Plein Air Art Show

Join us during the month of June for the Lewisburg Arts Council’s Annual Plein Air Art Show. The artwork on display was recently created during the 2022 Celebration of the Arts Plein Air Events. View the exhibit in Gallery 255 at the Public Library for Union County located at 255 Reitz Boulevard, Lewisburg, PA 17837. The gallery is open to the public during the library’s normal operating hours. 

All artists and photographers, young and old, amateur and professional, who participated in the Plein Air Events were invited to show their work! The Plein Air events were sponsored by the Merrill Linn Conservancy, the Lewisburg Arts Council, the Artists’ Guild of Lewisburg, and the Union County Historical Society.

Artwork includes Plein Air paintings, nature photography, urban sketching, and architectural photography started at one of the Plein Air Event sites during the Celebration of the Arts. Events included Plein Air Day on May 1, photographs from the Nature Photo Tours on May 1, sketches done during Urban Sketching Workshop on May 7, sketches done during Urban Sketching Day and photos taken during Architectural Photo tours on May 14. The sites included the Dale-Engle-Walker Property, Koons Trail property, Shikellamy Bluffs at Shikellamy Park, and Downtown Lewisburg.

Many pieces will be available for purchase directly from the artist. Representatives from the Artists’ Guild of Lewisburg and the Lewisburg Photography Club will be available to answer questions at the library on Tuesdays from 11:00am to 1:00pm (June 7, 14, 21 & 28). 

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What is plein air? Plein air is drawing or painting outdoors, rather than in a studio. The French term en plein air translates to “in the open air.” Creating art outside, working from life, has a long tradition in art. But it wasn’t until the 1800s, when art supplies became more portable, that working outdoors became easier and more popular. Prior to that, artists typically mixed their own paints from raw pigments. But in the 1800s, paint became widely available in tubes making painting outside much easier. The Impressionist painters in France popularized the practice of painting in the outdoors. They loved capturing the constantly changing light on their canvases. The practice spread to Italy and England. In the United States, the Hudson River School popularized it. Recently there has been a surge of interest in plein air painting and its relative, Urban Sketching—painting or drawing from life quickly and with few supplies.