Northern Arizona’s Red Rock Country is a dazzling, ever-changing display of color, light and shadow that attracts people from all over the world. Located in the heart of it, Mountain Trails Gallery of Sedona celebrates the element of color, so prevalent in the Southwest, by shining a light on their finest artists.
Linda Glover Gooch, Journey into Sunset, oil, 20 x 24”
“We are delighted to present this special exhibition which focuses on the element of color in the work of our painters and our sculptors,” says gallery director Julie R. Williams. “Several of our artists create work that is bold in technique with complex brushwork and dramatic color, and we have artists who specialize in the mastery of nuance using a spectrum of subtle color and methods. This exhibition brings together a spectacular variety of styles, subjects, and interests for our collectors.”
Color Up: Highlights of the Spectrum also reveals where and how the featured artists find joy and pleasure in their daily lives, the subjects and sights that fascinate them, and those that give them pause.
Several of the gallery’s artists will hike to the perfect spot to catch the spilling light of early dawn or brave the elements to capture the gathering intensity of a coming storm.
Susie Hyer, The Morning Show, oil, 40 x 30”
For Linda Glover Gooch, the richness of oil paint lends itself to depicting dramatic sunsets, as seen in her show piece Journey into Sunset. “Drama and life are what this piece is all about,” Gooch says. “As the sun was setting it sent the most beautiful pink-orange across the sky that vibrated against the distant blue violets of the mountains. The entire surrounding took on such a warm pink glow, I knew it would need to be a painting. I loved how the later it got, the more intense the colors became. When the city lights began to sparkle, well, I fell in love. It truly was a ‘journey into sunset’.”
Cody, Wyoming, painter Jim Hagstrom also draws heavily from the beauty of the natural world. His Native American-themed works, like Grounded, pictured here, are especially saturated with bold color in recognition of the significance of color and art in Indigenous cultures.
Jim Hagstrom, Grounded, oil, 24 x 24”
Rather than choosing traditional colors, Hagstrom selects colors based on the emotion they convey. “For Grounded, the color red is the color of the earth element and the mountains,” he says. “While some tribes have different meanings for colors, for many the color red is often linked with strength, earth, spiritual life and sometimes war. In this case, I hope that you see that this painting represents the first three.”
Jeremy Bradshaw, Red’s Reach (detail), bronze, ed. of 25, 9 x 45 x 14”
Susie Hyer took a different approach to her treatment of color for The Morning Show, allowing the canyon wall in the foreground to glow in all its neon glory rather than tamper it down with grays. “What inspired that work and most all the work I do in Grand Canyon is, of course, those temples and buttes lit by the infrared light of late afternoon or early morning,” Hyer says. “They just glow red and orange in a magical way that you don’t see in a lot of places except in Red Rock Country. Whether you are an artist or not, you can’t help but be in awe of that spectacle at the sunset hours—as well as that big crack in the earth.”
An opening reception for Color Up will be held at Mountain Trails Gallery on April 7 from 4 to 7 p.m. —
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