As stated in the introduction to this exhibit, there just aren’t the words to describe the magnitude of time and light that is the Grand Canyon. It’s an ever changing landscape. Shadow angles adjust to the sun as it moves across the sky, storm clouds multiply dimensions, dust and smoke cast a haze that softens the jagged edges of the temples and thrones in the distance. In that context, it is the artist’s task to interpret and capture the mood, the scale, and the texture of the Canyon – an enviable task!
Grand Canyon of the Colorado - 1920
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Credit: Artist: Thomas Moran Grand Canyon National Park Museum
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
Thomas Moran was influenced by his experience in the Hudson River School as was another famous painter of the late-19th century West, Albert Bierstadt. Moran’s paintings are difficult to re-photograph because he had no interest in painting a realistic version of what he saw in nature. “I place no value upon literal transcripts from Nature … All my tendencies are toward idealization … Topography in art is valueless.” His Chasm of the Colorado from 1874 brought together photos and memories from multiple locations within the Canyon, representing it more as a tightly packed chasm than as the vast canyon with sweeping vistas that we see today.
Grand Canyon from Hopi Point - c. 1926
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Credit: Artist: Gunnar Widforss Thanks to Alan Petersen, Richard Rogers Collection, Gunnar Widforss Catalogue Raisonne Project
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Museum of Northern Arizona Fine Art Curator Alan Petersen wrote, “Gunnar Widforss may be the Grand Canyon painter par excellence … unlike most other artists working at the Grand Canyon, he painted many scenes from within the depths of the canyon.”Widforss lived and painted in the Canyon for a number of years but in 1934, a doctor warned him that he had a serious heart condition and urged him to move from the Grand Canyon to a lower elevation. He returned to the Canyon to retrieve his belongings and say goodbye to friends. Sadly while driving from the El Tovar Hotel to the Bright Angel Lodge, he had a heart attack and died at age 55.
Glen Canyon Dam - 1969
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Credit: Artist: Norman Rockwell Artwork approved by the Rockwell Family Agency
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Norman Rockwell, the American painter featured on over 400 covers of The Saturday Evening Post. In 1969, he was invited by the Bureau of Reclamation to paint the Glen Canyon Dam for display in the dam’s visitor center. Claiming “I am a people person, not a landscape painter,” a local Navajo family was invited to be in the painting.When the dam was completed in 1963, it flooded numerous Navajo cultural sites of significance, including the confluence of the San Juan and Colorado Rivers, considered the “birthplace of moisture”. Ironically, the dam threatened the Navajo Nation’s access to water that was guaranteed by an 1868 treaty that established a Federal trust responsibility to protect water rights for the tribe. Those rights were verified by the Supreme Court in 1908 in Winters v. U.S. Government, and affirmed again in 2021 by the Ninth District Court of Appeals. However, the Ninth District’s decision was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in March, 2023, claiming that the Federal Government is not obligated to assure tribal access to water.
Fresh Snow on Yaki Point - 2013
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Credit: Artist: Amery Bohling Courtesy of the Artist
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Amery Bohling grew up in Phoenix, earned her BFA at the University of Arizona, and studied “en plein air” at the Marchutz School of Art in Aix-en-Provence, France. She is captivated by the Grand Canyon’s “vastness, complexity, and transcendent light.”Of Fresh Snow at Yaki Point, she writes, “The sky was constantly changing, sometimes completely gray and socked in, sometimes partly cloudy, with the occasional ray of light passing through the clouds. I had to rely on my memory of the view because the best stuff — the light on the cliffs — the moving clouds —- my sense of wonder is visually fleeting. The other trick is catching the light before the sun goes down and both the paint and your fingers begin to freeze.”
Homage to Grafe at Sunset - 2019
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Credit: Artist: Bruce Gomez Courtesy of the Artist
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Bruce Gomez, a pastel artist from Denver, Colorado, has participated in Grand Canyon Celebration of Art multiple times, often as the only pastel artist. “I go out and look to capture that one unique and spectacular moment of life,” he says.
A Chasm of Sublime - Plateau Point - 2019
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Credit: Artist: Curt Walters Courtesy of the Artist
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
A native of New Mexico and currently residing in Sedona, Arizona, close to his beloved Grand Canyon, Curt Walters describes Chasm Sublime: Plateau Point: “Dark-blue rocks, darkened with desert varnish and lichens, lay in the foreground before the warm, glowing walls of Vishnu Schist. The Colorado is muddy but bold and raging. Monsoon clouds move in, threatening the Tower of Set and Dana Butte with showers.”Of Plateau Point, he writes, “I think it is without question the most marvelous, spectacular overlook of all the vistas.”
The Perfect Storm - 2020
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Credit: Artist: Michelle Condrat Courtesy of the artist
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Salt Lake City artist Michelle Condrat paints in what some call a “digital” or “architectural” style due to the layering of her linear and blended paint strokes. “The Perfect Storm” won the Best of Show award in the 2021 Grand Canyon Celebration of Art.Painting the Canyon is a matter of “beauty and honor” for Condrat. “It’s the layers of rock that fade into the distance, the clouds that roll above the canyon giving drama to the sky, and the trees and vegetation that are symbols of hope and life.” She is honored to paint the Canyon, “using my art as a tool to show people how special and sacred it is … I want to remind people how important it is to preserve and protect places like the Grand Canyon.”
Molten Sky Moran Point - 2022
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Credit: Artist: Buffalo Kaplinski Courtesy of the Artist
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Buffalo Kaplinski is a plein air watercolorist who is known for his vibrant color choices. He works mostly in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
Edge of a Shadow - 2023
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Credit: Artist: Dawn Sutherland Courtesy of the Artist
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
Dawn Sutherland, when not painting, can be found playing in the dirt in her gardens, exploring hiking trails, or singing with the Master Chorale of Flagstaff. She is founding member of Arizona Plein Air Painters. "Painting outdoors uniquely captures the depth, definition, and feeling of the landscape before me. I feel there is almost always a near-perfect composition provided by nature. Sometimes a scene calls out loudly to be painted; sometimes I hear only a whisper. These are the images that find their way to my heart and my canvas."
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