Show Preview | Plein-Air Painters of America

Steamboat Springs, CO
Steamboat Art Museum, August 5-October 15

Andy Evansen, Exploring the Apostle Island Sea Caves, watercolor, 14 x 19.

This story was featured in the August 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art August 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

Two momentous occasions in the world of landscape painting coincide this month: August marks the 30th anniversary of the Plein-Air Painters of America, the oldest society of outdoor artists in the country, as well as the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. To celebrate, the Steamboat Art Museum is hosting the group’s annual exhibition and sale, this year titled Milestones, which takes as its theme the many special places that are part of the National Park System—parks, monuments, seashores, lakeshores, and more.

More than 30 PAPA members contribute works to the exhibition, including signature members Kenn Erroll Backhaus, Jill Carver, Kathleen Dunphy, Joseph McGurl, and Matt Smith. Three guest artists are also participating: Dan Young, Tom Hughes, and Jim McVicker. An opening reception takes place on Friday, August 12, from 5 to 9 p.m., with artists in attendance. Members spend the week leading up to the opening painting on location in and around Steamboat Springs. Prior to the opening on Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the group offers a special Paint With PAPA event; patrons who register in advance and bring their own materials can pull up an easel alongside PAPA artists to paint together on location. The exhibition remains on view through October 15.

All of the PAPA members share a fondness for the group, which was established in 1986 as the first of its kind for outdoor painters. Their camaraderie builds quickly as they share stories about the challenges of painting outside—donning slickers and tipping their easels forward to paint through a rainstorm, rushing to capture the fading light, fending off bugs and other critters.

“The great benefit is the ability to work side by side with artists who have the same interests and passions, including those who have been doing it longer,” Backhaus says. A member since 1997, the Pennsylvania artist contributes a painting from his travels to Niagara Falls National Heritage Area. He painted Horseshoe Falls in late winter, when the mist and steam rising from the falls formed a great cloud. “I painted both in the morning and the afternoon. The shadow and light effect creates an interesting mood, adding to the interest of the subject matter, which is very dynamic to begin with,” Backhaus observes.

Kathleen Dunphy, The Coast of Acadia, oil, 24 x 30.

California-based Kathleen Dunphy also calls upon her journeys for her submission. A signature member since 2013, Dunphy captures Maine’s Acadia National Park in THE COAST OF ACADIA. “It’s a combination of being both dynamic and peaceful,” she observes. Dunphy adds that the National Park System is a boon to artists. “It’s such an incredible resource for everyone, but especially for painters. There are fewer and fewer places to hike and walk and enjoy the land. There was so much foresight in creating the national parks. Our forefathers knew we would inevitably build over beautiful places unless they put a gate around it and said, ‘This place will stay like this forever,’” she says. —Ashley M. Biggers

contact information
970.870.1755
www.steamboatartmuseum.org
www.pleinairpaintersofamerica.com