Tally Richards, whose Gallery of Contemporary Art at the corner of Ledoux Street and Camino de la Placita was a center of New Mexico's art world for years, has died in Palm Springs, Calif., at the age of 80, according to The Taos News.

Richards died last week, but further details weren't immediately available, the News reported.

Richards represented such renowned artists as Harold Joe Waldrum, Fritz Scholder, Larry Bell, Earl Linderman, Bill Gersh and Lawrence Calcagno, and she had connections with collectors and celebrities on the east and west coasts, making her a mover and shaker in the wider art world, the News said.

She closed her gallery about two years ago to move to Palm Springs, the paper reported.

"Now as an old lady who spent 21 years, seven days a week, open to the public, and who now lives alone with her cat, my sympathy is with those left behind in an insane world," Richards wrote in 2005 when her friend Fritz Scholder died. "Much as I feel the loss, I no longer cry when old friends die -- especially if they exceeded their expectations in life and surely Fritz did."

One of her close friends, Stuart Hardy, told the News of Richards: "Tally brough something to all of our lives. She believed in her principles and was willing to live by them ... "She was fun and often dangerous to muse with during the after hours. She was not afraid of controversy and liked to `poke her stick' while fact-finding her truths. What a great spirit!"

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