Huntsville’s annual En Plein Air painting and auction is back with a twist.
The engaging event, which has local artists painting along Huntsville’s Main Street and in River Mill Park, will have those artists working with small birch bark canoes instead of canvases this year, thus its new moniker Off the Wall.
“This was Kareen Burns’s idea from many years ago and she is the one who, I’d like to say inspired me to do it, but really forced me to do it,” laughs organizer Kelly Holinshead. “When I was talking to her last year, we felt like it was getting a little tired. Earlier this year, we talked again and decided to do something three-dimensional. The intention is to do different objects through the years.”
The artists participating in Off the Wall are: Naomi Brinkhof, Catharine deMontmorency, Pat Hillcoat, Gerry Lantaigne, Janine Marson, Col Mitchell, Wendy Moses, Ron Murdoch, Donna Parlee, Helena Renwick, Diane Thoms, and Pat Whittle.
They have carte blanche to paint the canoes – which range in size from 12 to 26 inches long – in any way they desire. This year the artists have received their ‘canvases’ in advance to prepare them before the September 7 event. “They need a base coat,” explains Holinshead. “I thought it would be a little much to just throw them at the artists in one day.”
The artists have just six hours to complete their creations, which will then be sold in a silent auction at an evening soirée at the Algonquin Theatre. The red carpet event, complete with canapés and music, precedes a second showing of When Winnie Knew – although you can participate in the auction even if you aren’t attending the show – and kicks off the Huntsville Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce’s Group of Seven Festival.
Proceeds from the silent auction support Huntsville Festival of the Arts student bursaries.
Off the Wall En Plein Air painting takes place on Thursday, September 7 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The silent auction begins at 7 p.m.
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What a great event! It will be a nice change from the original En Plein Air and what a great tie-in to the final performance of ‘What Winnie Knew’ and kick off to the Group of Seven Festival. Hope it’s a huge success!!