Plein Air Season at the Garden

01sepAll Day31octPlein Air Season at the Garden

Event Details

September 1-October 31, 9 am-6 pm.

En Plein Air is a French expression meaning “in the open air” and refers to the act of painting outdoors with the artist immersed in the natural setting they are depicting. Guests are invited to bring their supplies and create work inspired by the autumnal scenery at the Garden. The season will culminate in a juried exhibition in December featuring works created at the Garden this fall.

In honor of our seasonal exhibition, Alice’s Adventures at the Garden, we strongly encourage works that depict the moasiaculture pieces currently on view at the Garden through October.

Works can be submitted for consideration for the Plein Air Exhibition, which will be on view in December in our Visitors Center. Click here to submit your work to the Plein Air Exhibition. The submission deadline is November 1 at noon.

This is an inclusive event – open to everyone from beginners to experts, including children, and all mediums are welcome. It is free with Garden admission, and there is no fee to submit work for consideration in the exhibition.

Guest Artist Schedule:
Select Sundays, 3-5 pm

Sunday, September 11: Barrie Foster
Barrie began painting in watercolors in 1998 after moving to a farm in Tipton County, where she studied under Fred Rawlinson for several years. In 2014, she went back to work and was Director of the Tipton County Museum, Veterans Memorial & Nature Center in Covington, Tennessee. During that time she learned to paint in all the media and retired in December of 2020. Since retiring, she has been enjoying teaching art and painting en plein air.

Sunday, September 18: Jan Carnall 
As a painter looking for a challenge, Jan began painting en plein air 10 years ago. “I’ve always liked traveling and exploring the outdoors. Painting gives me a record of those travel experiences in a unique way. I can see the true image of a place without depending on a camera’s reproduction.”

Sunday, September 25: Bob McCabe
“I enjoy the challenge of painting Plein Air using graphite or ink and watercolors. The portability and freshness unique to watercolor allows you capture a scene quickly and is perfect for the spontaneous expression of a special place.”

Sunday, October 9: Ann Brown Thomason
“I was educated and practiced as an Internal Medicine physician from the 1970s in the Memphis, TN area, but never received any classical education in art. Mostly self-taught, my mother was a classically trained artist whose techniques I still employ. She died before I started painting, and I still use her metal painting box to store supplies and her palette knive.

Retiring from medicine in autumn of 2020 gave time for becoming more active in multiple art organizations in the Memphis community as well as the Forgotten Coast area where we have a second home. My areas of interest are seascapes, bay scenes, landscapes, and portraiture in oils and acrylics that depict primarily impressionistic techniques with realism in some. I have exhibited or demonstrated with art organizations at various venues locally and in Florida. I have been an Invited Plein Air Artist with the Memphis Botanic Garden for the past several years. I have exhibited with Light and Color Inspired and Sisters of the Brush, which are groups of three to four women artists. My first solo exhibit “Escape to Water and Sky” was in August to September 2021 at the Memphis Botanic Garden. I return to the beach as often as possible and draw endless inspiration from the beauty of the natural beach surroundings.”

Sunday, October 16: Carol Roark
“We live in a world moving at warp speed. Technology and accessibility to most anything gives us a fast paced sometimes almost frantic way of life.The natural world is taken for granted and most of us rush through the day missing unending beauty right before us. When I paint, I become once again grounded in God’s creation. Whether I am painting in the studio or out in the field, time slows down. My mind relaxes. I become absorbed in the play of light through a tree or the dust in a field kicked up by a distant tractor. I am instantly captivated by the vast Mississippi Delta sky and its ever changing cloud formations. When someone views my work, I want to invite them on this same journey. Encourage them to slow down as well – to feel as if they could step into the canvas and explore the winding paths and turn rows. I want them to feel the breeze, smell the honeysuckle and hear the cicadas. I want them to remember what it is like to find wonder and fascination in the ordinary.”

Sunday, October 23: Jacque’ Sligh
“I was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Now I live in Collierville, TN. I have been interested in painting and sketching for as long as I can remember. Painting outdoors is a real plus for me. I love to be outdoors, and I love to paint. I enjoy seeing the effects of light and shadow on the environment and trying to capture that in my paintings. My favorite paintings are of the landscape and my attempts to capture the location and the moment in time. I am drawn to the paintings of the Impressionists and attempt to paint in their style. Oil paints are my paint of choice to capture the colors and values in the environment. Painting en plein air has helped me to paint the colors in a more natural light.

I have been instructed by some excellent artists who have helped me become a better artist. They include Sandee Sanders, Anne Templeton, Sue Foell, Ben Konis, Billy Kirk, Ann Blair Brown, Roger Dale Brown, Robert Harper, John Pototschnik, Ken DeWaard, Marc Hansen, Anne Enoch, John Latamer, Susan Patton, and others who have helped me along my art journey. I have spent time in many art museums studying the paintings of multiple artists. Locally, I enjoy spending time at The Dixon viewing their art and art exhibitions.

Painting on location I strive for synthesis of observation (really seeing the landscape), internalization (contemplation of what I want the viewer to see), and application (using my brushes, painting tools, paints and canvas). I then paint the day as I see it (capturing that moment in time), and suggesting to the viewer a sense of place by way of painterly brush strokes.”

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Time

September 1 (Thursday) - October 31 (Monday)