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Plein Air Peconic

The 2006 Plein Air Peconic was the first full-scale art exhibition to feature paintings and photographs that included many sites conserved in partnership with the Peconic Land Trust. "Plein air" painters and landscape photographers worked in the field during August and September of 2006 to create Plein Air Peconic, a project which takes one step further the ongoing collaboration between local artists and the Peconic Land Trust. Since then, the eleven artists of Plein Air Peconic have presented an annual exhibition of their works at a local gallery on the North and South Forks.  Sites have included the Wallace Gallery in East Hampton, the Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor and South Street Gallery in Greenport.

In 2010, the Plein Air Peconic artists will have two major exhibitions:

• Southampton Historical Museum's Roger's Mansion, from May 15 through September 7.  This summer-long exhibit, entitle Saving our Landscape Heritage: Paintings & Photographs of the East End, will showcase many sites conserved through the work of the Trust, as well as an amazing variety of beautiful viewsheds of local agricultural and natural settings that the East End of Long Island is so well known for.
  
  • Please join us for an opening reception on Saturday, May 29 from 5-7 pm and enjoy the opportunity to meet and talk with the artists of Plein Air Peconic.  Additional programming scheduled during the exhibition: 
  • July 17, 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.   Paint Out!  Come to the museum to observe a number of the artists painting images of the barns "en plein air" and enjoy an exhibit of these finished works.
  • August 12, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm: "The Intersection of Land Conservation and Art: A Special Roundtable Discussion." Moderated by artist Kathryn Szoka and featuring Trust President John v.H. Halsey, Parrish Art Museum Chief Curator Alicia Longwell, and fellow Plein Air Peconic artists Eileen Dawn Skretch and Gail Kern at the Rogers Mansion. Reception to follow. Free admission. 
    
    
• Tiffany & Co in East Hampton, from July 3 through Labor Day. For the months of July and August, Tiffany & Co. is hosting a special display of Plein Air Peconic work entitled "Gems of the Hamptons."  Visit the exhibition on Saturday, July 10 from 6-9 pm and enjoy a glass of champagne as you view the beautiful art!

Gift Giving!!! The Peconic Land Trust has two series of Plein Air Peconic notecards -- Wetland and Farmland -- for sale in our online store . The notecards, in 12-pack sets, make a great gift.

Check Connections and our online calendar for dates, times, and locations for all Plein Air Peconic exhibitions throughout the year.

The History
The idea for this unusual exhibition came from talks in 2005 between local artist Gordon Matheson and Peconic Land Trust Vice President Rebecca Chapman, about developing important connections between the Trust and local artists. The Trust cleared the way for artists to spend considerable time in the preserves, painting, photographing and often just observing nature. Southampton Village was also generous in allowing the artists to park in reserved areas at Dune Beach, a preserve with bayfront, oceanfront, and beautiful dunes located in Southampton Village.

The artists participating in the program include: Casey Chalem Anderson, Susan D’Alessio, Aubrey Grainger, Gail Kern, Michele Margit, Gordon Matheson, Joanne Rosko, Eileen Dawn Skretch, Tom Steele, Kathryn Szoka, and Ellen Watson. Click here for bios and contact information (PDF) on each of the artists. To learn more about Plein Air Peconic and the artists, visit their new website at www.pleinairpeconic.com

The inaugural exhibition in 2006 was Columbus Day Weekend at Ashawagh Hall in the Springs, a hamlet within the Town of East Hampton. After the four-day exhibition in the Springs, Plein Air Peconic became a traveling exhibition for the Trust where it will be displayed in locations in Long Island and New York City to highlight the land conservation efforts of the Trust.