“Plein Air” means “open air” and signifies outdoor painting that captures nature’s light. Plein Air painting became famous in France in the 19th century. The invention of paints in tubes enabled impressionist artists, such as Van Gogh and Monet, to paint outdoors, en plein air.
"Not until the late 1860s, with the work of Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro, the leaders of Impressionism, did painting en plein air become more popular. This change came about from 1881, when Monet, in his efforts to capture the true effects of light on the colour of landscape at any given moment, began to carry several canvases at once into the out-of-doors. On each he began a painting of the same subject at a different time of day; on subsequent days, he continued to work on each canvas in succession as the appropriate light appeared."
Artists
July 4 - August 4, 2019
MaryLou Correia
"Reflections"
Reception: July 13, 3-6
December 5 - January 5, 2019
Sharon Hind Smith
Reception: TBA
January 9 - February 2, 2020
Rolando Barrero
Reception: TBA
Benicia Plein Air Gallery
307 First Street
Benicia, CA. 94510
Phone number: 707-297-5903
October 3 - November 3, 2019
Judy Feins
Reception: TBA
November 7 - December 1, 2019
JoAnn McMahon
Reception: TBA
June 6 - June 30, 2019
Susan Johnson
"Italian Ports"
Reception: June 8, 3-5
September 5 - September 29, 2019
Iris Sabre
Reception: TBA
February 6 - March 1, 2020
Catherine Fasciato
Reception: TBA
August 8- September 1, 2019
Judith Kunzle
Reception: TBA
Group Exhibit
A year-round exhibit showcases all 13 of the gallery's artists, refreshed monthly.
COMING UP
March, 2020
Featured Artist: Joanne Gustilo
April, 2020
Featured Artist: Jill Landau
May, 2020
Featured Artist: Nancy Roberts
Local watercolor painter Stephen Berry will be May’s featured artist at the Benicia Plein Air Gallery. Through his show “Our Redwoods”, he invites you to experience the redwood groves so precious to Northern California. Walk amongst the damp ferns, smell the iridescent green leaves of Bay trees, and remember what it is to be ancient.
“I like traveling out to the groves,” Stephen says, “like a pilgrimage of sorts, to stop whatever I’m doing for a day and recharge. Stepping on to the velvety forest floor, listening to birdsong or to the creak and sway of the boughs high above… Everything smells rich and verdant. It’s that kind of experience that makes painting there a joy.”
“Painting on site is a wonderful way to really see, to sink into the moment and pay attention,” Stephen notes. “My hope is that people viewing my paintings can experience some of that attentiveness too. Each location, and each day, is its own special thing.” With that mentality in mind, Steve has been traveling up and down the coast over the last 9 months, exploring old growth redwood forests. With paintings from locations as diverse as Muir Woods, Armstrong Redwood Reserve, Navarro State Park, and Hendy Woods “Our Redwoods” gives the trees, lighting, and mood of each location its due.
Greens have traditionally been looked down upon in art, as a color to be muted and with which to show restraint, but Stephen doesn’t hold back in these paintings. “These old growth woods, in the words of Frost ‘are lovely, dark, and deep’ but they’re also very alive and very, very green. With areas back lit by sun or cut through with shafts of light, the greens really pop against the shadows.” The goal is to have the paintings let you “peak into the woods through the wall”, and to let those greens glow!
Steve will be sitting at the gallery for the entire weekend of May 10th, 11th and 12th. Don’t miss a chance to visit with the artist and learn all about the paintings! You can find out more about Stephen, his blog, and his artwork at his website www.seamlessexpression.com.
