C.D. White – Boy howdy, did they! They came from around our region and from as far as Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, Minnesota and even Mexico City after learning there was a new Plein Air Festival in the very paintable Ozarks. They came alone, with family and with plein air groups. They painted dripping wet in high humidity under blazing sun one day and dripping wet under thundering skies and pouring rain the next. They even painted in the dark of night.
They painted all over Eureka Springs for four days and when they were finished we had a chance to see our town as they saw it.
Walking into the Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center on the evening of May 26 for the final awards show must have been for the artists like “the smell of greasepaint and the roar of the crowd” is for an actor. The slight, seductive aroma of oil paints fresh from the day’s paint-out could be detected just under the excited expectations in the air as plein air artists and the interested public gathered to view an exhibit worthy of Crystal Bridges and discover who won Best of Show.
The submitted art – oils, acrylics, pastels, watercolors – represented a daily painting (or more) from each of the four days’ paint outs done by the 60-plus registered artists. Each evening a Purchase Prize of $1,000 had been awarded for that day’s winning painting but the big juried prizes and People’s Choice were the hot ticket on Thursday.
The public was invited to watch the painters work around town all week as well as attend workshops and receptions.
Jinsheng Song, of Florida, winner of the first day’s Purchase Prize, has been on the plein air circuit for about 10 years and paints in all mediums. He passed through Eureka Springs a few years ago. “I thought at the time it would be a wonderful place to paint and wished I could come back and paint here,” he said. “I never forgot about it. Then a while ago I heard about this festival and that was it. I was coming!”
Roz Ramey, a watercolor artist from Tennessee who recently relocated to Bella Vista, heard about the festival from her plein air group. She’s just started painting in oils, and had a great time. “For a first year, this is a wonderful start,” she said.
Good for business
Thanks to members of Plein Air Painters of Eureka Springs and staff of Eureka Springs School of the Arts, the festival exceeded expectations and will be returning as an annual event, an announcement greeted by a happy dance at the final awards show. Many more painters will be adding the Eureka Springs Plein Air Festival (ESPAfest) to their competition circuit, joining returning artists.
Director Peggy Kjelgaard and Maureen Alexander and staff at Eureka Springs School of the Arts along with Jody Stephenson, Ron Lutz and members of P.A.P.E.S. put in a lot of hard work to create and handle an event with a lot of moving parts, let alone multiple locations with registration and a pop-up art store at each. Each night ended with a reception and pop-up gallery at various Eureka establishments.
For a first-time-out effort, Kjelgaard said they expected maybe 20 painters and were surprised and delighted to end up with more than 60; and those were only the painters who registered to be in the competition. There were some who did not compete and others who only attended the workshops. She credits advertising nationally in Plein Air Magazine with bringing painters from far outside the region even on short notice.
Photos of the winning pictures can be seen at www.eureka-art.org and on the Eureka Springs School of the Arts or the Studio 62 Eureka Springs pages on Facebook.
Purchase Prize Awards
- Day 1: Crescent Hotel and Gardens Paint Out: Jinsheng Song; Lutz, Fla.
- Day 2: Beaver Bridge/Rogue’s Castle Paint Out: Spencer Meagher; Mount Vernon, Ill.
- Day 3: Beaver Lake Bluffs Area Paint Out: Nyle Gordon; Ethel, Mo.
- Day 4: Historical Eureka Springs Paint Out: Nyle Gordon, “Eureka Springs Historical Museum”
Final Awards
Judges: Lloyd Kelly and Carl Petering
- Best in Show: Nyle Gordon; Ethel, Mo., “Crescent Hotel”
- 1st Place: Gil Adams; Tulsa, Okla., “Outdoor Bathers”
- 2nd Place: Julie Gowing Hayes; Bella Vista, “Afternoon at Hidden Lake”
- 3rd Place: Richard Stephens; Hot Springs, “River’s Edge”
- Honorable Mention: Octavio Logo; Fayetteville, “Point of View”
- Honorable Mention: Tim Breaux; Ozark, Mo., “Eureka Nights”
- People’s Choice: John Willer, Eureka Springs
• People’s Choice: Richard Stephens, Hot Springs