Ila Mae McAfee (1897-1996)

Raised in the small community of Sargents in southwestern Colorado, Ila McAfee learnd the ranching life from an early age and was constantly surrounded by horses and the rugged landscape of the American west. She went on to study art in Los Angeles and then to New York, working as an illustrator and painter while attending classes at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League. McAfee settled in Taos in 1928 and became well-known for her pueblo paintings and depictions of horses and the surrounding landscape of northern New Mexico.