By 5:30 p.m. on Friday evening, the crowds gather inside the Guenzel Gallery on the Peninsula Art School grounds, to choose that perfect piece of art at the Gala for the Door County Plein Air Festival 2001. Within the first half hour, more than 20 paintings are sold. Featured artists mingle in the crush of viewers discussing the process of a painting because there are over 160 to choose from.
Illinois's Mat Barber Kennedy creates in watercolor on paper, the only plein air artist in the competition to do so. All four of his paintings were sold within the hour. He has completed ten in total this week, eight he says he is truly happy with. Although, there's nothing to be ashamed of for this week's work.
Kennedy now lives permanently in the United States, near Chicago, because of love. He married a Hooiser from Indiana, an artist who works in ceramics. The couple met at the Royal College of Art in London, although he had previously attended Sheffield University for a degree in Architecture.
Kennedy usually uses his small plein air watercolor studies in his studio. He'll spend a month on location, somewhere around the world, and paint, paint, paint. The the studies then come home, where Kennedy then “tightens them and makes them larger.” Often working in graphite first, then applying watercolor, graphite frequently makes an appearance on the work afterwards to again tighten what he calls, the architecture. He also says the love match [where he met his wife in London] was more exciting than any painting
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When he returns to London where he sells the majority of his paintings, his wife or children will accompany him. Kennedy swears by Windsor Newton watercolors on 140 pound Arches paper. As a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Royal Istitute of Painters in Watercoulours, his opinion holds substantial merit. For a viewing of Kennedy's work visit www.matbarberkennedy.com.
After chatting with Kennedy, one circles around the gallery to view the work that was sold. It's six o'oclock and the bell rings Everyone exits the gallery so new paintings can replace those that have already been claimed. Electricity moves through the air while people congregate outside on a balmy, Door County evening, eagerly anticipating the new artwork to be hung when the gallery reopens. For three Milwaukee artists, James Hempel, Shelby Keefe, and Tom Nachreimer, their artwork has attracted attention, and almost all new paintings will reappear at 6:30 p.m. The crowd finds spots to sit at the decorated tables under a blue sky striated with clouds while a trumpet plays in the background to make the waiting comfortable.
The bell finally rings to signal the reentrance, and everyone flows into the gallery, searching the walls for the fresh work. To rehang the paintings required more time so the awards announcement will be made soon. At quarter to seven. judge Brain Stewaart enters the gallery. He formerly had a successful career in advertising, and then chose to paint. That was 20 years ago, after training at the Art Center in Los Angeles, and claims judging constitutes a complex task, although this Festival represents a high quality of plein air painting. No matter who wins, the evening generates success and the ambiance of Door County. A night dedicated to appreciating the beauty in an artist's hand, the natural surroundings and on canvas.
The winners of the Door County Plein Air Festival 2011:
1st Honorable Mention: Marc Hanson Backyard View
2nd Honorable Mention: Stuart Fullerton High Summer
3rd Honorable Mention: Joshua Been Lake Shore Patterns
4th Honorable Mention: Colin Page Wednesday Afternoon in the Park
5th Honorable Mention: Mark Boedges Heather J
3rd Place: Tom Nachreimer Ice Cream & Shade
2nd Place: James Richards The American Dream
1st Place: Colin Page: Wednesday Afternoon in the Park
Before announcing the Best in Show, Stewart explains he choose this particular painting for its 19th century quality and restraint of color. He states this work evokes the plein air feeling, more than how its looks, which represents the original plein air philosophy. The best in show goes to an ethereal night scene with a clouded in blue lavender hues and a white studded sky with a sliver of moon…mist filled and uncommon among the daylight paintings: Brian Sindler's Nocturne, Sister Bay.
