Eric Bowman, Enjoying the View, oil, 30 x 42 in.

For Danny Galieote, who traveled into Utah with painter Kim Wiggins, even the drive out had a momentous impact on him. “There’s something incredible about driving on a highway that was once under the ocean 50 million years ago and evident by the rock formations nearby. Passing by an area that was once home to the Native American tribes living in a particular area of the country many centuries ago gives one a feeling that you are on sacred ground, which is a fact. My feelings are such that we are existing now in just a blip of time in the human journey and we all share it together. Creation all belongs to the great Creator, whoever that may be in your own spiritual tradition, and we are given the great gift to share the experience living and breathing on this beautiful Earth together,” the painter says. “During our trip, there was evidence of this endless history as we passed by ancient rock formations in Bluff, Monument Valley and Mexican Hat, which is where some of us set up our easels for several hours to paint. This location inspired my new painting, Evening Trail Through Mexican Hat, Utah. Looking at Mexican Hat Rock, I had that feeling of being in an ancient, holy place, where eyes set upon the sunlight hitting this rock for millennia. I was looking at it with awe, wonder and respect. This sombrero-like formation dates back over 250 million years and is one of the most famous balanced rocks. I was holding my hat in the wind, much like the cowboy in my painting. I was thinking about it and scratching my head in fascination at how that large rock is balanced on such a small point of contact.”

Glenn Dean, Men of Monolith, oil, 16 x 16 in.

Wiggins also had a uniquely peaceful experience in Utah, and it inspired his work Navajo Dawn, which he filled with symbolism. “In this painting…we see [a Navajo ranch foreman named Christian Morris] on horseback with his dog overlooking one of the sacred mesas located in Monument Valley. The rising sun totally saturates the sky with splendor,” Wiggins says. “There is symbolic meaning behind this personifying the beauty, grace, and love he poured out upon others. The incredibly long shadows represent longevity…the ever-reaching span of love continuing beyond one’s lifetime. As with yin and yang, the dark and light buttes on each side of Christian represent Ho’zho’, the Navajo philosophy centered on the concepts of beauty, harmony, balance, happiness and health in all aspects of life. This powerful Diné philosophy focuses on the importance of living in alignment with the natural world by stressing the interconnectedness of all things. It requires cultivating balance in your own life, discipline, positive thinking and honoring relationships with those around you.”

A group of artists from Maxwell Alexander Gallery at Muley Point, Utah. Courtesy Danny Galieote.

Oregon artist Eric Bowman was one of the painters on the retreat, and he produced Enjoying the View directly from the adventure. “The cowboy with his leg up over the saddle horn needed a serene setting, and on the way back to Bluff from a day trip sketching in Monument Valley, I discovered such a place right off the main road just as the sun was setting, turning the cliffs a rich pink and warm gray,” Bowman says. “The landscape there is so unique and captivating, it’s almost impossible to not find an engaging composition anywhere you look. Truth and beauty can only be captured by firsthand experience, and Southern Utah, combined with the camaraderie of my peers, was the perfect recipe for Enjoying the View.”

Kim Wiggins, Navajo Dawn, oil, 30 x 40 in.

California painter Glenn Dean recalls there was so much painting being done that the artists lined up their pieces in a corridor back at the hotel—all totaled there were more than 100 paintings. Dean’s  work is titled Men of Monolith. “There’s this incredible, lonely monolith formation not far from Bluff, out on Indian reservation land,” he says. “I don’t know if it has any spiritual or cultural significance to the locals, but it certainly feels like it does from its presence in the landscape. I was attracted to the big dark towering shape of it and was thinking about the local inhabitants of the area and how they must experience this rock formation in their daily lives, either seeing it from a distance, or exploring it up close.”

Joshua LaRock, Rain’s Comin’, oil, 36 x 33 in.

Joshua LaRock, who paints the West in romantic colors and a warm, inviting atmosphere, finished Rain’s Comin’ based on the Utah trip. “I really liked this cowboy’s dynamic gesture and silhouette with the rope in his hands. I am a figure painter at heart and so wanted the wonderful light on him and the horse to take center stage,” LaRock says. “One morning, on this last trip, I watched the sun rise and throw its brilliant orange light on the bluffs not too far from the hotel. The shadow crept across the valley and did beautiful things no matter which direction you looked. I then played around with some dramatic cloud reference images, looking primarily to play lights on darks and darks on lights against one another relative to the cowboy/horse and the bluffs. I have always loved the spectacular landscapes of [Albert] Bierstadt and [Thomas] Moran and continually draw on their work for inspiration.”

Danny Galieote, Evening Trail Through Mexican Hat, Utah, oil on canvas, 36 x 24 in.

The show opens with a VIP weekend on October 17 and 18 at the gallery. Additionally, the Autry Museum of the American West, from nearby Los Angeles, will also host a symposium on October 18 at the Pasadena gallery. A majority of the artists will be in attendance during the weekend events. —