Wesley Rusnell (1934-2023)
The RAiR Foundation sends sympathy to the family and friends of Wesley Rusnell (RAiR 1973-74), who served as Curator at the Roswell Museum for 30 years.
Link to obituary in the Taos News.
Please see remembrance below by Stephen Fleming, former RAiR Program Director.
Wesley Rusnell, 1934 - 2023.
Our dear friend and former RAiR artist, Wesley Rusnell recently took the final long journey. He leaves behind so many fond memories and lifelong friends.
It’s been a while since I last spoke with Wesley. When he moved up north we didn’t get to see one another much. I did see his beautiful watercolors occasionally. They were full of stunningly vivid hues. Color is all about an inborn talent. Like perfect pitch is for musicians. The rest of us just do what we can with it. Wesley had that talent and then some.
When I came out to Roswell in the mid-eighties, it was pretty sleepy. Apart from my fellow artists, the life of the mind wasn’t much in evidence. Then I had a studio visit with Wes. What a relief and surprise to find a fellow artist and scholar of such intelligent curiosity and lively conversation. Although Wes was never known to be in a hurry and was as tall as a tree, he was, as far as I could tell, an actual towering intellect among the local population. I’m sure I have never had a studio visit that lasted as long as it did with him. He could see around the obvious corners and take his observations to places beyond your expectations. He knew more about art and the history of this part of the world than anybody I have ever met. His gentle charm was matched only by his self-effacing modesty.
I delighted in hearing of his personal sojourn through art. He had lived among the Beats in San Francisco during its most memorable period, soaking up the Abstract Expressionist vibe. He had a brush with the Bay Area Figurative movement as well. He pioneered up in Taos without the benefit of running water and bore the chill of those cold winters.
He won a residency down here in the mid-seventies and proceeded to produce works that are still among the best examples of color painting in the AMoCA collection.
Wes then became a curator at the Roswell Museum. A position he held for 30 years. A windfall for the Roswell Museum, but I can only imagine what he might have produced otherwise. I’m fairly sure no one there at the time realized the range of his knowledge. Or the rapport he had with the artists passing through. There was a sage-like presence about him. He was a philosopher at heart, which was golden to its core. I salute his service to the arts and the passing of a genuine gentleman.
Stephen Fleming, Former Director, Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program