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The Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts: Maynard Dixon

© Judith Stock

One of the foremost painters of western landscape and a native born Californian, Maynard Dixon loved the mountains, plants and Native peoples of the old west, all subjects for his talented brush strokes.

Born in 1875 in Fresno, California, and a self-taught artist, Dixon first began painting simple desert scenes. He fell in love with Fredric Remington's work and sent his idol two sketches. Remington soon wrote back words of encouragement 'see much and observe the things in nature which captivate your fancy and above all draw, draw, draw.' And, just like Remington, Dixon eventually became a successful illustrator for magazine like Harper's Weekly, Scribner's, and the Overland Monthly.

A social critic and poet of his times, Dixon was not always well received in all circles of society. Social issues found their way into his paintings, including the Native American experience, the great depression, social unrest, and the disadvantaged. In his poetry and his art, Dixon remained true to his belief that Art, Science, and Philosophy are the hallmarks by which you can judge civilized people and bring them together.

He felt members of all cultures could coexist in California's future. The mural he painted on the walls of the California State Library in Sacramento lends proof to that belief. In 1927, he painted a 14-feet high by 69-foot wide mural titled The Pageant of Tradition. The left side of the mural shows Spanish explorers, missionaries, Mexicans, and Native Americans. On the right side he painted European colonists and immigrants, more Native Americans, and African Americans, including all the ethic backgrounds of Californians.

Settling down in Mt. Carmel, Utah where he built his home and studio, Dixon and his wife, Edith Hamlin retired among the beauty of the Utah landscape. Dixon passed away in 1946, however, is wife continued in residence until 1963 when she sold the property to Milford Zornes, an early California watercolorist. Zornes primarily used the property and studio as a workshop for his watercolor classes during the summer. Always mindful to preserve Dixon's original ideas in regard to this special parcel of land, Zornes kept a watchful eye on the house and property until 1998, when he sold the property to Paul and Susan Bingham.

When the Bingham's bought the property they didn't want to keep the beauty and wonder for their eyes-only and instead established the Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts in 1999, in order to share their treasure with the world. The foundation's mission is to carry out Dixon's work by inspiring young artists with scholarships, endowments and internships to further their artist career and to create an artist's retreat by preserving the original buildings and the surrounding environment just the way it looked when Maynard Dixon painted in his studio.