November 2013

Helena Fox Fine Art in Charleston, SC, Offers Works by Members of The Plein Air Painter’s of America

Helena Fox Fine Art, LLC, in Charleston, SC, will present The Color of Light – The Plein Air Painter’s of America, on view from Nov. 1 - 30, 2013. A reception will be held on Nov. 1, from 5-8pm.

This exhibition is the first in a series of 4 annual exhibits that introduces and showcases the fine works by this nationally renowned group of 30 members/artists to the Southern States prior to their group museum exhibit at the Gibbes Museum of Art in 2016. These select members (30 in total) are hailed as America’s finest painters in the Plein Air tradition.

Each annual exhibit will showcase the works by 8 PAPA members and pay homage to the regions and genre to which they paint. Through observation, sight, sound, understanding light, atmosphere and composition, these masters take in what we see as ordinary and create extraordinary works of fine art. “They are highly trained and skilled using nature in their quest to capture the fragile yet harmonious balance between our common experience and the challenges to compose great works of art.’” remarks gallery owner, Helena Fox.

Helena Fox Fine Art is honored to host the works of the first group of 8 nationally recognized PAPA members; Kenn Backhaus, Christopher Blossom, John Cosby, Donald Demers, Kathleen Dunphey, West Fraser, Joseph Paquet and Linda Tippetts.

The exhibition reflects the lifetime each artist has dedicated to creating fine art that captures the essence of place – Kenn Backhaus’s fondness for nature became the catalyst for his art. In 2006 Backhaus was filmed, painting the Alaskan landscape in a PBS series, Plein Air, Painting the American Landscape. Christopher Blossom follows in a line of highly accomplished artists. Both his grandfather, Earl, and his father David, were celebrated fine artists. Their influence in combination with Blossom’s own unique approach to easel painting have led him to be regarded as the undisputed leader of today’s generation of marine painters.

As a Plein Air painter John Cosby travels extensively painting what he sees and feels. Bold use of color and an energetic brush stroke is what you will see and feel when viewing a painting by Cosby. Donald Demers, like Blossom, is one of America’s most celebrated and highly sought after Marine painters. Recently, Demers’ body of work has expanded to the study and creation of Plein Air landscape painting. These works are created from subjects across the country and beyond, often-in consort with other artists of similar inspiration.

Newly elected as a signature member of PAPA, Kathleen Dunphy’s current passion is to paint landscapes everyday from her Northern California surroundings. The Lowcounty’s own, West Fraser, has spent most of the past three decades working to document the changing coastal South Carolina and Georgia regions. Fraser is particularly well known for his purist, light filled landscapes and engaging city scenes.

Joe Paquet fuses field studies with the image he can see with his mind’s eye, allowing the intellectual process to marry the intuitive. Montana artist, Linda Tippetts has won numerous awards in her 25-year career including Grand Prize for the National Arts for the Prize and inclusion in the Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West.

For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/723-0073 or visit (www.helenafoxfineart.com).

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