Rie Muñoz

There is no mistaking the artwork of Rie Muñoz—colorful, carefree, unpretentious, full-of-life and original—just like the Alaskans who are the subjects of so many of her watercolors.

Rie Muñoz, a Dutch American, has lived in Alaska since 1951. Muñoz’s studio occupies the top floor of her small, two-story house that is located high on a hill above Juneau.

While Muñoz finds much to paint in and around Juneau, the majority of her material comes from visits to far-flung corners of Alaska. She returns from trips to such remote locations as King Island, (where she taught school) and St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, with hundreds of sketches that provide material for future paintings. Her aim is always to capture the village ”the way it is today.”

Of the 40 or so watercolors Muñoz paints each year, the artist may select only a dozen or so for limited edition reproductions.

These offset lithographs are printed on acid free paper in low editions, and are individually signed by Muñoz.

During her years in Alaska, Muñoz has lived in a variety of small Alaskan communities, including prospecting and mining camps.

Her paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of village life such as whaling, fishing, berry picking, children at play, as well as her love of folklore and legends.

Muñoz studied art at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, and at the University of Alaska-Juneau. Her reproductions and original prints are carried by galleries throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Norway, Japan, England, and Holland. She has had many solo watercolor exhibits at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle as well as in other Washington communities, Oregon, and Alaska.

In May of 1999, Rie Muñoz received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities Award from the University of Alaska Southeast and in September of 2000 she was named Artist of the Year at the Pacific Rim Art Exhibition in Seattle.

For an overview of her graphic work with biography by Sara Eppenbach, see the “Rie Muñoz Portrait of Alaska” book.

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