JOURNAL CULTURE EN PLEIN AIR continued from PAGE 29
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Taylor and 11 other local artists will be painting in Greenville’s Falls Park on Saturday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. as a part of “Get Out and Stay Out!” “Get Out and Stay Out!” is designed to help the museum close out its major summer exhibition, “Masterpieces of American Landscape” from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which closes on Sunday, said Ellen Westkaemper, head of education for the Greenville County Museum of Art. “The ‘Masters of American Landscape’ exhibit presents a fascinating history of landscapes,” Westkaemper said. “People continue to paint landscapes and en plein air today. Our hope is this event will build a bridge from the history of landscape to contemporary landscape with local artists.”
DIRECT FROM LIFE
En plein air is a method used by many of the artists featured in the “Masters of Landscape” exhibition. Painting directly from life dates to 19thcentury Europe, when Englishman John Constable believed the artist should forget about formulas and trust his own vision in finding truth in nature, according to the Plein Air Painters of America’s Website. To find that truth, Constable made sketches outdoors and then elaborated on them in the studio. French impressionist painters such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir further popularized en plein air painting, and they believed that finding the truth in nature was part of their responsibility, part of the beauty of their work. They worked mostly outdoors and emphasized light and color.
artists through flags near their easels, and are encouraged to stop and watch and ask questions, Westkaemper said. The artists will have the evening to complete their works in their studios before returning the 16-by-20-inch canvases to the art museum. On Sunday as a part of the museum’s Sundays at 2 programming, Furman University art professor Michael Brodeur will moderate a panel discussion titled “Landscape Then and Now.” The panel includes Alan Ethridge of the Metropolitan Arts Council, Allen Coleman of the Pickens County Museum of Art and Julyan Davis, an Asheville artist whose work was featured in a solo exhibit at the museum last year and whose newest work interprets traditional American ballads through the contemporary South. Following the discussion, visitors may see the works created by the artists in Falls Park in the museum’s Level 1 Gallery.
CONSTANTLY SHIFTING ELEMENTS
Artist Bruce Bunch said one of the challenges of painting en plein air is that elements in the scene are constantly moving and changing. “Water moves. People in the scene will only be there for a short time,” he said. “The artist must make a mental note of that or do a quick sketch if they want to include that element in their painting.” But the biggest change is the light throughout the day. Morning light will be bluer, he said In the evening, light consists of more yellows and reds. Morning and evening light
casts soft colors and shadows. In the middle of the day, shadows will be harsher. “En plein air painting is really coping with the elements,” Bunch said. Although it shouldn’t be a problem on Saturday, Bunch said he finds cold and freezing temperatures most challenging since he paints with watercolors, and water freezes. “I’ll usually put whiskey in the water then,” he said. If it rains on Saturday, the artists will still be in the park painting, Westkaemper said. Some will bring umbrellas. Others will set up under bridges in the park. There’s even the Bowater garage, she said. One of Saturday’s participating artists, Russell Jewell, competed in a plein air competition this summer and won the grand prize, Westkaemper said. It was raining then, too, and Jewell painted his winning piece sitting behind the steering wheel of a car.
SO YOU KNOW… WHAT: “Get Out and Stay Out!” WHO: Greenville County Museum of Art invitational plein air demonstration WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Falls Park, Greenville • “Outside the Artist’s Studio” – A panel discussion moderated by Dr. Michael Brodeur on Sunday, Sept. 15 (2 p.m.) at the Greenville County Museum of Art COST: Free INFORMATION: 864-271-7570
MEETING THE PUBLIC
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30 THE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 13, 2013
Local artists participating in the “Get Out and Stay Out!” demonstration are Georgia Harrison, Bruce L. Bunch, Russell Jewell, Robert Decker, Thomas Earl Flowers, Cathy Zaden Lea, Jo Ann Taylor, Jacki Newell, Dabney Mahanes, Bette Coningsby, Bill Jameson and Keith Spencer. The artists will scatter around Falls Park, each interpreting the picturesque views in his or her own way. Some will use watercolor. Others will use acrylic or oil paint. Visitors to the park will be able to identify the
“Top of the Falls” (in watercolor) by JoAnn Taylor