From the Rockies to the Red Rock
The study of Power and Erosion
Jordan k. walker's latest exhibition, “From the Rockies to the Red Rock,” opens this May at Cassens Fine Art, presenting a collection of paintings that aren’t just about the West—they are the West. They express the geological change of the land, with the history written in sediment and ice. These paintings ask us to look harder, to think beyond surface beauty and see the land as something ancient, something still being made.
The landscapes of the American West are not fixed. They are restless, shaped by forces older than memory. Water carves, wind scours, glaciers drag their weight across stone, reshaping the earth inch by inch. Even in stillness, these places are in motion, and it’s this relentless transformation that drives Jordan K. Walker’s work.
Painting the Earth’s Foundation
Walker paints landscapes with precision, breaking them down to expose their structure, movement, and history. He isn’t interested in passive scenery or postcard-perfect views. He paints the weight of stone, the flow of water, the collapse of mountains into valleys. His fieldwork takes him deep into these environments, hiking with his gear in hand, working in the heat and the cold, watching how the sun fractures across a cliff face.
“Jordan’s paintings have an authority to them because they come from direct experience,” says Cassens Fine Art owner and curator Michelle Cassens. “You can feel that he’s been there. He’s felt the heat radiate off the rock, smelled the dry sage on the wind. There’s no guesswork. His paintings carry the weight of firsthand knowledge.”
Walker describes his work as a conversation with time itself. “A lot of artists paint canyons or mountains, but I’m interested in painting their histories,” he says. “How a river doesn’t just flow—it cuts. How a mountain isn’t just a peak, but an artifact of uplift, pressure, and ice. I want to make paintings that feel like they hold that kind of memory.”
The Tempest of Water, the Patience of Stone
Walker’s deep fascination with geology and climate patterns informs everything he paints. He studies the relentless exchange between mountain and desert, how the peaks hold onto water until spring forces their thaw, how rivers crash down slopes and carve into the rock, carrying fragments of one place to another. “Mountains may give or take depending on the season, but water will always find its way from the highlands to the desert,” he explains.
That movement defines the works in “From the Rockies to the Red Rock.”
Glacial Falls
24 x 36 in | Oil on Linen Panel
"Glacial Falls" captures the rush of water in Logan Pass, where melting glaciers spill down sheer rock faces. “In a very real sense, the rivers and falls that soak my hiking boots are the glaciers come to life,” Walker says. “They’re celebrating the end of their winter slumber, sending downbursts of liquid light to carve the mountains and feed the valleys.”
Sandstone Skyscrapers
28 x 24 in | Oil on Linen Panel
"Sandstone Skyscrapers" turns our attention to the slow erosion of the Southwest’s monoliths. Towering rock formations rise like forgotten sentinels, shaped by centuries of wind and water. Walker describes them as “some of the tallest pinnacles of rock in the world, rising like the masts of an unfathomable ship sunken into the earth.”
Contemplating Eternity - Study
8 x 16 in | Oil on Linen Panel
"Contemplating Eternity" is a meditation on time itself, placing the viewer beneath a full moon over Monument Valley. The land is bathed in quiet luminescence, the rock formations holding memories of the people who have come before. “The sandstone cliffs seem to echo the voices of countless inhabitants,” Walker says. “The land holds history in ways we can barely comprehend.”
A Show Rooted in Substance
The West is often painted as a romantic ideal—a place of boundless skies and unbroken vistas. Walker resists that impulse. His paintings aren’t nostalgic, nor are they sanitized for easy consumption. They engage with the landscape as it is—wild, untamed, still in motion.
“Jordan’s work belongs in a space that values history, intellect, and craftsmanship. At Cassens Fine Art, we seek out artists who don’t just depict the West but engage with it. Jordan’s show does exactly that. These paintings ask something of the viewer. They ask for thought, attention, willingness to see the land for what it really is.”
For Walker, painting is about curiosity and the joy of discovery. “I want to highlight the strange and unexpected features in the world around us,” he says. “To show how land holds its history in every ridge, every canyon. The West isn’t static—it’s evolving, shifting, revealing itself piece by piece. I want my paintings to reflect that.”
Join Us for the Exhibition
Cassens Fine Art presents “From the Rockies to the Red Rock,” an exhibition that challenges, inspires, and asks us to see the West with new eyes. Join us for the artist reception on Friday, mAY 2, FROM 5-7 PM. The exhibition will be on view throughout the month.