Plein Air Painters of America: Out West Exhibition
Couse-Sharp Historic Site is thrilled to have hosted the 2023 annual exhibition of the Plein Air Painters of America (PAPA), titled Out West. PAPA’s annual paint out and show provides an opportunity for inspired dialogue and camaraderie amongst its membership.
The genre of the American West is currently thriving, and the association’s members are excited to partake in the “Out West” theme. With breadth in style and vision, PAPA have produced a visually stunning show, illustrating the depth of inspiration the West, and Southwest, provides to so many artists.
The exhibition took place in the Dean Porter Gallery of The Lunder Research Center at Couse Sharp Historic Site (CSHS) from September 29, 2023, through January 20, 2024. PAPA and CSHS are grateful for exhibition support from Western Art Collector magazine and International Artist Publishing.
Select PAPA members painted in Taos Valley from October 2–7. Their efforts culminated in plein air demonstrations with a “wet paint” sale and exhibition on the Sharp Portal of The Lunder Research Center. The demos and sale happened Saturday, October 7, from 12 to 5 p.m. Attendees were also able to partake in an open house at the historic site from 3 to 5 p.m
Western artists revere the great history of Taos in art and its central place in the art market. The same qualities of light and air that attracted the early Taos school still inspires many to paint there again and again. “Taos epitomizes the vision of the Southwest for many artists, many of their heroes having worked here,” said Jill Carver, a member of the association. “Inspired by this uniquely stunning landscape, the Taos group produced some of the greatest Western imagery that exists. PAPA members come to this valley, not to follow in the footsteps of giants, but to understand the land they were inspired by, to enquire into their visual explorations, to continue that artistic dialogue with each other, and—as individual artists—to explore a conversation with that land.”
Another connection of CSHS to the plein air method is the fact that E. I. Couse and J. H. Sharp were practitioners. “Couse was primarily a studio painter, but he would head up the canyon with his favorite models Ben Lujan and Jerry Mirabal and work with them on composing narrative scenes,” noted Davison Koenig, executive director and curator at CSHS. “He’d create black-and-white photographic studies for composition and light, while also creating field sketches in oil recording the colors in nature. He would then bring his models back into the studio to paint from life using the photos and sketches as reference.”
Meanwhile, Joseph Henry Sharp was perhaps one of the most rugged plein air painters of the American West. Having built a cabin on the Crow Reservation, Sharp spent the winters of 1898–1910 painting both Crow and Blackfeet encampments and the Montana landscape. He traveled the north country in a converted sheep herders wagon that he dubbed the “Prairie Dog,” complete with a wood stove and mica skylight. “He would paint plein air in the wind and snow until his hands and his paints froze and then climb inside his wagon to thaw, then return outside to finish his work,” Koenig related. “Fortunately for our PAPA friends, they’ll be joining us at the most delightful time of the year as the autumnal splendor unfolds.”
Taos has been a “ground zero” for creatives of all sorts—visual artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and more—for generations. “Most PAPA members live and work in the West, so coming to Taos just seemed natural,” said artist Matt Smith. “A show there has been on our bucket list for years. Given its rich history in art, culture, and beauty, along with the partnership with CSHS, we agreed to not only hold our annual show Taos but our meeting and group workshop as well. We’ve pulled together to put forward our best works from across the country for this year’s event.”
Participating artists:
Douglas Andelin
Kenn Backhaus
Mitch Baird
Cindy Baron
Zufar Bikbov
Carl Bretzke
Roger Dale Brown
John Budicin
Jill Carver
Donald Demers
Kenneth DeWaard
Kathleen Dunphy
Aimee Erickson
Andy Evansen
Gay Faulkenberry
Gerald J. Fritzler
Kimball Geisler
Robert Goldman
Walt Gonske
Mike Hernandez
Jeff Horn
Kathleen Hudson
Tom Hughes
Eric Jacobsen
Jean LeGassick
John Lintott
Kyle Ma
Kevin MacPherson
Terry Miura
J. Chris Morel
James Morgan
Ned Mueller
T. M. Nicholas
Ralph Oberg
Jesse Powell
Ron Rencher
Mark Rittorno
Randall Sexton
Matt Smith
Phil Starke
John W. Taft
Bryan Mark Taylor
Linda Tippetts
Dan Young