Twenty four artists from around the U.S. were invited to participate. Everyone worked from dawn to dusk (and even at night) for five days straight, to interpret and paint the canyon lands, from above and below, in what can only be described as frenetic energy, producing well over 300 original works for exhibit and sale Friday, Nov. 8th at the Zion Nature Center. Mediums were oil, water color, acrylic and pastel, which I used for this painting. Art collectors who attended the opening reception numbered in the hundreds and set a park record for sales this year (well over $160,000) that benefit Zion’s Youth Education program each year.
When awards were announced during the opening, I was pleased to learn that my painting was given the Superintendent of Zion National Park Purchase and Cash Award and will be put into the permanent art collection at Zion National Park.
It will hang in perpetuity among others that date back to iconic artist Thomas Moran, whose sketches of the park in the 1880’s became large paintings, influencing President Wm. Howard Taft to declare Zion a national park, to Maynard Dixon and many others who have been given permanent collection status here.