Locations

Trexler Nature Preserve Environmental Education Center (Saturday Classes)

4935 Orchard Road
Schnecksville, PA 18078-2554

 

Midnight Gallery Classroom (Monday Classes)

4315 Independence Drive

Schnecksville, PA 18078

 

Cost of Workshop: $525

Register online by April 7, 2023

Pre-registration is required. A portion of the classes will be outdoors, dress accordingly.

 

Workshop Description

This class series will encourage practicing and aspiring artists to explore the method of plein air, or “out in the open” painting. Led by Anthony Smith (artist and Professor of Art at NACC) and David Sommers (Resident Artist at the Banana Factory), the class series is open to all skill levels and will use oil and acrylic as the primary medium to teach the skills and techniques to paint the landscapes at the Trexler Nature Preserve.

 

Anthony and David will show you how to approach the outdoors with new skills on how to simplify the landscape, how to create a thumbnail sketch for plein air painting, and how to use edges to create the illusion of distance and atmosphere to get the effect you want. In case of inclement weather, we will do our paintings from photographs.

 

Plein air painting is about leaving the four walls of the studio behind and experiencing painting and drawing in the landscape. The practice goes back for centuries but was truly made into an art form by the French Impressionists. Their desire to paint light and its changing, ephemeral qualities, coupled with the creation of transportable paint tubes and the box easel—the precursor to the plein air easels of today—allowed artists the freedom to paint “en plein air.”

 

Saturday morning classes will be held at the Trexler Nature Preserve Environmental Education Center.

Monday evening classes will be held at Midnight Gallery.

 

Sessions

Week 1

Saturday, April 15th 11am to 1pm and

Monday, April 17th 5pm to 7pm

 

Week 2

Saturday, April 22nd 1am to 1pm and

Monday, April 24th 5pm to 7pm

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Week 3

Saturday, April 29th 11am to 1pm and

Monday, May 1st 5pm to 7pm

 

Week 4

Saturday, May 6th 11am to 1pm and

Monday, May 8th 5pm to 7pm

 

Week 5

Saturday, May 13th 11am to 1pm and

Monday 15th 5pm to 7pm

 

Week 6 

Saturday, May 20th 11 am to 1 pm and

Monday May 22nd 5pm to 7pm

 

There will be an Artists Reception at Midnight Gallery on

Saturday, June 10th from 6pm to 9pm featuring the completed works.

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Registration question? Contact Brandon Swayser at bswayser@wildlandspa.org

Workshop questions? Contact Anthony Smith Jr. at anthonysmithjr@yahoo.com

or Nina Boodhansingh at info@midnightgallerypa.com