En Plein Air - Painting in the Open Air
Left to Right: Debra Goesser and Zac Jones at En Plein Air 2009, Corning Fine Arts in historic downtown Corning Iowa
En Plein Air
Corning Fine Arts En Plein Air occurs over a two day period in Corning Iowa. Open to all Artists, entires must be original works of art composed and painted on site in Corning during the two day event. Artists are asked to submit a brief artist's biography for publication purposes. Corning Fine Arts brings respected judges from throughout the region and awards are given each year.
What is En Plein Air?
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors. Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important. The popularity of painting en plein air increased in the 1870s with the introduction of paints in tubes (resembling modern toothpaste tubes). Previously, each painter made their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil. It was during this period that the "Box Easel", typically known as the French Box Easel, was invented. It is uncertain who developed it first, but these highly portable easels, with telescopic legs and built-in paint box and palette, made treks into the forest and up the hillsides less onerous. Still made today, they remain a popular choice even for home use since they fold up to the size of a brief case and thus are easy to store.
To find out more about the contemporary practice of En Plein Air visit these sites:
En Plein Air Society of America
http://www.p-a-p-a.com/
En Plein Art Net - a site dedicated to all things En Plein Air
http://www.pleinairart.net/