Sedona, AZ: The historic Kolb Studio, at the South Rim in Grand Canyon National Park, presents the new exhibit Canyon Magic: Landmark Art from the Picerne Collection. The Picerne Collection of Arizona Landmark Art showcases paintings of the state’s vistas created over the past one hundred years by scores of different artists. The collection has the dual objective of creating a historical archive of those artists who painted Arizona and fostering an increased appreciation for the state’s natural gifts. Focusing primarily, but not exclusively, on early 20th-century landscape paintings, the collection includes works by a wide range of artists with diverse styles and backgrounds—some famous, some lesser known.
It is only appropriate that one of the world’s greatest natural wonders be the focal point of the Picerne collection’s first major solo exhibition. Given the historical component to the featured works, it is fitting that Kolb Studio located at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, provides that venue.
Canyon Magic offers a visual experience of more than thirty artistic interpretations of the Grand Canyon, the great “Chasm of the Colorado.” Included here are paintings by artists from a number of schools and associations including the Taos Society, California impressionists, California watercolorists, the Desert Painters, Arizona women artists, and Santa Fe Railway artists. A variety of styles are represented including Realism, Tonalism, Expressionism, Impressionism, and Cubism.
As visitors will see, the painters were drawn to the canyon’s overwhelming beauty for a variety of reasons ranging from basic commercial considerations to responding to one of the ultimate artistic challenges. To some it was merely a stop en route to somewhere else. To others it was the primary reason for visiting the state. For several it was almost a second home, and for one it was home. Many created their most notable work while living in Arizona, while for others the canyon is the only known subject matter painted within the state’s boundaries. But regardless of background or purpose in visiting, every piece in Canyon Magic reflects the fascination this subject held for the painter and offers an inspired interpretation of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.
The public is invited to join the Kolb Studio for an opening reception.
Wednesday, April 7
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Kolb Studio, Grand Canyon National Park
The exhibit is from April 2 through June 20, 2010.
David Picerne is the President and CEO of Picerne Real Estate Group, a third-generation developer. Picerne was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. He moved to Arizona in 1980 with his wife Doreen to take the company out west. David took over as President and CEO of Picerne Real Group in 1999. He and his wife have four children and are currently living in Phoenix. When not working, he enjoys spending time with his family, windsurfing, skiing, playing the saxophone, and collecting historic Southwestern art.
Gary Fillmore is an art appraiser, dealer, collector and independent scholar. He has been the owner and operator of the Blue Coyote Gallery in Cave Creek, Arizona since 2002, specializing in regional twentieth century and Native American art. In addition to being a regular contributor to Askart.com, Gary is the author of All Aboard! The Life and Work of Marjorie Reed, Desert Horizons-Images of James Swinnerton’s Southwest, and is currently working on The Artists of Kayenta (scheduled for publication in late 2010). He lives with his wife Barbara in Cave Creek.
David Picerne and Gary Fillmore combined forces in 2005 to begin piecing together a premier collection of Arizona landmark art. Both believe the state of Arizona is blessed with some of the most recognizable and beautiful landscapes in North America. For over one hundred years, this feature has attracted artists from around the globe from a wide variety of schools, influences, and backgrounds. In 2008 they founded the Arizona Centennial Landmark Art Collection, a 501-c3 whose mission is to educate the public about Arizona’s artistic heritage and promote the state’s natural scenic beauty.
For more information: http://azlandmarkart.org/index.htm
Exhibits at Kolb Studio are sponsored by the Grand Canyon Association and Grand Canyon National Park. For more information on this exhibit and the Grand Canyon Association and its programs, please visit the website www.grandcanyon.org.
Image: Grand Canyon, Gunnar Widforss, Watercolor on paper, 1924
Article courtesy of Helen Ranney.
Posted March 8, 2010.
