Light and Color, Place and Space: Landscape Painting on Site and in the Studio
McDaniel College’s Department of Art presents “Light and Color, Space and Place: Landscape Painting on Site and in the Studio,” a group exhibition, November 7 through December 8 in The Rice Gallery in Peterson Hall. An artists’ reception will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on November 9, with a gallery talk beginning at 6:00 p.m.
This landscape exhibition is inspired by student-faculty summer research done between Professor Steven Pearson and four students: Sarah Mendez, Lacy Newhouse, Zoe Shelby, and Mandy Smith. The exhibition looks at “place” through landscapes both real and invented, painted en plein air and in the studio. Landscapes both rural and urban, showcasing subject matter that explores common threads and unique approaches to this traditional genre will be featured.
After the student/faculty summer research had concluded, Pearson saw a group of plein air painters painting the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg, PA, as a fundraiser to raise money for the market after a fire tore through one of its two buildings. Talking to a few of the painters he learned about the Susquehanna Valley Plein Air Painters and subsequently inquired about joining the group. Through that group, he learned about, and participated in, a paint-out that was a part of the 10th Annual Summer Plein Air Show in the Highlandtown neighborhood of Baltimore. There, he met the Baltimore Plein Air Club and was invited to join them for one of their weekly painting excursions in Fells Point. Pearson invited both groups to submit work to be juried into the McDaniel exhibition. Accepted members of the Baltimore Plein Air Club include , Gavin Bromell
Cathy Cole, Mary Ann Clarendon, Jim McDonald, Lark McPhail, and Karen Winston-Levin. Accepted members of the Susquehanna Valley Plein Air Painters include Cindy Baker, Donna Berk Burlap, Mary DePalma, Lina Ferrara, Jean Frey, Susan Benigni-Landis, Debbie Thompson, and Julie Riker.
Also featured in the exhibition are three painters who have always featured plein air painting into their broader studio practice: Hans Habeger (Chicago), Sean Sauer (Philadelphia), and Erin Raedeke (Washington DC). The final two artists included in the exhibition are Nora Sturges, a professor of painting at Towson University and Flavius Lily, the provost at McDaniel College. Nora Sturges will exhibit a selection of paintings from her “Pandemic Project: Darwin,” where she uses Google Street View to follow the route Charles Darwin took with the Beagle (1832-36), and makes tiny, postcard-sized paintings of what she discovers. Dr. Flavius Lilly, the new provost at McDaniel College, was invited to participate in the exhibition after Pearson’s students learned he did watercolor paintings featuring scenes around Baltimore.
Hours for the Esther Prangley Rice Gallery at McDaniel College (when the College is open) are Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 pm. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public. For information and to confirm gallery hours, please call 410-857-2595 or visit www.mcdaniel.edu….
Location Peterson Hall - Rice Gallery - GAL
