Lydia Gatzow Bio
Lydia Gatzow is a contemporary impressionistic landscape oil painter and plein air colorist, born and raised on Lake Michigan in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. In high school she spent a summer abroad in the south of France studying art at Oxbridge Academy and after that moved to Pasadena, California. She graduated from Pratt Institute of Art & Design, Brooklyn, New York, in 2015 with a BFA in painting, minor in art history and ceramics and has exhibited her work in juried group shows across the USA. Her paintings are primarily completed outdoors on site, drawing direct inspiration from nature; these plein air sessions inform her studio work. She sees her paintings as expressions of the beautiful and sacred energies that surround us at all times. She has a background in organic farming in Sweden and Vermont and is passionate about wilderness conservation, meditation, and yoga. Lydia arrived in the Sedona in 2019 with her partner Charles, where she now lives and paints, after traveling North America in their vintage 1982 VW bus.
Artist Statement
Many of us come to the desert seeking or longing for something greater than ourselves. There is a spiritual quality to be discovered here that I am always pointing towards in my work. I paint primarily outdoors on site, where I am guided by intuition, the elements of nature, and a profound appreciation for the red rock wilderness. Living full time in Sedona and painting here almost daily has allowed me to connect deeply to this sacred and ever evolving landscape. I am drawn to both classic and overlooked scenes across Arizona and the Southwest, offering my unique vision and my love for the miracle of life through paint. I hope to create a window into the very soul of the desert, leading us back to the desert, the landscape, and the wilderness within.