ELIZABETH BLACK Boulder, Colorado
Elizabeth Black worked as a river guide in Grand Canyon for many years. She first painted watercolors on a raft trip in the canyon in 1975. She and her husband, landscape photographer Christopher Brown, explore the west together, carrying their art-making equipment to the most scenic spots they can find. Elizabeth has won numerous awards, including Best of Show at Grand Canyon Celebration of Art (most recently in 2020), and her work may be found in many private and public collections. She is represented by Mary Williams Fine Arts in Boulder, Colorado, and the Sugarman-Peterson Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Framed by Fossil Mountain and looking west from Havasupai Point, Mt. Huethawali and the Powell Plateau sing to each other across the wide expanses of the western Esplanade. The Havasupai and Hualapai people have lived in this area for centuries, calling to their gods to provide the gifts of their desert home. Perhaps their deep connection with the earth and sky is why we more easily accept a landscape painting that includes an Indigenous person. If a non-Indigenous person were to take the Indigenous person’s place in the painting, most would consider the painting ruined. What would it take to change that view, and make the inclusion of a non-Indigenous person in a landscape painting acceptable? If non-Indigenous people lived lightly on the earth, in harmony with nature, would our opinions change?
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