Canyon Artistry

It is only natural that a place as wild and beautiful as the Grand Canyon should be an inspiraton to artists. In the nearly 30 years Bruce Aikens has lived in the canyon, he's become a bit of an institution.

"The Grand Canyon provides probably the most unique inspirational view that an artist can have. It can be inspiring. It can be humbling," says Aikens. "As far as I'm concerned, it's the most stimulating thing on the planet. I can tell you that running out of images at the Grand Canyon is like, you know, saying you're going to run out of people to look at in New York. You know, I mean, it's just not going to happen."

Photo credit: Museum Collection Grand Canyon National Park

In many ways, it is artists that we have to thank for the Grand Canyon National Park. When John Wesley Powell first began to explore and map this region, it was the paintings by various artists who accompanied him that gave most people their first awareness of the indescribable views found here. Among the best known of these was a man named Thomas Moran.

Photo credit: Museum Collection Grand Canyon National Park

Thomas Moran came on the second Powell expedition. "And it's the paintings that Thomas Moran did during that trip that brought the image of the Grand Canyon to the people of the world. He was, in my estimation, one the most important historical figures in the creation and formation of the National Park System as we know it today," states Aikens.

As beautiful as the paintings are, there is nothing that compares to the experience of seeing the canyon in person. The shifting patterns of light and shadow create an ever-changing spectacle that cannot be reproduced — an upside down mountain carved out of the earth by the Colorado River, graced by a wood and rock monolith carved by the hand of man.