Concordia University - Ferguson Gallery

River Forest, IL

708-209-3013

http://www.curf.edu/the_arts/visual_art/ferguson_gallery/index.asp

Colorado Plein Air Artists to Exhibit at Concordia University

Oct. 5-Nov. 6, 1998

Colorado Plein Air Artists will exhibit Oct. 5 through Nov. 6 at Concordia University's Ferguson Gallery.

Colorado Plein Air Artists is a group of artists who specialize in Colorado landscape paintings. The small oil sketches are painted "on location" in the outdoors, allowing the artist to express the painter's vision of the changing landscape in a way no studio piece can.

The artists exhibiting are Nini Dixon of Parker, Colo.; Lynn Simonson of Denver, Colo.; Diana Petree of Littleton, Colo.; Leslie Allen of Denver, Colo.; Frances Gottlieb of Denver, Colo.; and Betty Kirin of Denver, Colo.

The group of painters produce works in oils together year-round on location throughout Colorado, enduring extreme summer heat and bone chilling winters. In the spring of 1997, the group experienced a 32" blizzard in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, received permission to enter the closed park, and worked "on the spot" in 25 mph winds.

These individual painters found each other as art students of The Art Students League of Denver, in various class studies with plein air painter Jay Moore, master painter, Quang Ho, Doug Dawson and Kim English. The group also arranged work-shops with Michael Lynch and Gerald Merfield in 1998. The creation of this group and the decision for the artists to show together was a direct result of the growing interest in the combined plein air works of the painters, each reflecting the changing environment and culture of Colorado with their own interpretation of the landscape.

For more information on the exhibit, call Del Klaustermeier, assistant professor of art, (708) 209-3013. Ferguson Gallery is located in Kretzmann Hall on campus, 7400 Augusta St., River Forest. The gallery is open to the public 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends, free of charge.

From top to bottom: Lynn Simonson, Rocky Mountain Winter, 11 x 14 inches; Nini Dixon, Lair in Winter, oil on linen, 9 x 12 inches; Diana Petree, Lair o' the Bear-Fall, oil, 8 x 10 inches; Betty Kirin, Loveland Farm, oil, 10 x 16 inches; Leslie Allen, Spring Shadows, oil, 8 x 10 inches; Frances Gottlieb, Winter Aspen, oil, 11 x 14 inches.

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