For Merrill Mahaffey, the land is the essence of art. That became a theme for him.
“I quit rock climbing, so I had to find some other way to experience rocks,” Merrill said.
During a video production project, Merrill shared with us what inspired him to paint his giant Grand Canyon canvas which has greeted generations of travelers from around the world at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Our video of Merrill is playing at the Phoenix Airport Museum gallery at the airport.
He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1937 and grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado.
“My father’s name was Dean. Dean ended up being a land appraiser, and part of his work was photographing places that he was surveying.” So Merill grew up around cameras and maps.
“I could read a map before I could read a letter because we lived in the middle of maps,” he told us.
Merrill said he got in trouble all the time at school because when teachers called his name to answer a question, he hadn’t been paying attention.
“Because I was drawing a cartoon. I kept going to school hoping and hoping we’d have an art day because then I didn’t get in trouble. I just wanted to play and art was a way of playing without getting in trouble.”
“When I got to college, I thought, well, I’m an artist, but I’m not a very good artist, so I’m here to get better. So I started my second year in Sacramento. Then I started learning about art.”
To see the rest of the story and watch our full video with Merrill, click here.
