Each August the Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts hosts the Maynard Dixon Country, an art show, gathering and sale of work by thirty-forty of America's premier artists. This year's Maynard Dixon Country Artist Choice Award for the best body of work went to Clyde Aspevig (b. 1951).

Aspevig gave the cash portion of his award to the family of Brian Harris, deputy sheriff in Mt. Carmel, Utah, where the event was held.  Officer Harris was killed in the line of duty last week.

Inspired stylistically by the work of American impressionists such as John Henry Twachtman, Aspevig is known for his paintings of sagebrush and sweeping landscapes of his native Montana and Wyoming executed in a sophisticated color palette.

Aspevig's appreciation of the Western landscape follows artist Maynard Dixon (1875-1946) who treasured the area near Zion National Park, and made some of his most powerful paintings there. Along with his wife, Edith Hamlin, Dixon hosted many artists at the couple's log and stone home and studio in Mt. Carmel, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Art dealers Paul and Susan Bingham, who founded the Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts, restored the Dixons' property which remains today as an artists' retreat and museum. The June 2001 issue of Architectural Digest featured this historic site and the Binghams were honored by the Utah Heritage Foundation in 2001 for Excellence in Cultural Preservation.

Maynard Dixon Country artists gather for a week of painting, discussion and celebration of the artistic life in the spirit of Dixon's creative collaborations with his artist contemporaries. The weekend art show, which is open to the public, features lectures, an art preview, a wet paintings sale, on-site painting demonstrations and a gala awards dinner.

Much of the proceeds from art sales at Maynard Dixon Country support the Thunderbird Foundation's projects, including art day camps for people with special needs, the artist retreat program and the emerging artist scholarships, which allow three Utah high school students to join the professionals at Maynard Dixon Country.

The Public Choice Award went to Bonnie Posselli for her painting "Finery."