Show Preview | Santa Fe Plein Air Festival

Santa Fe, NM
InArt Gallery, June 9-July 4

John Meister, Kitchen Mesa Window, oil, 14 x 11.

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

This month, 55 plein-air artists from around the country converge on Santa Fe, NM, to participate in the fouth annual Santa Fe Plein Air Festival sponsored by the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico. Arriving in the area on June 4, the artists paint within a designated area in a roughly 30-mile radius of Santa Fe. Paint-outs, organized so that art lovers can easily observe the artists at work, are scheduled for Saturday, June 4, at the Santuario de Chimayo; Sunday, June 5, in Abiquiu near Ghost Ranch and the Benedictine monastery; and Monday, June 6, at the Mary Cabot Wheelwright hacienda, Los Luceros. Participating artists include Richard Abraham, Lee MacLeod, Michele Farrier, Clive Tyler, and Richard Prather.

On Thursday, June 9, InArt Gallery on Canyon Road unveils more than 100 of the recently created artworks at an opening reception at 5 p.m. Over $20,000 in awards are presented by judge Frank LaLumia, a Colorado oil and watercolor painter. And this is where the magic happens, says event co-chair Tobi Clement. One can walk into the gallery and see works created in all different styles and palettes but all based on a four-day period in northern New Mexico, Clement notes. “This is not just painting,” she says. “This is a unique art form. Most artists have to finish a piece within two hours because of the changing light. It’s spontaneous and expressive work.”

Peggy Immel, Up Valley, oil, 12 x 16.

On Friday, June 10, in conjunction with ARTsmart’s Edible Art Tour, the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico and InArt Gallery unveil a second art show in a tent outside of the gallery. Entitled Reach for the Skies, the ARTsmart fundraiser comprises sky-related plein-air paintings by festival juried artists that hang side by side with plein-air works by students from local elementary and middle schools. A portion of the proceeds from Reach for the Skies artworks goes to ARTsmart to fund art programs for local schools.

Festival artworks remain on display at InArt Gallery through July 4. —Laura Rintala

contact information
www.papnm.org

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