With easels and palettes, brushes and paints, they’ll stand out from the throng of other visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at the end of September, and for good reason: The 20 artists who will scatter to various points throughout the Smokies starting Sept. 26 are featured guests for the inaugural Plein Air in the Smokies event, which will begin and end with events on the Maryville College campus.
Organized by Friends of the Smokies, the official nonprofit partner of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Plein Air in the Smokies is an opportunity for nationally acclaimed painters of oil, watercolor, acrylic and more to interpret the Park’s scenic vistas, landscapes and natural wonders through their individual artistic lenses. “Plein air” is defined as “of or pertaining to painting in outdoor daylight,” and for Plein Air in the Smokies committee member Sara Coker — wife of Maryville College President Bryan Coker — it’s a way for lifelong residents and frequent visitors to the Park to experience it through fresh eyes.
“How they translate what they see into their art will be different than what we see with our eyes,” Coker said. “They pick up the lighting differently, or they enhance something you don’t notice, and I think that’s what will make this such a phenomenal event. There’s nothing like the Smokies, and I don’t think we realized how much we missed it until we started coming back to look for a home and then actually moved here.”
For love of the mountains
The Cokers spent several years in East Tennessee while the president was an administrator at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and after posts at colleges and universities in Florida and Maryland, they returned in 2020, when he was named the 12th president of Maryville College.
“Once we moved to Maryville, we were that much closer to the Smokies, and now I feel like we really appreciate them after having been away and come back,” she said. “As a family, we spend a lot of time up there, and we love exposing our children to them so that they’ll come to love them as much as we do. We’ve loved all the places we’ve lived, but there’s nothing else like the Smokies.”
Such affection meant that she agreed without hesitation when Friends of the Smokies Senior Special Projects Director Lauren Gass approached her about joining the planning committee for Plein Air in the Smokies. Although plein air events aren’t uncommon, this is the first to be held in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Friends of the Smokies — founded in 1993 as a nonprofit to improve conditions in and maintain the natural beauty of the Park — sees it as a collaborative effort between organizations.
Various businesses and sponsorship organizations are giving logistical and monetary support: RT Lodge, for example, will provide lodging to the 20 guest artists who are coming from across the country to take part. Park personnel have worked with the Friends to assure that vehicle and foot traffic for the event will have minimal impact on the Park itself. The City of Maryville is partnering with Plein Air organizers to host a “Quick Draw” competition as well, which will feature the guest artists and locals who want to participate in selecting scenes from downtown Maryville to paint in a timed event.
And then there’s the connection to Maryville College, which Sara Coker will help facilitate.
“When they were looking for committee members, they knew that Maryville College would be such a good partner for this, because of RT Lodge being so close, and because the College has the art galleries in the Clayton Center and has space for some events,” she said. “Even though I don’t work at Maryville College, I’m familiar with some of the resources they might not be, so I’m able to act as a liaison between the two.”
Schedule of events
Although Plein Air in the Smokies proper doesn’t begin until Sept. 26, a “pre-event” presented by MC and Friends of the Smokies will take place Sept. 20 in the Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall of the Clayton Center for the Arts. An education grant will provide an evening when volunteers and the community interested in attending Plein Air can learn more about the history of the style from MC Art Professor Dr. Carl Gombert and about the history of art in national parks by Dana Soehn, spokesperson for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The one-hour program begins at 6 p.m., and guests are invited to arrive at 5:30 p.m. to check in and learn more.
Other Plein Air in the Smokies events include:
- Monday, Sept. 26 and Tuesday, Sept. 27: Artists will paint from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Park, including the Elkmont area.
- Wednesday, Sept. 28: Painting in the Park from 9 a.m. to noon.
- Thursday, Sept. 29: Artists will paint in the Cades Cove area of the Park from sunrise until 3 p.m.
- Friday, Sept. 30: In addition to one final day of painting in the Park, a Pop-Up Sale will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Clayton Center for the Arts, with previously painted works available for purchase by the 20 participating artists.
“They’re very accustomed to talking to folks while they paint, and they expect you to talk to them,” Gass said. “They’re going to have lanyards on, and we’ll have little signs for them to set up wherever they choose to paint that say ‘Plein Air in the Smokies Artist.’ They’re very approachable.”
Downtown Maryville competition open to all
On Saturday, Oct. 1, the Quick Draw Competition in downtown Maryville opens for registration at 7:30 a.m. in Jack Greene Park, adjacent to the Blount County Courthouse. Plein Air guest artists will take part, but registration is open to local painters who want to participate as well, Coker said.
“It’s going to be the artists who are participating in the event all week, 20 of these internationally known artists, alongside local people who may not consider themselves artists but feel like they have a talent for art, or maybe they like to draw or paint, but they’ve never had the opportunity to do something like this,” she said. “Anyone can sign up for the Quick Draw, and they’re going to be painting areas in downtown Maryville that residents see on a regular basis.”
The competition will take place from 9-11 a.m., with winners announced at noon. From noon to 1 p.m., the Quick Draw art will be for sale to the public. Beginning at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 1, the Plein Air Gala and Private Sale begins at the Clayton Center; hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be provided as the week’s works are unveiled and winners are announced. In addition, attendees will be able to purchase those works in advance of the public sale, which takes place at the Clayton Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 2.
“I think this will be a phenomenal event, and I hope that we’re able to get the word out as much as possible so people can experience this,” Coker said. “These artists are very well known nationally and internationally, and their works are just beautiful. To have them come and paint in the area we love so much is just amazing.”
For more information or to purchase tickets to the gala, visit https://www.pleinairinthesmokies.org.
Original source can be found here
Alerts Sign-up