Since 2014, a group of women have made it their mission to capture the majesty and beauty of various American landscapes. The artistic products from their recent trip to the Sierra Mountains compose this can’t-miss exhibition. Details here!
On view through July 9 at the Santa Paula Art Museum in California, “Between Heaven and Earth” is a stunning group exhibition by the prolific artist cohort known as the PAC6 Painters. Hailing from Southern California, the PAC6 formed in 2014 “through their love of representational painting,” as the group says. “Their friendship has led to mutual challenge, adventure, and inspiration in their art.” The painters include Linda Brown, Marian Fortunati, Nita Harper, Debra Holladay, Laura Wambsgans, and Sharon Weaver.
Throughout their tenure together, the PAC6 have traveled to many locations around the country, each time with the intention of creating a themed body of work that includes both plein air and studio paintings. Over 60 paintings compose “Heaven and Earth,” which takes viewers on a journey of discovery of the High Sierra.
Via the museum, “The first images of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with their dramatic peaks and pristine lakes, caught the imagination of a young America and helped to open the West. Following in the historic footsteps of the early California Impressionists, the PAC6 have created a body of work that provides an opportunity to see these iconic vistas from a new and contemporary perspective. While each of the six artists paint in a personally distinctive style, the pack’s purpose in creating the show was identical. It is the hope of PAC6 that in seeing the exhibition, viewers will be inspired toward their own great adventure — one filled with awe at the beauty and grandeur of the American landscape. The exhibit also includes a short video documentary with film footage and commentary describing the group’s pack trip from Mammoth Lakes to Lake Ediza.”
On March 4, the museum hosted a lively opening reception, which was attended by more than 200 guests and friends. The museum has also created this entertaining video to accompany the exhibition:
To learn more, visit the Santa Paula Art Museum.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
I love the concept of a group of artists who travel to paint together. Painting the Sierra Nevadas with friends is right down my alley. Thanks for the inspiration, ladies. Sara Jane Reynolds
Sara, I hope that you will take inspiration from our group. I can confirm that it has been one of the most amazing and creative adventures I have ever been a part of. Not to mention that we are also have a lot of fun.
I’ve been carrying paintings down the trail past this new artistic movement called “pleine air” making their cute little paintings next to the parking lot for years…under my breath I might have been heard saying”What a bunch of gurls”. Very happy to stumble across this looking for another article in Fine Art Connoisseur. Ladies…YOU ROCK. The reason the tradition made small sketches was historically so that they would fit on the train or the wagon or the horse…I certainly hope that you have a continuing influence…Girls have climbed Mt. Everest…happy you’re actually embracing the original spirit of painting out of doors, out of the studio.
Wayne Meineke