A Century of Sanctuary, the Art of Zion National Park - Watercolor Paintings by Roland Lee

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St. George Art Museum
August 25, 2008 through January 24, 2009

"A Century of Sanctuary" Art Exhibition featuring art and artists of Zion National Park both past and present opened at the St. George Art Museum August 25, 2008. Roland Lee's painting "West Temple" owned by the Zion Natural History Association is displayed as part of the historical element of the exhibit. That painting was used as the original logo image for the ZNHA on their letterhead and business papers for many years. Roland's painting "Zion's Great Arch" a 24" x 29' watercolor is featured in the accompanying book and catalog, "A Century of Sanctuary" the Art of of Zion National Park.

Also included in the book is an essay by Roland Lee called "Eyes of the Beholder: Thirty Years of Painting Zion" along with a question and answer interview with editor Pam Frazier.

Over 70 Paintings by noted historic artists of Zion National Park are featured on the Mezzanine level of the St. George Art Museum. The paintings are displayed in chronological sequence from the 1800's to the modern era. The photo at left shows a sequence from the 1930's.

Paintings left to right: John Henry Moser, Red Butte River ; Lewis Ramsey, Towers of the Virgin; Lewis Ramsey, the Entrance to Zion, 1936; Maynard Dixon, High in the Morning, 1933; Maynard Dixon, Dianan's throne, 1934; Maynard Dixon, Cliffs of Zion, 1940; Maynard Dixon, Fields of Toquerville, 1933; Ranch Kimball, Entrance to Zion's, 1934.

	Roland Lee stands by his historic painting "West Temple" which was purchased by the Zion Natural History Association in 1985 and used as their logo for many years. The painting hangs today in the Board Room at the Zion National Park Administrative offices. Roland Lee will be featured in a new documentary film on the centennial of Zion National Park
	Lyndi Harvey, the Deputy Director of the National Park Service flew out from Washington DC for the exhibit. Photo left to right: Harvey, Roland Lee, and artist Flavia Eckholm, whose painting "The Portal" was juried into the contemporary part of the exhibit.
	St. George Art Museum Director, Deborah Reeder is interviewed in a television interview for the exhibit. She is standing in front of two of the amazing Howard Russell Butler paintings which were commissioned in the 1920's to promote tourism in the West. 7 of these grand paintings are now in the permanent collection of Zion National Park.
	Erica Cottam and Deborah Reeder don white gloves as they excitedly unwrap a Thomas Moran original painting, "The Rio Virgin Southern Utah," 1917. They are joined by Lyman Hafen, executive director of the Zion Natural HIstory Association,a major sponsor of the exhibit.

Book and Show Catalog Available Now:
"A Century of Sanctuary, The Art of Zion National Park"

The most beautiful book ever published by Zion Natural History Association featuring more than 70 historic paintings as well as 68 contemporary paintings and five essays.

Foreword by Robert Redford.
144-page, full color, 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches
Softbound - $24.95
Hardcover - $34.95

Order now from Zion Natural History Association

Read Roland Lee's essay included in the new book:

" Eyes of the Beholder: Thirty Years of Painting Zion" an essay by Roland Lee

St. George Art Museum Press Release: Zion National Park is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2009. To mark this historic event, the St. George Art Museum has partnered with Zion Natural History Association, Zion National Park, and the St. George Area Convention and Visitors Bureau to launch an exhibit entitled Zion National Park: A Century of Sanctuary. This three-part exhibit will be on display at the St. George Art Museum from August 25, 2008 to January 24, 2009. Visitors will experience Zion Canyon, which in the last 100 years has gone from a barely-accessible hidden treasure to an American icon averaging more than two and a half million visitors annually, through the eyes of artists from across the country and over more than a century.

The first part of the exhibit explores the history of art in Zion National Park, and includes seventy-four paintings and photographs progressing through time decade by decade. The exhibit will open with two paintings by Alfred William Lambourne and three reproduced photographs by Charles Roscoe Savage, the first people known to have sketched and photographed Zion in an 1870 exploratory party, and will commence through changing styles and artistic movements to the present day. Artwork by iconic artists Thomas Moran, Maynard Dixon, Ansel Adams, Frederick Dellenbaugh, and Gunnar Widforss will join the work of many other artists of national renown and local impact to form a panoramic history of art in Zion.

The second part of the exhibit features sixty-eight works of contemporary Zion National Park art. Peter Hassrick, distinguished American art scholar and Director of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum, selected the exhibit from a pool of more than 500 entries from across the country. Winning entries reflect the grandeur and human experience of Zion National Park and represent a variety of media and styles, from naturalism to abstraction. This sampling of the best of Zion National Park art being created today showcases the landscape, flora, and fauna of the Park, ranging from sweeping panoramas to intimate details.

The exhibit will also feature a contemporary installation of Zion created by Kathy Clement Cieslewicz, Lindsy Stewart Cieslewicz, and Dan Whalen. A dance filmed in the park, choreographed to Olivier Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux Etoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars), and projected onto a sheet of gypsum, the installation brings together materials, music, and motion to create a multi-sensual experiential interpretation of the park.
These three elements together form the most comprehensive exhibit of Zion National Park art yet assembled. Zion Natural History Association will publish a catalog of the exhibit, A Century of Sanctuary: The Art of Zion National Park, which will feature a foreword by Robert Redford and essays by Peter Hassrick, Lyman Hafen, Roland Lee, Deborah Reeder, and Leslie Courtright. Each piece of artwork in the exhibit will appear reproduced in stunning color in the book along with the artists’ biographies.

After the exhibit has ushered in Zion’s centennial year at the St. George Art Museum, the juried part of the show will travel as the emissary of the Park’s centennial to other venues around the country through 2009.