Maynard Dixon Documentary

Narrated by Oscar
award-winning actress, DIANE KEATON,
an avid collector
of Dixon’s paintings
and drawings.

Voice of Maynard Dixon, performed by legendary cowboy troubador,
DON EDWARDS.

Original music written
and performed by
Grammy-winner,
JOHN McEUEN,
founding member of
the NITTY GRITTY
DIRT BAND.

2008 SPUR Award Winner Best Documentary-Western Writers of America

MAYNARD DIXON: Art and Spirit is a feature length documentary that profiles the breathtaking art and complex life of artist, Maynard Dixon (1875–1946). The desert was Dixon’s sanctuary, a timeless place where he could forget the hurried pace of his life in San Francisco. He would often leave his wife and children, his paying work in the city, and his friends in the bohemian art scene for months of solitary searching in the American West. Under the desert stars, Dixon wrote poetry. Under the desert sun, Dixon painted, sketched and drew. His travels took him to the camps and reservations of the Hopi and Navajo, where he was welcomed with reverence for his talent with pencil, crayon and paint. He lived with the Native Americans and his art became a language between two cultures. “That sense of sun and space and silence—of serenity—of strength and freedom—if I can interpret that with what I can master of technical requirements, I will have reached the best of my endeavor",” Dixon wrote.

Maynard Dixon: Art and Spirit reveals the rich canvas of his life through insightful interviews with his family, friends and members of the art community. Dixon’s sons, Daniel and John, share intimate recollections of their parent’s complex relationship. Dixon’s friends, artists Ray Strong and Milford Zornes, recall the unique character of Maynard Dixon. The film is enriched with over four-hundred Dixon paintings and drawings, portraits of Dixon taken by his lifelong friend, Ansel Adams and family photographs and rare audio by his second wife, celebrated photographer, Dorothea Lange. Dixon biographers, Donald J. Hagerty and Linda Jones Gibbs share their expertise on the personal struggles that Dixon overcame to continue his quest to record the vanishing West. Film locations include Montana, Utah, Arizona, California and New Mexico, bringing Dixon’s paintings and drawings to life in the breathtaking panoramas of the land that he loved so deeply.

Written by: JAYNE McKAY AND DANIEL DIXON
Executive Producers: EDENHURST GALLERY
Edited by: ELEN CARYSFORT
Produced and Directed by: JAYNE McKAY

Additional music performed by SANTA CRUZ RIVER BAND, Michael Ronstadt, Gilbert Brown and Ted Ramirez.

Running time: 67 minutes

Aspect ratio: 1:78:1