Recently, Richmond artist Nils Westergard participated in The Painted Desert Project. This multi-artist effort is an ongoing effort occurring in a rural portion of northern Arizona, on the Colorado Plateau. The area, traditionally known as the Painted Desert due to the naturally-occurring hues of red, pink, orange, and other bright colors, became the home for a longterm project by artist Chip Thomas, aka Jetsonorama, in early 2012.
Recently, Richmond artist Nils Westergard participated in The Painted Desert Project. This multi-artist effort is an ongoing effort occurring in a rural portion of northern Arizona, on the Colorado Plateau. The area, traditionally known as the Painted Desert due to the naturally-occurring hues of red, pink, orange, and other bright colors, became the home for a longterm project by artist Chip Thomas, aka Jetsonorama, in early 2012.
The project began with Thomas’s decision to paint a portrait of Navajo Code Talkers from WWII on an abandoned roadside stand–which was soon reopened by the Navajo family that owned it, seeing an opportunity to capitalize on the increase in visitors to the stand interested in photographing Thomas’s painting. When Thomas’s work was soon augmented by an artistic installation from Arizona artist Yote, he was delighted to find his work starting a dialogue with other artists. He and Yote soon met up and joined forces in an effort to bring artists from around the world to Arizona. The Painted Desert Project has a dual goal–to bring art from all over the world to the area, and to increase tourism to the Navajo Nation, whose territory encompasses much of the Painted Desert.
Nils Westergard is just one of the latest artists invited to participate in the Painted Desert Project. An artist and videographer who graduated from VCU and has drawn attention over the past few years for everything from a mural on the side of the Harrison St. Stuffy’s location to his video for local hip hop artist Nickelus F’s single “GotDamnMurdah”, Westergard headed out to Arizona in October, along with fellow street artist Nanook, to paint some murals on buildings in the area.
Westergard created two murals while he was in Arizona. One was a portrait of King Fowler, a Navajo code talker from World War II who passed away recently. Westergard painted this mural on a building owned by Fowler’s nephew, Lorenzo. The other mural was a portrait of Calvin, a young resident of the Navajo community, who hung out and watched Westergard paint his portrait. Westergard told Brooklyn Street Art about some things he learned while painting in the desert–for example, that paint dries much faster in such an arid climate. He also shared an amusing anecdote: “I didn’t have enough buckets, so almost all of my paint was held in broken 40 oz. beer bottles while I worked,” he said. “They got a kick out of that.”
Check out a time-lapse video Westergard created documenting his and Nanook’s works as part of the Painted Desert Project:
And see more pictures from Nils Westergard’s time in the desert HERE.
