity and relevance, CSHS has become an international destination.
Image Makers for America: In Pursuit of a National Identity hangs in the The Lunder Research Center, a museum facility that incorporates the remnants of Sharp’s home and includes archival and collections processing and storage, a research library, and curatorial and administrative space.
Our future
We envision residencies for scholars and artists, expanded K–12 education programs, major and traveling exhibitions, additional books and videos, preservation projects, and collaborations with scholars, artists, museums, gallerists, collectors, community members, and other stakeholders.
CSHS is conducting an endowment campaign, including a Legacy Society and Estate Art Program, to help sustain our vision for the future. Come pay us a visit in Taos and see for yourself what makes the Couse-Sharp Historic Site so special, and why the shared vision of the Taos Society of Artists remains relevant today.
For information on non-cash ways to give, please visit our website
