Rhiannon Klee Williams is an artist based in the Eastern Sierra, where the shifting light and wild edges of the natural world continue to shape her evolving body of work. In recent years, she has turned her attention to the quiet grandeur of more understated landscapes. Her practice is rooted in close observation and emotional resonance—her landscapes are not mere depictions of terrain, but invitations into the psychological and sensory imprint of place.
Excerpt from "Into Plain Air" by Beau Flemister
“What we do on the rock and in the mountains returns us to a primitive past, a past in which we reach so desperately for something we can’t even define.” Legendary climber-mountaineer Peter Croft said that. And yet, definitions aside, there are those that do a pretty exemplary job of articulating the magic that adventurers reach for. One such human is the elusive climber and artist, Rhiannon Williams, a shy hurricane of creative genius.
Often, it can be hard to find Rhiannon in the world if WiFi is not readily available. Living and creating art remotely from her van, you might find her around Yosemite, or in the deserts of Utah, or as far south as Argentinian Patagonia. Which all makes sense. She’s sailed around the Andaman and Java Seas. Began climbing in Thailand and Nepal. Learned to paint mandalas from a Nepali thangka master in Kathmandu… Indeed, there are no uninteresting chapters in the Book of Rhiannon.
Beyond becoming a talented climber, her en plein air watercolor paintings — many sketched or painted mid-climb so many stories above the earth — have become renowned works. “The mountains lend themselves to free brushstrokes that depict the energy of the moment,” she says of the process. “Sometimes, the wind whips the paint across the paper, sometimes, there are dirt smudges, etc. They are living time capsules of the adventure.”
Between said-adventures, we were lucky enough to catch her at ground-level and learn from this amazingly introspective traveler.
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