Grand Canyon Celebration of Art: The Experience

The 10 days at the Grand Canyon Celebration of Art were rewarding! It was a dream to wake up every day to get up and paint one of the natural wonders! The Grand Canyon has a special place in my heart ever since backpacking there as a 13 year old and returning again and again to hike there, be inspired, and unwind. This is my second year participating in this premier art event at The Grand Canyon. Locations and potential compositions were rolling around in my mind for weeks before arriving! My family joined me on the weekends, and we set up camp at Mather Campground for the event in a cozy corner in the pines. The first morning was Saturday September 7th for a sunrise painting session near Pipe Creek Vista. We took bikes from the campground enjoying the cool morning and paved trails directly to the rim. I completed three paintings that morning! Later on, after lunch, we decided to head out to see what the clouds were doing to the views. It ended up raining hard, a monsoon rainstorm opened up for a thrilling spectacle! At first, I could shelter under the back hatch of our minivan, but soon the wind was blowing rain in all directions. I closed the hatch and tucked in the back to continue working. Later that day, we enjoyed a quiet sunset from Yaki Point. Each day was like this, waking up early to catch the first light at a new vantage point to paint and enjoy the solitude. One morning, I hiked about 1.5 miles down the South Kaibab Trail for new perspectives from below the rim. Another morning, I took the east drive out to Lipan Point for another angle of the Grand Canyon. After painting for 5 days, I had produced 19 paintings but chose not to frame 3 (ruled out as experiments). There were two paint-out’s scheduled at the end of the event: one starting mid-afternoon on Friday and the other a sunrise painting. These last two paintings were also framed and submitted for display at the Kolb Studio. The opening night was an amazing sight to see what all the artists produced for the week! Not all works could fit in the space, back up works were also on display downstairs and would travel upstairs as work sold. The exhibit remains on display until January 20, 2025 at Kolb Studio, which is near the Bright Angel Trailhead at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Visit the online store to see and purchase available works by following the link below:

Grand Canyon Gifts & Products | Grand Canyon Conservancy

Here is a slide show of photos from the week (click on thumbnails for full image). Enjoy!