Shaun Horne and Maynard Dixon Country 2012

by Sarah Judson August 31, 2012

Our friend Shaun Horne (see painting at right) just got back from participating in the fourteenth annual Maynard Dixon Country as a guest artist. The event is held each August in Mount Carmel, Utah, an oasis of cottonwood trees, streams, magnificent vistas and sandstone cliffs near Zion National Park. It benefits the Maynard Dixon Home & Studio, which is managed as a Living History Museum by the Thunderbird Foundation.

Their website describes the event as "...a gathering bringing together artists, collectors, community, and friends who love art. "Rather than focusing solely on the beloved paintings of Maynard Dixon, we focus on the 'art spirit' and intention of Maynard Dixon, the artist, poet, and whole person. In choosing to remember Dixon this way, we believe his legacy becomes even more meaningful when it is illuminated by the artists who are living and making art in 2012." Shaun Horne is certainly an example of the spirit and intention of Maynard Dixon. Based in Crested Butte, Colorado, Shaun paints large scale plein air paintings year-round, including in the snows of winter at an altitude of 8,900 feet. He starts and finishes his large canvases on site, by returning day after day to the same place and light, in the manner of Claude Monet. On the other hand, Shaun paints with an American hard-edge more akin to Rockwell Kent, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe or Maynard Dixon. Shaun has developed among the most intense and sustained plein air painting methods to date, working over a thousand hours per year in plein air.