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Cavasson East wall features artist’s works

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

Though she’s not a native Arizonan, artist Casey Cheuvront feels it is her duty to remind residents and visitors of the state’s natural beauty.

A southwestern impressionist, Cheuvront has made her mark on the local arts community with her vivid artwork depicting the various landscapes around the state, which she has displayed at art shows and galleries across the state.

And when Cheuvront got the opportunity to show off her skills at a corporate facility, the Cavasson East building in Scottsdale, she rejoiced.

“The opportunity to do a really big corporate commission was really exciting for me,” she said. “Working with a company felt like a good step forward in my art career.”

Cavasson developer Nationwide Realty Investors asked her to create something that would pay tribute to the native landscape of the area the building sits on.

“They wanted something that was going to be re�lective of the area and that would work with some of the beautiful pieces they already had,” Cheuvront said, who also liked the idea of displaying her art in a more modern setting.

“I heard about the building and the surroundings and I realized a lot of people were going to see this, which was really exciting,” said Cheuvront. “When I saw some initial sketches of what the building was going to look like and how modern it will be, I was thrilled that they are hanging some more traditional art.”

Cheuvront began exchanging ideas with Nationwide and the team fell in love with a piece she titled “Waiting for Wild Horses.”

The piece was painted on site around the Phon D. Sutton trail along the Salt River and McDowell Mountains nearly four years prior to its installation at the Cavasson East Building and depicts a warm morning outside of a stream where horses usually go to drink.

“The thing about that day was that the light on the trees was absolutely incandescent and the light on the mountains was so brilliant and warm,” she said. “It was very early in the morning when I did the original painting. Since this is a new place, I wanted to capture the sense of newness through early morning light in this piece.”

“The reason I called it ‘Waiting for Wild Horses’ was because that’s where the wild horses go,” Cheuvront said. “They never showed up that day, but we were waiting for them,” she added with a laugh.

Nationwide fell in love with the piece but wanted a larger copy.

The original was 8”x16” and the wall had a considerable amount of space left to be �illed.

Cheuvront wound up creating a similar rendering of “Waiting for Wild Horses” on a 3’x5’ canvas titled “Water in the Desert.”

She embraced the challenge of creating a larger work and feels that this work is more detailed than the original piece.

Cheuvront equated putting the painting on the wall to watching a child go out into the real world.

“I lived with this piece for days and weeks and was intimately engaged with it by making minor adjustments, there was a huge sense of ownership,” she said. “It almost felt like watching a child go out into the world when I saw the painting installed on the wall. It almost triggered a cognitive shift.”

The only thing that overshadowed that cognitive shift was when Cheuvront realized her work was displayed alongside a painting made by famed artist Merrill Mahaffey.

She was also surprised to see how well her work �it with the others on display as she had no clue what the other works at the building would look like.

“Overall, it was a lot of fun to do and I’m very pleased to be in such good company,” Cheuvront said.

Her work has garnered raves from the staff at Nationwide Realty Investors.

“We are proud to invest in and showcase the talents of the local art community with our commission of ‘Water in the Desert,’ a reimagined oil painting from Scottsdale-based artist Casey Cheuvront’s original work ‘Waiting for Wild Horses,’” said spokeswoman Carli Lanfersiek.

“Incorporating thoughtful artwork with a local touch into this world-class of�ice space adds to the experience for tenants and guests. Casey did a tremendous job, and we’re thrilled to display her beautiful representation of the McDowell Mountains for years to come.” Cheuvront hopes her work will become a new attraction for the building.

“I have a feeling that when a piece is newly hung it will garner a little more attention,” she said. “But maybe under different lighting, it’ll generate a new point of view for the piece.” “I drove into Arizona through Utah and it was like my heart stopped at that moment. I felt like I was home,” she said. “There are so many heartstopping gorgeous places here and I feel so lucky to live where I do. I hope that some of that comes across for the people that view this and they get a sense of how precious and important this environment is.”

Info: Casey cheuvront.com and cavasson.com

Celebrated southwestern impressionist Casey Cheuvront got the chance to display her work inside Nationwide Realty Investors’ Cavasson East building in Scottsdale.

(David Minton/Progress Staff Photographer)