May 30, 2011--Maynard Dixon Living History Museum

As mentioned earlier this is our last day in the Glendale area, but when we first were looking at this area to visit the real reason was Zion and Bryce. As I was looking at a tourism brochure for Kane County, UT I saw that the Maynard Dixon studio was here. Luckily it's only about 7 miles down the road. A few days ago we stopped at the Bingham Gallery which is operated by the Thunderbird Foundation which also owns the Dixon property. When Betsy told the owner that she was an artist he immediately invited her to bring her art kit back to the property and sketch. Now I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, but somehow felt that anyone with as much creative energy as Maynard Dixon must have left some lying about. So today after our trip to the sand dunes we went back. We elected to do the self guided tour. The history of the property is that Dixon and wife, Edith Hamlin purchased the property in 1938 and immediately started planning and building the house. The house was followed by a small garage, a cool house for food storage, a 3 bed bunkhouse, and of course the studio. The plantings around the buildings and in pots are simple and familiar species but are gorgeous. Betsy and I walked over to the property and looked at and went in to all the buildings and took pictures. I love old buildings and especially rural homes and out buildings. When you walked into any of these building you were immediately taken back to the 1930's and 40's. Dixon and Hamlin painted here until Dixon's death in 1946. The studio was completed in 1947. Hamlin continued to paint and invited other artists to visit. Ansel Adams was a frequent visitor.
In 1963 the property was sold to Milford Zornes, another notable artist. In 1999 the foundation purchased the property. Betsy elected to sit on the west patio and sketch the front exterior of the little cool house. I took more pictures and then practiced my Indian flute. What a calm, serene place. Just before doing this blog I reviewed the brochure on the buildings and noted that the studio wasn't completed until a year after Dixon died. I then read that he liked to paint on the west patio of the house. Maybe Betsy didn't choose that spot to sketch. Perhaps someone else guided her there.