Learn More About Plein Air Painting at Group's Upcoming Exhibit

By VALERIE CLARK Cascade A&E Editor

An art form popularized by 19th-century masters including Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, painting en plein air is now enjoying a renaissance in Oregon, and organizers of an upcoming art exhibit hope to bring this medium to the masses. French for “in the open air,” plein air painting refers to landscape painting on location, out in the field. Oregon seems like a natural fit for such an art form, with its endless and varied scenic landscapes and a comfortable climate that suits outdoor painting for much of the spring, summer and fall.

“Personally, I really like the mountains and Smith Rock just because they’re incredible,” said pastels and plein air painter Lise Hoffman-McCabe, chairperson of the upcoming show. Hoffman-McCabe is one of the members of the Plein Air Painters of Oregon, a non-profit group founded in 2003 that strives to develop public awareness of plein air painting through the written word and periodic public shows of plein air painting. One of those shows is just around the corner. PAPO’s third-annual exhibit, titled Impressions of the Seasons, is set for Saturday, September 4 at Clearwater Gallery in Sisters, located at 391 W. Cascade Ave. Artworks submitted from 32 of PAPO’s 73 members will remain on display through the month of September.

The event will feature renowned pastels and plein air painter Richard McKinley of Medford, who will host a one-day, two-part workshop on Friday, September 3 in conjunction with the exhibit. From 9am-noon, McKinley will demonstrate his technique, and from 1pm-4pm he will be available to critique your artwork. The cost of attending both is $50 for PAPO members and $60 for non-members. For the demo, the cost is $35 for members and $40 for non-members. For the critique, which is expected to fill up quickly, the cost is $20 for members and $30 for non-members. Plein air artwork is unique, Hoffman-McCabe explained, because of the amount of detail the artist is able to capture, especially with shifting shadows and light. “The light is constantly changing,” she said. “If you were painting flowers, sometimes they’d be illuminated from behind, and then an hour later from the side, and two hours later from somewhere else, so your scene is just shifting as the day moves, as time goes by.”

It’s the kind of detail that artists just can’t capture by snapping a digital photo. “You just get a sense of it so much better,” she said. “It’s almost like I get to taste it by being there.” McKinley, who works primarily in oils and pastels, points out that photography is a recent invention relative to the span of time that humans have been creating art. Only by painting with their subjects right in front of them can artists hope to achieve a sense of intimacy with their artwork, he said, adding that taking a picture offers only a “pale representation” of the subject matter, lacking the interpretation and imagination the human mind brings to painting. Vivian Olsen, president of the PAPO, said painting en plein air is unique because the artist must finish her printing spontaneously, in such a short amount of time. “There’s a lot more emotion and there’s a lot more of the artist’s brushstroke interaction with the painting,” Olsen said. “It’s so much more alive. You don’t have time to rework it.”

The results of plein air painting are definitely worth the effort of carrying around art supplies, Hoffman-McCabe agreed. “It is challenging. Pastels can get heavy,” she said. “But once you get set up, then you’re absolutely fine.” She’s devised a system to transport her painting materials wherever she goes, so that she’s always ready to paint if inspiration strikes. In her car she keeps a backpack box of pastels and a trolley that conveniently holds her easel. “All I have to do is pick up my easel and the trolley, and I can walk a mile,” she said. PAPO members travel all over the state, Hoffman-McCabe added. “You can find beauty anywhere,” she said. “We paint all over Oregon.” The PAPO brochure describes the quest of the plein air painter: “Plein air artists see and embrace the landscape unvarnished, describing for the viewer the beauty before them. It is the ultimate battle of light and time. These artists brave cold, heat, wind, mosquitoes, etc. to capture a fleeting moment in time – an adventure like no other.” PAPO members attend regular “paint-out” gatherings during the warmer months of the year to share fellowship and learn different techniques from each other.

“It’s wonderful to be able to go out with somebody to paint,” Olsen said. “It’s such a lovely pastime. We’re there to support each other as friends.” The artists also critique each other’s work, helping everyone to improve. “It’s a great organization and a wonderful camaraderie,” McKinley said, adding that he’s excited that the PAPO exhibit will spread the word about creating art outside with one’s subject matter – “with the sun and the bugs and everything that goes with it.” www.pleinairpaintersoforegon.org

High Desert Museum Rendezvous
JaNeil Anderson Captures Western Image for Event

by TRINITY COMBS
Cascade AE Feature Writer

The original works of JaNeil Anderson have been inspiring admirers for years. Her paintings capture the experiences of her upbringing, using painting techniques that allow the viewer to feel the emotions of her painted characters. “I am driven to the qualities that make an individual unique. Gestures that tell their own story,” Anderson said. “I strive to capture power of emotion in my paintings and hopefully each viewer will see a story of their own.” Anderson was born in 1956 in Safford, Arizona, and was raised in near-by Duncan, on her parent’s farm on the Gila River in Southern New Mexico. Anderson has always been around the ranch and cattle setting, living on various ranches in the Southwest and having first hand experience with the gathering, branding and cooking for the cowboys.

While sticking to her country roots, Anderson has incorporated the feel of living as a cowboy or cowgirl into her paintings. She received a certificate in basic art studies from Art Instruction Schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has studied under CAA artist James Reynolds and R.S. Riddick and has been working professionally with her art since the early 1990s. Anderson progressively discovered the best way to reach the highest potential of her paintings would mean moving from pencil drawing to pastels then to oil painting. She believes oils are a big challenge, but she has grown to prefer the specific style of painting. Anderson’s paintings captures the essence of the connection between animal and human, and also the connection between the surrounding nature on a ranch. “I am driven to meet the challenge to capture the likeness of the person or animal and the beauty in both,” Anderson said.

Anderson typically portrays the way of life in the West and her work shows the American Frontier in small segments, with personal emphasis. Anderson’s intricate painting style allows her viewers to use their imagination to create their own story through the fine details of the oils. Each painting is open-ended to allow the viewer to explore the painting just as the characters in the painting explore the land on the ranch. Currently Anderson is a member of Western Artists of America, Oil Painters of America and is a Signature American Plains Artist. Anderson lives with her husband Walt on their third generation cattle ranch the Gila River in Southwest New Mexico. www.janeilanderson.com janeil.anderson56@gmail.com 575-542-9752

High Desert Museum Presents Rendezvous & Art Show

The 21st annual High Desert Rendezvous is set on the High Desert Museum grounds on August 21 at 5pm, featuring the Best of the West Auction and Gala, great dancing to live music, a wild West cowboy supper and hosted bar. Have fun while supporting the Museum at its most important fundraiser. All proceeds benefit the Museum’s educational programs. At this year’s gala, guests will twirl on the dance floor when Courtney Lynn and Big Trouble strike up the music – Western dance lessons kick off right after the live auction! So dress in your best Western duds, ready to bid on Western art, one-of-a-kind works of jewelry, and intriguing Western adventures and vacations exclusive to this event, such as a Pendleton Round-Up package, trips to destinations around the world and fabulous dinner parties. In addition, special, close-up wildlife encounters and appearances from living history personalities make this a remarkable evening dedicated to raising funds for a nationally recognized treasure.

The High Desert Rendezvous is presented by Sterling Savings Bank. Honorary Chairs of the 2010 event are Kathryn and Curtis Baker. Tickets for the Museum’s largest fundraiser of the year sell quickly, so get yours now. Tickets: $200 per person or $350 per couple (include a Museum membership); members, $150, available at www.highdesertrendezvous.org, hdr@highdesertmuseum.org or 541-382-4754 ext. 365. Table sponsorships are available starting at $2,000.ART OF THE WEST SHOW You don’t have to wait until the gala to make silent bids on your favorite items.Visit the artist works at the High Desert Rendezvous Art of the West Show, July 31–August 21 at the Museum. The Art of the West Show features painting and sculpture from over twenty renowned contemporary Western artists. Silent bids will be accepted at the Museum prior to the night of the Rendezvous.

Art in the High Desert Growing by Leaps & Bounds

By VALERIE CLARK Cascade A&E Editor

Just in its third year, Central Oregon’s Art in the High Desert festival has already established quite a name for itself, this year attracting more than 400 artists from across the country to apply to be a part of the show. Festival organizer Dave Fox said its popularity this year is thanks to the success of the past two festivals, bolstered by their perfect location on the Deschutes River in the Old Mill District and by the strong support of an arts-centric community.

“I’m filled with so much pride with the fact that these people will apply to be in this show, which is still a young show,” Fox said. “What artists tell us is that the location is magical. The people that come to the festival are interested; they understand art. The town supports it.”

Out of the 438 artists who applied to be a part of the show, 108 were selected by a panel of four jurors: Bill Hoppe, associate professor in Central Oregon Community College’s art department; Danae Miller, a local sculptor; Betsy Bensen, a Portland-based jeweler and Debbie Leahy, director of the Salem Arts Festival. The jurors reviewed four images submitted by each artist as well as an artist’s statement and an example of their booth. “We think that how they present themselves to the public is really important,” Fox said. As is the custom in most art shows, the jurors go through all the applications during a two-day marathon at the COCC computer lab. But in this case, they’d already had about three weeks to look through the material beforehand.

“They do that homework ahead of time,” Fox said. “They’ve pretty much already seen what’s there.” Applications increased this year from 397 last year and 351 the first year, Fox said. “This year we really took a bigger jump, because we’re becoming quite well-known, I think,” he explained. Mark Stephenson, a photographer who participated in Art in the High Desert during its second year, is quoted on the festival’s website singing its praises. “I’d heard great things about the Art in the High Desert organizers, the volunteers, Bend, the community spirit and the magically gorgeous venue. But I was leery about participating in a festival with just one year under its belt. Now I’m thanking my lucky stars I took the chance. Not only was all that good stuff true, my Art in the High Desert sales bested my earnings at the last two Sausalito Art Festivals! I’m coming back as long as they’ll take me,” Stephenson said.

To fulfill their task of choosing festival exhibitors, the jurors rank each entry, and the best applicants in each category are selected for the festival, giving the artwork a healthy mix. “We curate the show and create what we feel is a really well-balanced show of the 14 media that are represented,” Fox said. “We don’t just take all the top scores. That gives it a really good balance.” This year’s festival will have “a good balance” indeed, with artists representing 13 states and Canada and showing off a wide variety of unique and beautiful artwork, from colorful, hand-crafted sculptural pepper mills to elegant, one-of-a-kind wooden kaleidoscopes. Also in the vein of “functional art” are the interesting baskets created by an artist whose medium is stainless steel mesh, aluminum and rubber. “He creases it and folds it sort of along the lines of origami,” Fox said.

One of the farthest-traveling artists, coming all the way from Kentucky, will showcase her alabaster vases and bowls, integrated with wood and steel. And a nationally-known artist will bring his larger-than-life kinetic sculptures, forged with cast glass, hammered copper and welded steel. And in the ceramics category is an artist who throws earthenware pottery and airbrushes it with a colorful underglaze. One of the show’s photographers will literally has gone to the ends of the Earth for his art. He spent five days traveling 8,000 miles from Oregon to the Antarctic Peninsula to capture the perfect image. A Native American artist in the festival uses the traditions of her people, handed down through thousands of years, for her work in clay, glass, bronze and wood. A ceramics artist has perfected the use of steel-tipped tools, including a kitchen can opener, to create stoneware that is part of the Smithsonian Institute and the American Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. All in all, Fox said, it’s an exciting group of artists.

There will be 52 new artists at this year’s festival, and art lovers will want to be sure to make it to the Old Mill District for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet these craftspeople. “These are professional artists that will be here once a year and they might not come back,” Fox said. And the great thing about coming out to the festival and actually meeting the artists, he added, is that if you buy a piece of art, it makes it that much more special. “It’s a chance for the people really to come and meet the artist who does the original work and have some interaction with them, learn about how they do it,” Fox said. “Buyers are investing in a piece of that artist. It’s more than just ‘stuff.’ The art that I really enjoy in my home are the pieces that I know what the story is. I had a touch of that artist and I understand what they do and how they do it, and why they do it. I think that’s an important piece for people to see this as an opportunity to embellish their lives; to have a taste of people that are coming from all over the country that juried into this festival.”

Fox stresses the importance of art in our lives, no matter what the economic circumstances of the moment may be. “I think art really does make a difference in people’s lives in terms of the spirit of your life,” he said, adding that the festival offers pieces at all prices, accessible to anyone. “This really has a broad price range,” he said. “We urge artists to think about that.” In addition, the festival is offering some incentives to encourage people to make investments in art. The first 15 people to spend $500 on each day of the festival will receive prizes, he said.

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