Overlook by Hai-Ou Hou

The 10th annual Celebration of Art at Grand Canyon National Park will take place September 8-15, 2018. Sponsored by the Grand Canyon Association, visitors to the park that week will have the opportunity to watch the 24 artists create artwork along the South Rim as they interpret the ever-shifting light and shadow, amazing landforms, and vibrant colors of this vast landscape. On Saturday September 15 from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., the artists will be participating in a Quick Draw along the South Rim from Verkamp’s to Kolb Studio, with an auction of their work at 11:00 a.m. at the Bright Angel Trailhead

One of the artists the GCA welcomes back this year is Hai-Ou Hou, who also participated in 2014 and 2015. Hai-Ou was born in Beijing where she received her B.F.A from Central Institute of Fine Art and Design. She earned her M.F.A. from Towson State University. She taught painting and design at the Hubei Fine Art Institute in Wu Han, China. She is currently owner and director of the Chesapeake Fine Art Studio.

Hai-Ou is a Signature Member in both American Impressionist Society and the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters’ Association. She is also a member of the Portrait Society of America and the Washington Society of Landscape Painters. Her work is widely represented in commercial galleries and is included in many public and private collections throughout the U.S. and abroad. She has received numerous awards and honors through participation in art events and exhibitions.

There is no question that the most inspirational landscape for Hai-Ou is the American West—especially the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and the Sedona Red Canyons. She has devoted a great deal of time and travel to these magnetic terrains, which are the perfect subjects for the approach she takes towards art and expression.

Of her studio painting, Overlook, Hai-Ou says:
“This overlook is my favorite spot in the canyon. I come to it every time I visit the canyon and paint it at different times and different light conditions throughout the day. I have made many studies of this place and I painted the studio piece based on six or eight of them. But I found it difficult to do because I struggled with keeping it from becoming too detailed, keeping the focus on shape and light and the freshness of the studies. I am happy with the results.”

The Celebration of Art exhibit and sale opens at 11:00 a.m. on September 16, 2018, and will be open daily through January 21, 2019, at the historic Kolb Studio at the South Rim of Grand Canyon. Admission is free and open to the public.

Please visit grandcanyon.org or contact Kathy Duley at [email protected]
or 480.277.0458 for more information.