The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery continues the en plein air tradition, the act of creating art outdoors, inviting artists to the Coutts Centre for Western Canadian Heritage monthly from May through September. Inspired by the stunning garden property, located near Nanton, the largest number of participating artists have contributed the largest number of artworks for the sixth annual En Plein Air exhibition, opening at the Dr. James Foster Penny Building, Saturday, Nov. 30, with an opening reception from 3-5 p.m.
The 2019 En Plein Air art exhibition, running November 30 through December 20, will feature the largest number of works since its inception, with 43 artists contributing 144 pieces.
“The En Plein Air exhibition continues to demonstrate increasing strength and quality as a group exhibition while attracting new participants and submissions from southern Alberta and BC artists,” says Jon Oxley, Art Gallery administrative manager. “The Coutts Centre gardens and buildings keep changing each year, and the artists keep finding new themes and focus all around its lush 12 acres.”
New to the exhibition this year is photography by Morton Molyneaux, who used an ancient Brownie camera, and did his own platinum and palladium photographic processing, with very unique results. There is a ceramic model of the Camera Obscura located on the property, featuring a light-powered occulus requiring the viewer to peer into the ceramic silo. There’s a large bowl of giant ceramic seeds, and the largest painting ever submitted to the En Plein Air exhibition, a Gainsborough-like garden setting with a cellist in the foreground.
Donated to the University of Lethbridge in 2011, the Coutts Centre for Western Canadian Heritage has become a living classroom where students, faculty and visitors can make use of the natural setting to study the history, artwork, ecosystems and geography associated with the area.
“Dr. Jim Coutts believed strongly in supporting the arts,” explains Oxley. “It’s an honour to help continue his legacy by inviting artists to his property each summer and seeing their work exhibited soon after.”
Co-sponsored by the Faculty of Fine Arts and the Coutts Centre for Western Canadian Heritage, En Plein Air opens with a reception on Saturday, Nov. 30, 3-5 p.m. in the Penny Gallery. The exhibition, running until Dec. 20, is open to the public Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.