In the two decades since she moved to the United States from London, Jill Carver spent plenty of time painting at national parks like Canyonlands, Arches and Moab—but the Grand Canyon eluded her. “Eventually, I found myself thinking, ‘I’ve been here for 20 years, and I think it’s time to paint the Grand Canyon,’” she says.
Where Land Meets Sky, oil on board, 16 x 16 in.
She knew that to begin to truly understand the Grand Canyon, she needed to commit herself wholeheartedly to the endeavor, and she set aside 10 days in August of 2022 to immerse herself in the environment.
“It ended up being an extraordinary summer and the monsoon season returned with full energy to the Four Corners region after a bit of a drought,” she says. “I was out there during the monsoons, and it was absolutely magical watching storms roll through every day.”
When she returned from the trip, Carver realized she had a lifetime of paintings to work through, and they will be the subject of an upcoming exhibition at Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Land of Song: Grand Canyon Variations,opening April 5.
Grand Canyon Squall, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 in.
The first painting she completed in the series is titled Where Land Meets Sky, and she sees it as a conversation with the landscape. “My first question in dealing with the Grand Canyon was, ‘How do I deal with the dichotomy between land and air?’ They’re very diverse things, and to make an aesthetically pleasing painting, you have to find the relationship between them.” The result is a painting that plays with the geometric themes that are present in both land and sky, the clouds serving as an intermediary between them.
Carver also plays with the geometry of the Grand Canyon in Geometry Means Geology,which depicts Pipe Creek Vista on the South Rim in crisp detail. “We’re told as artists that shadow reveals form and light reveals texture, and it just struck me that the geometry is revealed through these shapes,” she says. The repeating curves and triangles connect through the shadows, which helps the viewer gain a better understanding of the form of the canyon.
Shadow Song, oil on canvas, 30 x 48 in.
In Grand Canyon Squall, Carver captures a developing monsoon cell from the highest point of the South Rim. “From this great height, you’re actually looking down at the storm developing in the canyon,” she says. “I wanted to capture the feeling of an event that’s unfolding and constantly moving.” The topography below is still bathed in light, but a shadow encroaches as the powerful storm begins to explode, promising to change the landscape in an instant.
Geometry Meets Geology, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in.
“I’ve been working on this show for a year and a half, and the thing that strikes me when I lay it all out is the variety of palette this place has,” Carver says. While working on the paintings, she often found herself reaching for musical metaphors like symphony, harmony and crescendo, which inspired the show title Land of Song, a phrase borrowed from John Wesley Powell, who conducted the first government-sponsored exploration of the Grand Canyon. She adds, “I hope these paintings make people look closer at the Grand Canyon and realize how many different languages this place has.” —
Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery 6872 E. Sunrise Drive, Suite 130, Tucson, AZ 85750, (520) 722-7798, www.medicinemangallery.com
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