Plein Air
on the Rim
Artists participated in a competition and quick draw on the South Rim.
Each artist submit one studio piece for the Grand Canyon Celebration of Art which will be exhibited and available for sale at Kolb Studio from September 17 to November 27, 2011 or you may contact Katy Locke for additional information: (928) 863-3894 or klocke@grandcanyon.org |
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2012 Plein Air on the Rim
Call for Entry
for the 4th Annual Celebration of Art
Call for Entry - Information
Call for Entry - Application
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Sponsors of the 2011 Event
Major support for the event is provided by our sponsors. We thank them for their generous contributions.
Brahma Sponsors:
Arizona Public Service
The Gumbo Foundation
Xanterra Parks & Resorts
Isis Sponsors:
Jack Dudley Memorial Fund
Juno Sponsors:
Arizona Biltmore, a Waldorf Astoria Hotel
Loven Contracting, Inc.
The Picerne Fine Art Collection, courtesy of Doreen, David and Danielle Picerne
Anonymous
Sponsor:
Zuckerman Family Foundation |
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2011 Grand Canyon Celebration of Art
Studio Work on Display at Kolb Studio
(listed alphabetically by artists last name)
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Joshua Been
"The oil paintings I create are one-of-a-kind pages in the visual journal of my life. By design, my paintings are best viewed from a little distance, while the brushwork and palette knife together create a textural variety that entices a closer look. It is the elegant randomness of form and light with which I dance." |
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Shonto Begay
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Elizabeth Black
"The Grand Canyon is of special interest to me; it is my spirit guide. It has taught me to paint and to row big water in its depths. It introduced me to my husband and many lifelong friends. Over the years, the canyon has revealed great beauty and showed me how to endure and to see. It has taught me how to live lightly on the earth and to hold up half the sky." |
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G. Russell Case
"The Grand Canyon, with its dramatic shadows and shapes, has drawn me for many years. Its appearance is always deep and endless, demanding my thoughts and gaze. When I stand on its rim, I am reminded of how tiny I am in the grand scheme of things." |
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John D. Cogan
"Painting is storytelling without words. As an artist painting the Grand Canyon, my story begins with the fleeting beauty of God’s creation and my attempt to capture it on canvas. . . . Like any storyteller, I must capture the audience’s attention and then hold it while the story unfolds through the composition—which, as a painter, I tell through the values and hues I employ." |
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Bill Cramer
“Any landscape worth painting is more than the obvious visual elements. The push of an evening breeze, the feel of sun-baked sandstone, the scent of sagebrush, or the sound of a raven suddenly overhead are examples of the many unseen elements that inform my work. I’m satisfied when a painting is as rich as the landscape that inspired it.” |
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Robert Dalegowski
“This painting was in process in various sizes and designs for nearly thirty
years. I created the original sketch and photo series at Hance Rapid in
1982, followed by a series of paintings from large to small, all discarded
into a pile. These led to more sketches and finally the studio painting. The
bats are western pipistrelles. The Grand Canyon Supergroup rock layers
rise out of the gorge, showing the sedimentation layers as tilted relative
to the more recent geology of Grand Canyon. Looming on the horizon is
Escalante Butte, glowing in the evening twilight, and then the reflections
that extend the light into poetry.” |
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Cody DeLong
"Inspiration for Clear Day on the Colorado came from one of my annual
rafting trips through the canyon. For the past few years, I’ve had the
opportunity to lead weeklong river trips for artists. . . . It’s an amazing
world down on the river: the canyon is especially inspiring from that
vantage point. This painting portrays a place we stopped for lunch
one day. The sun was high overhead, and the light poured in, making
everything sparkle. I snapped a few great photos and painted this
immediately upon returning home, with the trip fresh in my mind." |
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Linda Glover Gooch
"The inspiration for Light on the Ledges –– Moran Point came from a trip
during a series of storms passing through the canyon. Mother Nature
delivered several days of spectacular episodes of clouds and rain,
followed by light dancing across the canyon. They were storms that sent
me running for cover, scenes that made me gaze in awe — that keep me
coming back for more of this canyon’s beauty. With each trip I find myself
anxious to arrive and slow to leave." |
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David Haskell
“To me, the Grand Canyon is the most inspirational, peaceful and sublime
landscape in North America. I have been painting the canyon from river
to rim for more than ten years and never tire of the endless variety of
compositions, lighting and moods that continually challenge the artist’s
skill. From the thundering rapids of the Inner Gorge to the utter silence of
midday on a remote edge of the rim, the Grand Canyon never disappoints
me. This is a sacred place.” |
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Gregory Hull
“It was a September day near the Desert View Watchtower; the summer
moisture had turned the plateau green, and the rabbitbrush was in
full glory. The Grand Canyon reminds me of my fragile existence and
the great age of the earth. The challenge for me is to convey the vast
landscape and atmosphere on a small rectangle of canvas.” |
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Wm. Scott Jennings
“The canyon is at its most mystical in the early morning—quietly waking
with those willing to make the effort and join it.”
In the frosty morn
Colors glow on ancient walls
Another rebirth” |
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Michael Chesley Johnson
“The Grand Canyon is awesome, but for a painter, it can be intimidating.
The first time I painted there, it was almost as if I had forgotten everything
I knew about painting. But the canyon, like all of nature for me, weaves a
spell of serenity and calm. Once I settle into my painting, it only takes a
moment for the canyon’s magic to work. When that happens, everything
I know about painting suddenly comes back to me. Then the canyon and
I work together as partners.” |
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Raleigh Kinney
“Either traveling by raft or scouting the rim to paint, I find myself likening
the emotional experience of exploring the Grand Canyon to the spiritual
lift of entering a great cathedral, not wanting to speak for fear of breaking
its sacred silence. It’s the sheer spectacle and challenge of interpreting the
Grand Canyon with its constantly changing light that makes it one of the
top painting experiences of my life as an artist.” |
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Susan J. Klein
“I am an American landscape painter. Recording and making memorable
images of the landscape is what I do. It is important and traditional work.
My deep love of and respect for place are reflected in my ongoing body
of work. By keeping a fresh eye and using an experienced approach, I
discover and select images from the landscape that engender strong
feelings of awe and wonder, surprise and recognition.”
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Paul Kratter
“The strong graphic elements from Moran Point were the inspiration for
this painting. The large, overlapping formations in the foreground help
lead your eye through the piece. The softer, muted, distant forms add
depth and atmosphere to enhance the drama.” |
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Merrill Mahaffey
“I observe the canyon from river level. The poetic rhythm of the upstream
section, Marble Canyon, has taught me the rules of structure by erosion.
At Nankoweap, thousands of feet of layers can be seen. Those forms are
the harmonics of erosion. Below that point, one journeys into deeper
levels of time . . . before organic life-forms existed. In recent years, this is
where my painter’s mind has been concentrated. I use the study of light as
my method of revealing the details.” |
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Joella Jean Mahoney
“I came to Arizona to paint in 1951. This landscape of seemingly endless
space, color and sculpted canyons became the major subject matter for
my lifetime of art-making. I experienced a landscape that nourished me
with a heightened sense of being alive.
“With my painting, I hope to share with the viewer my response of awe
and wonder at this matchless landscape. I intend my paintings to honor
the earth, in particular, the Colorado Plateau.” |
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David W. Mayer
“My landscapes are all about the dramatic shapes, values, colors and
light found in the American West. . . . Many of my paintings might best be
described by the Italian term chiaroscuro, meaning with strong contrasts
between light and dark, and usually bold contrasts affecting a whole
composition. I work very hard to have clean colors and fresh, decisive
brushwork and not overwork a passage or painting.”
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P. A. Nisbet
“Along the river corridor [in the Grand Canyon], light plays its myriad
games in changing weather. The painting is a classic composition of the
downriver view near President Harding Rapid. After four days of rain on
a wet and cold February trip, the clouds parted and let the sun in for the
first time, revealing color-saturated walls and upper terraces graced with
new snow. It was a somber yet heartening scene with the promise of
warmer days to come.” |
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Michael Obermeyer
“Being a pilot, I’ve always had a great interest in flying, and once had the
opportunity to fly inside the Grand Canyon. Last year I tried to re-create
that somewhat by painting, en plein air, an airplane flying over the canyon.
The aircraft I sought to paint was this vintage Ford Tri-Motor, still owned
by Grand Canyon Airlines. After seeing the plane, I painted this timeless
scene as she banks low over the South Rim in the late afternoon light.” |
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Ron Rencher
“Toroweap is located at Tuweep, a remote section of Grand Canyon’s
North Rim. The painting shows Big Point, which seems to stand guard
over the canyon below, as the Colorado River courses its way through the
Redwall Limestone and the other geologic layers. . . . I have only been on
two painting trips to Toroweap, but I no doubt will be lured back by its
seductive beauty.”
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Dave Santillanes
“Capturing the essence of a landscape involves a realistic rendering
of color, light and atmosphere. This requires direct observation and
is why most of my paintings begin in the field with a plein air study.
But observing the physical aspects of nature isn’t the only reason I
paint outdoors; for me, the sensory experience of being there is just as
important. What better way to get to know a place intimately than to sit
for a couple of hours and contemplate it while painting?” |
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Serena Supplee
“While visiting Phantom Ranch I walk up, up the Clear Creek Trail to an
overlook. The turquoise ribbon of river whispers sweetness flowing below
me. I follow it through the canyon, expanding across the Tonto Platform.
I am opening to a full Grand Canyon panorama, which is always awe
inspiring—awe that keeps me alive.” |
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Williamson Tapia
“When we see the Grand Canyon from the Rim Trail, it is presented in
a wide format . . . and so I often find that my definitive plein air studies
begin to take on an increasingly panoramic dimension. Of course, the full
impact of the canyon is an assault upon all the senses at once, and it is
that dimension that makes an indelible mark upon the human psyche that
is not easily forgotten . . . even in one’s lifetime.” |
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Linda Tippetts
“I traveled to Grand Canyon in February of this year to paint some plein
air pieces. To my great delight, on the first early morning there was fresh
snow on the rim. I watched as the sun rose and hit the North Rim, leaving
the mystery of the canyon in shadows. The scene was crowned with
wispy, drifting clouds rimmed with pink light. . . . I painted other works
from that trip, but the subtle awakening of the canyon kept drawing me to
paint First Light – February.” |
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Curt Walters
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Mark Webber
“No matter how skillfully and beautifully I or any of us render [the
Grand Canyon’s] wonders, we always come up woefully short. Words,
photographs and art all fail to project the frightening scale and majesty
of this corner of God’s creation. We are left to hint and pick at the edges.
Hopefully, our best efforts serve as an invitation for people to come stand
on the rim, awed, humbled and tingling with excitement to start exploring
the canyon.”
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Rick Wheeler
“My interest in drawing led me to the medium of scratchboard several
years ago. Once I learned the scratchboard surface is also suitable
for painting, I was hooked. As a result, I have used scratchboard in
combination with water-based media such as watercolor, inks and acrylics,
as well as traditional oil paint. It’s experimenting with the mixing of these
media and being able to combine drawing with painting that appeal to
me most.” |
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Jim Wodark
“I wish for my paintings to be an expression of what I see as beautiful and
inspiring. I also want to create great paintings that make a difference in
people’s lives. These are the reasons that I enjoy entering painting events.
I love to compete, and it also is a gauge of the impact my art is making.
Every day I look forward to what I will paint next.”
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