Dorothy Graden is a contemporary artist whose art is inspired by Ancient Visions, prehistoric art of the Americas. Her mission is to bring awareness of these amazing places and to promote preservation and protection of ancestral sites on this continent, most of which are considered sacred to Native Americans. For over 30 years she has been traveling through the American west to photograph and draw prehistoric rock art. These rock art images were incised, pecked, abraded and painted on cave and canyon walls and boulders. Rock Art has been found on every continent except Antarctica. Some sites are 30,000 years old.

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Like all artists, Dorothy is inspired by personal experiences. She has explored the world of the seas scuba diving with her family. And a recent trip to the Masai Mara in Kenya influences her palette with colors of the savannah. Ms. Graden pulls and pigments cotton rag in the paper studio and then applies mixed media to create her art. Often, images emerge from the paper as she works, and her contemporary artist technique is a truly creative process. Ms. Graden has presented her field work on rock art at the Russian Academy of Science in Moscow at University College Cork, Ireland and at the University of Innsbruck in Austria (2014). Her photographs have been published in the Theosophical Society's journal, Quest. She also presents, lectures and exhibits her drawings and ceramic sculptures at various venues throughout the Midwest and the Chicago area. She draws with great admiration, respect and humility for the ancients who inspire her work. She is also available for presentations.

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As a contemporary artist, Dorothy has been inspired by extensive research, hiking and traveling to deserts in Utah, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Colorado. Underwater art inspiration has come from scuba diving in global locations such as Fiji Islands, Hawaii, the southern Caribbean and Mexico.

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Ms. Graden was represented by the ANN NATHAN GALLERY IN CHICAGO until Ann's retirement in 2016. Thank you, Ann, for your years of dedication to the Art World.

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For more information about the preservation and protection of ancestral sites visit ARARA (American Rock Art Research Association) and Bear Ears National Monument websites.

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