The Painted Desert: Artists of the Great Basin
renotahoevisitor.com
Paris. New York. Rome. All well-known big cities chock full of artists waiting for inspiration to strike. But there are a handful of artists who have eschewed the noise and clamor of the city and found their muse in the sagebrush covered valleys and dusty peaks of the northern Nevada desert. Here are a few of them.
Bill Bliss is a Nevada native known for his watercolors of northern Nevada’s rapidly vanishing historic buildings. His exquisite works represent his family’s extraordinary connection to the region.
Bryan Christiansen hunts the Great Basin for abandoned couches, armchairs, tables, mattresses and bed frames. for his unique re-creations and deconstructions. Bryan’s sculptures, which he refers to as “trophies” are exquisitely crafted, featuring hand stitchery.
Larry Williamson scours the desert around his studio in Virginia City for the aged wood he uses in his enigmatic and fantastic sculptures. An Idaho native, Larry has spent his entire life in the Great Basin and High Sierra, and his work has been inspired by their rough terrain and the solitude he finds in the outdoors. “It is in this solitude that I hope to find a little mojo to put into my work.”
Craig Mitchell is a nevada resident of almost thirty years, finding inspiration in the beauty of the Sierra, the Nevada Desert and California’s coast and valleys. Craig takes extended trips into remote wilderness areas of the West where he is able to paint nature’s true beauty and he finds his view of the earth is unfiltered. “My personal goal…is to capture a transient moment in time and place that eludes us in a busy world.”
Sharon Maczko is a master watercolor artist who depicts still-life interior scenes inspired from her journey as a child through an abandoned mansion. Her work entices the viewer to invent their own narrative. “It’s strange how a seemingly insignificant experience as a youngster made such a lasting impression on me that if affected the way I create.”
Phyllis Shafer is known for her breathtaking oil landscape paintings. She strives to portray a transcendental essence that lies at the heart of all nature and objects. “Nature, in its various manifestations, has always provided the raw material for my artistic investigations.”
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