[BCMA] Penticton en Plein Air Saturday May 8th, 2010 11 am - 4 pm

Wed May 5 11:10:19 PDT 2010

The Penticton Art Gallery & the Naramata Bench Winery Association proudly present ...
The 2nd Annual Penticton en Plein Air Day, a Day of Painting Outdoors
When: 11 am - 4 pm Saturday May 8th, 2010
Where: The Wineries of the Naramata Bench Winery Association
Cost: Nothing ... This is a Free Event the Whole Family can Enjoy!!!

The Penticton Art Gallery is pleased to invite you for the second year in a row a unique opportunity to see some of the regions best know Plein Air painters at work out at the wineries of the Naramata Bench Winery Association. This free two part exhibition starts on Saturday, May 8 with twenty-four artists painting at seven unique and spectacular locations located along the renowned Naramata Bench. This is an opportunity for the public to watch first hand as artist's work in the great outdoors to capture and document in real time the amazing vistas offered at each of the seven participating wineries. 

The gallery invites you to drop by the gallery in the days leading up to the event or on Saturday May 8th to collect your free limited edition guidebook to help you on your day's journey. The book features a map, biography and description of each of the participating artists and wineries. Use this to find your way to each of the locations and to gain some insight into the lives of each of the participating artists. Once at each location you're invited to just watch as they create or engage the participating artists in conversation as they create a number of works on location over the course of the day. In addition to the Penticton Art Gallery you can find your free, self-guided guidebook on our website www.pentictonartgallery.com and click on Penticton en Plein Air under the events tab to downlaod your free event guide and map. 

En Plein Air is a French expression which means "in the open air" and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors. Artists have long painted outdoors but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important to the painters of the Barbizon school and the Impressionists. The introduction of paints being sold in tubes and the "Box Easel", with its telescopic legs and built-in paint box and palette made painting in oils truly portable. The ability for an artist to take their studio out into the wilderness opened up infinite possibilities and allowed artists to truly capture the spirit and mood of the landscape. Plein air painting is all about painting in the great outdoors, on location, surrounded by your subject. No studio, no photos to copy from, just you and nature.

While this began to take firm root in Europe, here in Canada painters like Paul Kane, the early C.P.R. painters and artists like Julia Bullock-Webster began to take advantage of this new found freedom and ventured into the uncharted landscape in search of the unknown, documenting what they witnessed along the way. The most famous advocates of this new found freedom and the idea of painting en plein air were the members of the Canadian Group of Seven and Tom Thomson who traveled out from the urban centers in search of the natural beauty of the wilderness landscape and in doing so creating iconic paintings which have helped to galvanize our national identity. We are pleased to once again be in a position to offer this event as an introduction to painting en plein air and hope that it will bring greater understanding and appreciation of this tradition and in a small way strip away some of the mysteries behind what goes into the creation of a painting..  

The participating artists and their locations for this our second annual Penticton en Plein Air are: La Frenze Winery ~ Robyn Lake, Ken Gillepsie, Jerry Markham, Dave Nicholas; Therapy Vineyards ~ Ingrid Winkler, Angie Roth McIntosh, Ingrid Mann-Willis, Nel Witteman; Poplar Grove ~ Loraine Stephanson, Kindrie Grove, Robert Jenkins, Ron Stacy; Lake Breeze ~ Viv Lieskovsky, George Traicheff, Rod Charlesworth, Connor Charlesworth; Elephant Island ~ Jan Little, Laurel Cormack, Carol McQuaid; Kettle Valley Winery ~ Bruce Crawford, Bill Hibberd, Jim Glenn; Van Westen Vineyards ~ Glenn Clark, Peter Corbett

I would like to once again thank Glenn Clark for his amazing help in organizing this event, Roxanne for her help designing our guidebook and poster, the members of the Naramata Bench Winery Association, Elephant Island Winery, The Oliver Chronicle and the Peachland View for assistance with advertising and promotion, the Lloyd Gallery and Classic Picture Frames in Kelowna for providing frames and most importantly all twenty-four of the participating artists for their time, creativity and support of this event.  It is our hope that this popular event will continue to grow each year to include more artists and venues to help us to further highlight and promote the amazing richness and diversity of our creative community while helping the gallery move towards increased financial stability through important outreach events such as this..                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

At the conclusion of this event the works will be propery framed and will be included in an exhibition in the Toni Onley Gallery named in memory or another noted plein air painter and huge gallery supporter. These works will then be offered as part of the Penticton Art Gallery's Annual Art Auction, Starry, Starry Night, to be held this year at the gallery on Saturday, July 10. In the event you can't attend this year's auction, advance bids on these or any of the amazing lots offered can be left at the front desk in advance of the gala. This is not only a great opportunity to see artists in action but it?s also an opportunity to acquire a work you witnessed being created and providing you years worth of stories to accompany the work which will certainly enhance not only your home but your life.  

For more information, artist and winery bios along with links their website please visit www.pentictonartgallery.com and click on Penticton en Plein Air under the events tab to downlaod your free event guide and map..

Paul Crawford Director/Curator
The Penticton Art Gallery
199 Marina Way
Penticton, B.C. V2A 1H3

Phone: (250) 493-2928
Fax: (250) 493-3992
Web: www.pentictonartgallery.com
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