Shine On: Georgia Color Plein Air Competition Comes to Savannah
30 of the state's top artists make the Hostess City backdrop for a long weekend of outdoor painting
When handheld tubes of paint became readily available in the 1870s, plein air painting took off. Artists like Claude Monet and Mary Cassatt stepped outside their studios eagerly rendering bright impressions of landscapes, leisure activities, and everyday life. Today, the tradition continues, often with competitions for artists around the world keen on setting up easels and palettes to capture the outdoors.
Savannah locals and visitors have a chance to glimpse some of this fast-paced creative brilliance when the Georgia Color 6th Annual Plein Air Competition comes to the Hostess City for the first time October 17 through October 20. The four-day event features opportunities to meet some of the state’s top plein air artists, purchase their work, and attend free art talks throughout the long weekend.
The Georgia Color Artist Welcome Reception takes place Thursday, October 17, in the event gallery space at 2125 Victory Drive, Savannah, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $30.
“A plein air painting event is a tranquil experience,” said Phil Cuthbertson, executive director of Olmsted Plein Air Invitational, the organization putting on Georgia Color. “You’re watching the creative process of artists in the moment as they interpret a scene in front of them. The act can bring people together in this serene, civilized way.”
Cuthbertson, who was instrumental in co-founding the Atlanta-based Olmsted Plein Air Invitational 15 years ago believes in the power of art in uniting people in greater mutual understanding. Exploring different perspectives may be fundamental to the competition but it serves as larger metaphor for human connection as well. He relays an anecdote about an artist friend several years ago painting the Fox Theater when an unhoused man approached.
“Instead of running him off, both men began talking,” recalled Cuthbertson. “The conversation was more than a fleeting exchange, and in the end, the homeless man thanked him, even tipped him a dollar, for letting him stay and watch. To me, this is how art can transcend difference and remind us of our shared humanity.”
Since all 30 of the selected Georgia artists will be set up and painting in locales around the city, Cuthbertson hopes for similar, positive interactions between painters and onlookers. On Thursday, the Georgia Color Exhibition Gallery opens at 10 a.m. flush with paintings completed by competitors prior to the event. And every day at the gallery, painters take turns sharing demonstrations and lectures about their artistic approaches and techniques. All of the talks are free to attend.
For Savannah artist, Mimi Diamond, this year’s event marks her third time in the competition. She enjoys the frenetic, often long hours of the experience. In the past Georgia Color has taken place at Lake Oconee and St. Simons Island.
“To really understand a landscape, it entails going to the area beforehand and becoming familiar with it,” reflected Diamond. “Sometimes you paint 12 hours a day and then attend an event in the evening. It’s challenging and exhausting, but the pressure makes you better. It’s humbling because you get to be with artists from all over the state, and some are genuinely superior. It’s all about professionals growing with other professionals.”
Diamond delivers her demonstration “How to Quickly Develop a Marsh Painting” 11 a.m. Friday at the gallery on Victory Drive. She shares how to complete three scenes in under an hour, each incorporating harmony and cohesiveness. Though the lecture is geared toward intermediate painters, the demonstration focuses on color theory applications accessible to all art lovers.
For Alan Campbell, veteran adventure artist and science painter, the event is a chance to dig into scenes within his home community. The Thunderbolt resident and University of Georgia graduate built a career traveling the world as expedition artist. Since the mid-1980s, Campbell has painted frozen tableaus of Antarctica, jungle vistas in Costa Rica, and unique flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands.
“This is my first time in Georgia Color, and I’m a little nervous,” chuckled Campbell. “But nervousness is a good thing to have in pushing for something new. My goal isn’t making this a work of art but letting the painting talk to me, tell me what it wants to be. It will all be challenging and very interesting.”
In particular, Campbell looks forward to the Georgia Color PaintQuick competition in which artists have two hours to finish a painting, frame it, title, and place it on their easels ready to be judged. The event takes place Friday evening in Tiedeman Park from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and community painters are encouraged to attend and create. Campbell considers it a creative exercise to “look at something, simplify, find the patterns and shapes, and not get hung up on the details—what you leave out is just as important as what you leave in.”
Andy Hall, event co-cofounder and lifelong devotee of art and Plein air painting, reveals that artists have been begging since the beginning for the event to come to Savannah, that everyone is looking forward to painting not just marsh scenes and seascapes but the unique architecture of the Hostess City herself. He emphasizes that fresh-off-the-easel, Savannah-centric paintings will be available every day for purchase at the gallery. And he underscores how the Georgia Color Plein Air Competition benefits artists and the communities they paint.
“Number one, it gives them an economic outlet,” said Hall. “Artists can do a painting and sell a painting on the spot. Second is the camaraderie of meeting other artists. Many become friends, and share ideas, and it helps build a state-wide network of creatives. Third, the competition builds relationships in communities so that residents might meet a new favorite artist interpreting some of that area’s well-loved or even lesser-known places. It’s a resume and relationship builder that provides ways for different people to interact with art and artists.”
For full listing of events click here: Georgia Color 6th Annual Plein Air Competition
If you go:
What: Georgia Color 6th Annual Plein Air Competition
Where: 2125 Victory Drive, Savannah, 31404
When: Thursday, October 17 through Sunday, October 20
Cost: Some events ticketed, some free to attend
See schedule for more information and ticket prices.
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