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Merrill Mahaffey, Canyon Reflection (Vishnu Cornerline), Acrylic on Canvas, 40" x 56"

Biography Merrill Mahaffey

Merrill Mahaffey was born in 1937 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. By the age 8, Mahaffey was already creating color pencil drawings of landscapes near his family home in Grand Junction, Colorado. His college training includes: Mesa Junior College in Grand Junction, Colorado; California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland; Sacramento State University, California where he earned his Bachelor of Art degree in 1959; and Arizona State University where Merrill Mahaffey received his Master of Fine Arts Degree in 1965.

Merrill Mahaffey, Autumn Mountain, Acrylic on Canvas, 46" x 64"

Merrill Mahaffey taught design and art history at the Phoenix College from 1967 until 1983. His reputation as a landscape painter in Arizona began developing in the early 1970s. Merrill Mahaffey's work has evolved from an earlier abstract style to his present realism, reflecting the best traditions of American landscape painting. With lithography and serigraphy, Merrill Mahaffey maintains the same expansive, panoramic quality found in his paintings, rendering certain basic yet complex abstract relationships in nature with the visionary technique that is uniquely his own.

Merrill Mahaffey, Channel Entrada Diptych Part I and Part II, Acrylic on Canvas, 30" x 44"

Merrill Mahaffey's awards have been numerous: Colorado State Fair, Arizona State Fair, Southwestern Fiesta Biennial Exhibition, 10th Arizona Annual, Four Corners Biennial at the Phoenix Art Museum, Tucson Art Museum and the Scottsdale Center for the Arts. His art has been shown at the Denver Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His painting "Toroweap" is in the Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Merrill Mahaffey, Las Animas, Acrylic on Canvas, 40" x 60"

Articles have been published about Merrill Mahaffey in publications including Southwest Art, Southwestern Art, Art in America, Art Week, Phoenix Magazine, and Arizona Highways. Northland Press published a book about him titled "Monumental Landscapes" by Rudy Turk, with a forward by Arizona's Governor Bruce Babbitt. Mahaffey's largest commission was given by the City of Phoenix for a 7-by-20 foot painting titled "Panorama From Bright Angel Point". It is displayed at the International Sky Harbor Airport terminal.

Born
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1937

Education
Mesa State College, Colorado
California College of Arts and Crafts
Sacramento State University- B.A., 1959
Arizona State University- M.F.A., 1966

Public Commissions and Awards
Federal District Court- Denver, Colorado
Chandler Fine Arts Center- Chandler, Arizona
Colorado State Legislature- Denver, Colorado
Phoenix International Airport- Phoenix, Arizona
Artist-in-Residence- Rocky Mountain National Park

Selected Exhibitions

2009- Grand Canyon Modern Masters Invitational, Kolb Studio, Grand Canyon, AZ

June 2008 - Fifty Year Retrospective on Merrill Mahaffey, Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona

2007 - Arizona: A Millennium of Arizona Art, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2000- Palm Springs Desert Museum- Palm Springs, CA
1998- Mesa Southwest Museum- Mesa, AZ
1992- Chandler Fine Arts Center- Chandler, AZ
1991- Foothills Art Center- Golden, CO
1987- University of Utah Museum of Fine Art
1985- Museum of the American West- Houston, TX
1985- Art Institute of the Permian Basin- Odessa, TX
1983- Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
1982- Tucson Art Museum
1981- Portland State University- Portland, OR
1981- Fresno Center for the Arts- Fresno, CA
1981- Northern Arizona University- Flagstaff, AZ
1980- Arizona Bank Galleria- Heard Museum Benefit
1970- Scottsdale Center for the Arts- Scottsdale, AZ

Selected Collections
EXXON
Robert Redford
United Energy Resources
Valley National Bank
Hughes Aircraft
Phillips Petroleum Company
Guiness Beer
Phoenix International Airport
Phelps Dodge
University of Utah Museum
Arizona State University
United Airlines
Allan Houser
US West
Smith and Olsen, Ltd.
Palm Springs Desert Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum of American Art - Smithsonian Institution
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Phoenix Art Museum
Tucson Art Museum
Phillip Morris Corporation
IBM Corporation
Security Pacific Bank
Atlantic Richfield Corporation
Callahan Mining
Corpus Christi National Bank
Colorado State Legislature
Southwest Forest Industries
Arizona Supreme Court
Chandler Fine Arts Center

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Merrill Mahaffey, Vishnu Corner, Acrylic on Canvas, 36" x 24"