Ohio Plein Air Society Members Exhibition Springfield Art Museum 2018
Painting Ohio Prairies: A Year in the Life – 2014 Ohio Plein Air Society Exhibition
Dec 6, 2014-Feb 22, 2015 
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The OPAS painter, depending on his or her whims, may create works in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel or perhaps other art media. Each medium is unique and provides the artist with challenges and rewards that differ from another medium.
Much of Ohio was one time covered by sweeping expanses of alpine grasses, few copse, and low, rolling hills. Indeed, the country on which Springfield sits is considered prairie land. Many of these prairies still abound, some patches of virgin ground effectually this part of the land having never been turned by a plow. In the exhibition, you will run across paintings of the nearby Bigelow pioneer cemetery, swaths of land from forth I-70, the gentle hills of Champaign County, and the grassy fields that now grow soy beans and corn to feed the world – these are all prairies of Ohio.
– Jon Browning, OPAS Exhibition Co-chair
Juror's Statement: Frederick Fochtman
I want to give thanks the Ohio Plein Air Society for entrusting me to jury "Ohio Prairie: A Year in the Life," this yr's OPAS exhibition at the Springfield Museum of Art. This collection of works celebrates painting the Ohio prairie and all of its interpretations. I think there was a fearfulness the subject field matter would create a narrow focus and perhaps lead to a caste of sameness. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Gild was able to provide endless original and creative works for consideration.
My assignment and objective was to select a cohesive exhibition that best showcases the artistry of the painters who brand up the Ohio Plein Air Society. It has been a privilege on 1 manus and an agonizing procedure on the other. What pieces are in? Does the painting resonate with me the way it does for the creative person? Is that piece of work worthy of an award, and is there really a "Best of Evidence"? All of these considerations and more get the challenges of the procedure when jurying a show such as this. My eye as a collector and my instincts as a painter are the most important tools I can bring to this undertaking.
Peradventure I was called to jury this show because I am a painter with a soft spot in my heart for the process of plein air painting and all methods of life painting. It is a procedure that challenges the painter to accost light, time, conditions and environment with sensitivity to changes and the intuition to conceptualize a flake of the future. When the work is consummate, painters ask themselves, was I successful or is the painting honest and satisfying? Did I achieve what I set out to do? My chore as juror is to say, yep, these works are successful and together they best correspond the finest work among this yr'south entries.
There were several elements I considered while reviewing the submissions. Perhaps the near important for a plein air painter is a sense of place. I would similar the painting to let the viewer share the experience. Values, color choices and mark making are of import while craftsmanship and limerick should also be well represented. Naturally, when all of these elements are successful, the painting will provide the requisite sense of place and the air that describes it. Certainly, creativity, originality and innovation are too considered and in some cases a piece may simply warrant extended viewing. While making this year's selections, I was taken past the amazing variety of the works and the thought that so many are beautiful simply considering of the passion evident in their creation. Why else would someone stand up in the cold or heat, rain or snow, to endeavour and put marks on a surface? I think information technology is easier non to.
Thank yous to all of the artists who submitted paintings and congratulations on all of your fine work. I appreciate beingness asked to jury this year'southward exhibition and hope the bear witness reflects the sincerity with which it was selected and the outstanding talents of the painters in the Ohio Plein Air Society.
– Frederick Fochtman
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Source: https://www.springfieldart.net/?exhibition=painting-ohio-prairies-the-2014-ohio-plein-air-society-exhibition