Those who have visited the Grand Canyon generally have a sense of its grandeur.

Two new artists at Fountain Hills Artists Gallery, husband and wife, Mike and Kim Buchheit (boo-kite), have more than a sense of the state’s National Park and one of the seven natural wonders of the world. They lived at the Grand Canyon for 27 years, only recently moving to the valley.

Mike is a photographer; Kim is a designer and fiber artist.

“Living at the Grand Canyon is like living in a postcard,” Mike said. “It defies description, in a way, but it was always inspirational.”

The Buchheits decided after a work force reduction at the canyon to return to the Phoenix-area. Mike had been Grand Canyon Field Institute director. Kim has done numerous projects for the Grand Canyon Conservancy and others.

She started her own design business in 2000, which she still operates today. She has been working almost exclusively with wool for the past 14 years. She earned her art degree from the University of Iowa.

Her felted work has won awards and been included in several juried group shows throughout the country. Both her and Mike’s work is at Fountain Hills Artists’ Gallery.

Mike said he took up photography and has captured the Grand Canyon in every light, season, time of day, angle. He has shot from the top, the bottom and everywhere in between including from the Colorado River.

Through the years, he has created scores of photos depicting the awesomeness of the canyon. And through the years, he has spent much time as an educator, teaching in his capacity as Field Institute director, leading tours of the canyon and writing.

Mike is an avid storyteller through his photographs, but he also enjoys telling stories of his and Kim’s adventures through life. They have no children but are blessed with lots of nieces and nephews who love them both.

“We are really lucky,” Kim said. “We have great access to all these kids.”

The two have worked with children in different capacities. Kim’s art is serious, but it also is whimsical.

She said she loves working with felted wool and has created a wide variety of pieces that appeal to all ages.

As a designer, Kim has worked on numerous projects including the “Code Talker” exhibit at the Burger King in Kayenta on the Navajo Reservation. Another project is a graphic on the floor exhibiting a timeline for the Navajo culture at Navajo Trail Trading Post in Cameron, Ariz.

She has worked on numerous other projects with Native cultures. Her broad experience, including writing computer code, building websites has always centered around art.

“She’s like a curious monkey,” Mike said. “She is incredibly creative.”

Kim is equally complimentary of Mike, indicating his storytelling, photography and curiosity drive him.

Mike loves teaching and has been involved with young people in a number of areas including Kids in Focus, a nonprofit group helping at-risk youth see themselves and the world in a new light. Mike serves as a mentor photographer with the young people.

“The kids are amazing,” he said. “Kids in Focus provides them with cameras. Shooting with kids is soul stuff.”

He also works with Free Arts, another nonprofit that helps youth.

“What a mission,” Mike exclaimed.

The mission, “transforming children’s trauma to resilience through the arts,” seems to be part of the Buchheits’ mission.

The Buchheits are entertaining people. They are entertaining to those they are speaking to, but they also are entertaining to each other.

Watching them together is uplifting and positive. When asked how they sustained their relationship for 27 years in the Grand Canyon, you were left with no doubt the mutual admiration, respect, attraction and common love for the natural world made living in such a remote place a wonderful, memorable, important experience.

They have been married 29 years, and they seem as delighted with each other now as a couple of kids would have been all those years ago.

While they miss living at Grand Canyon Village, they also enjoy their life in the valley.

“The great thing about Phoenix is if you run out of stuff, you can just go get it,” Kim said. “We didn’t go to the store very often – maybe every six weeks.”

Mike added that soon after returning to the Valley, they made four trips to Home Depot.

“Talk about amazing,” he said.

But Kim noted that they lived at the canyon “deliberately, and now we live in the city deliberately.”