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Serena Supplee exhibits Grand Canyon paintings in Flagstaff

Artist Serena Supplee at work in the Canyon. Submitted photo

Artist Serena Supplee at work in the Canyon. Submitted photo

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Through July, lovers of the Grand Canyon can get a chance to be among its colorful magic with a rare gallery exhibit of Serena Supplee's oil paintings in downtown Flagstaff. Supplee is the featured artist at Fire on the Mountain/Arizona Handmade Gallery at 13 N. San Francisco Street.

"The last few trips in the Grand Canyon I have become aware that my dreams at night are a part of my experience during the day. These paintings are an expression of that," Supplee said. "By bringing the dreams in, the landscape's wildness went to the next level. Colors are exaggerated. The lines and shapes are fluid and yet the rocks are solid."

Supplee captures the light, colors and textures of the Grand Canyon by spending as much time as she can sketching or painting on location. Her paintings not only contain the color and light found in canyons, they reveal the swirl of river currents and the embrace of dark skies. Supplee's brush strokes evoke the power of the Inner Gorge rapids that inspired them.

Supplee's "The Mighty Colorado" 10-foot wide painting of Hermit Rapid hangs at Phantom Ranch in the Cantina.

Originally from Iowa, Supplee earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Northern Arizona University. She has been inspired by the Grand Canyon since she was 13 and has had more than 50 one-artist shows. Her book, "Inner Gorge Metaphors: An Artists' Perspective of the Grand Canyon," features 52 paintings with poems. Supplee's studio is in Moab, Utah.

"I am not into gallery showings lately, but I love Holly Gramm and George Averbeck, who own Fire on the Mountain. I want my art around their energy," Supplee said.


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