The Paseo Project and The Gallery @ Hotel Willa Presents
“The Drawing Show”
Guest Curated by Ann Landi
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 15, 2025, 4:00–7:00 p.m.
Exhibition Runs: November 15, 2025 – April 19, 2026
TAOS, NM— The Paseo Project and The Gallery @ Hotel Willa are pleased to present “The Drawing Show,” a guest-curated group exhibition by esteemed art critic and curator Ann Landi, featuring works by seven local artists working in the medium of drawing. This is the third exhibition of the year at the Gallery, and the first under an invited guest curator, bringing a fresh curatorial lens to the local art community.
In “The Drawing Show,” Ann Landi invites viewers to re-engage with the primal and elemental act of making an image by hand. By showcasing works done in charcoal, ink, monotype, pollen transfer, and solar/copper plates, the exhibition foregrounds drawing in its raw, unadorned state of mark-making. The seven artists are: Jane Ellen Burke, Michelle Cooke, Dora Dillistone, Melissa Kennelly, Susan Pasquarelli, Jan Marie Sessler, and Marsha Skinner.
As Landi writes in her statement:
“The seven artists in ‘The Drawing Show’ — who by sheer chance all happen to be women — demonstrate the still potent possibilities of making an image by hand, with no razzle-dazzle means or materials. … One, Dora Dillistone, makes drawings by allowing the wind to drive pollen across a prepared ground. Is it a drawing? Why not?”
She continues:
“You will find several artists … who pursue a completely abstract language. Others explore terrain both familiar and foreign. Susan Pasquarelli’s riffs on Pieter Brueghel the Elder conjure … a lost culture of Flemish peasants, while Melissa Kennelly’s visions in charcoal summon up natural phenomena like rainstorms and fjords. And Jane Ellen Burke and Jan Marie Sessler both use the process of drawing to create monoprints, unique impressions from a copper or solar plate.”
Ann Landi is an art critic, editor, and curator with a long career of writing about contemporary art and artists. A contributing editor to ARTnews for many years, she is also the founder and editor of Vasari21, an online platform dedicated to artists’ voices and professional dialogue. Landi has organized numerous exhibitions and has been an active presence in the Taos arts community since 2011. Her previous curatorial projects, including Taos Draws! (2022), have highlighted the region’s strong tradition of draftsmanship and its ongoing vitality in contemporary practice.
Exhibition & Reception Details
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 15, 2025, 4:00–7:00 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: November 15, 2025 – April 19, 2026
Gallery Hours: 1 - 6pm, Friday to Sunday. Or by Appointment.
Location: Gallery @ Hotel Willa, 233 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur, Taos, NM 87571
Admission: Free and open to the public
