Plein-Air Painters Close in on Match

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LPAPA artist Debra Joy Groesser demonstrates technique for children during last year’s paint-out.
LPAPA artist Debra Joy Groesser demonstrates technique for children during last year’s paint-out.

The Laguna Plein-Air Painters Association has almost met its match, a $50,000 challenge grant issued by the City Council in March. “Our goal was to raise that amount by the end of September, and we are almost there,” said Rosemary Swimm, LPAPA’s executive director.

Their fundraiser “The Great LPAPA Paint Off–Canvas for a Cause,” which took place recently on Main Beach, brought them close to their goal. Here artists, LPAPA board members and even elected officials teamed up for two hours to create canvases that were later auctioned off at the group’s exhibition headquarters, the Forest & Ocean Gallery.

“Plein-air artists are part of our history and it’s important to carry it on,” said council member Kelly Boyd, who had taken brush to canvas for the first time. “I really enjoyed it but I don’t think that there is an artist hidden in me,” he said.

Mayor Steve Dicterow teamed with British artist David Downs and board member Ludo Leideritz.

Altogether, the auction raised $33,550 with money still coming in, said Swimm. Her husband, artist Tom Swimm, had teamed with Boyd and board member Harry Bithel.

Proceeds will be invested in LPAPA’s 18th annual Plein-Air Painting Invitational, set for Oct. 8-16 at Tivoli Too, 777 Laguna Canyon Road. Patrons can support the collector’s gala on Oct. 14 at levels ranging from $1,000 (William Wendt), $500 (Edgar Payne) and $250 (Anna Hills). The latter will get her due in a Laguna Art Museum show beginning Oct.16.

This year’s roster of 35 artists includes 13 from Southern California. Ten-year member April Raber specializes in urban landscapes, but this year submitted a coastal scene and a depiction of a Fourth of July celebration. “Invitations come to artists who have an established reputation and show solid sales. But there is always fresh blood, new artists to keep interest alive,” she said.

Anthony Salvo is entering his first invitational. A plein-air painter for a decade, he ran an ad agency for 20 years before falling in love with the genre. He is busy adding to the inventory he intends to bring for sale to Laguna.

 

Newcomer Anthony De Salvo displays his Laguna Beach landscape of “Diver’s Cove.”
Newcomer Anthony Salvo displays his Laguna Beach landscape of “Diver’s Cove.”

LPAPA cites board member fees, member dues, patron support as well as event receipts as sources of income. Even those not artistically gifted can join for $50 per year, as part of a new program offering support memberships “artistic license,” as Swimm describes them.

Swimm joined the team in 2009 with the goal to expand membership and programs in education.

By 2013, LPAPA artists began teaching art in local grade schools and expanded since into the middle school and high school. A jewel in the crown is the Plein-Air Project, a program where fourth-grade students experience painting outdoors and the organization hopes to foster a new generation of plein-air painters, said Schwimm.

A similar program tailored to seniors is in the works, she said.

The invitational also hosts a student paint out and competition, where member artists assist students from Laguna College of Art and Design and this year UC Irvine students. The aim is to broaden the organization’s outreach to other students and offer the public a broader range of work for sale, she said.

and even better quality for the public,” he said. Student work will be on display and for sale at the Invitational.

Correction

Artist Anthony Salvo’s name was mistakenly misspelled in “Plein Air Artists Close in on Match,” in the Friday, Sept. 2 edition. The author regrets the error.

 

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