The Chadds Ford Historical Society’s annual Plein Air event continues to grow in popularity and quality. Some artists even had to be turned away this year.
Plein Air is a French term used in connection with painting outdoors. In the CFHS event, artists are given two days to paint scenes from around the Brandywine area. The works are then sold during a reception on Saturday. This year’s reception was Feb. 2.
“Each year it gets better and better,” said event chairman Jacalyn Beam. This year we had to turn 20 artists away. Most of our artists are from the Mid Atlantic Plein Air Association. They’ve been in all the national juried shows and at least 10 percent of them won national awards.”
There were 30 artists this year and Beam said about half of them have taken part in the Chadds Ford event before. The reason they come, she said, is the Brandywine Creek and the people in the area.
“It’s the beauty of the Brandywine Valley, the warmth and hospitality of people when they come. We have the homemade soups and the food. We open the Chadds Ford Historical Society to them for two days…It’s the right place because of the hospitality of the people who live here.”
Thirty is the limit because the Historical Society Barn can’t handle more artwork than 30 people can produce.
“What was interesting this year is that up to three days before the event, we had very, very good artists calling us about coming to the show, asking if there were any openings. Of course, there weren’t,” Beam said.
Jim Rehak, an artist from Seaford, Del., has been taking part in the Chadds Ford event for several years.
“It’s beautiful scenery,” he said. “I know I’ll come away with a beautiful, completed painting.”
Lynn Mehta, from Alexandria, Va., is also a returning artist. She was more succinct:
“It’s really fun.”
The Plein Air event is a fund-raiser for the historical society, such as The Great Pumpkin Carve and Chadds Ford Days, but it does not bring in as much money.
As Beam said, the Carve brings in tens of thousands of people during a three-day event. Plein Air can’t do that. There’s no room.
“However, each year we have increased our take for the show. So that is good news. We’re moving slowly, but surely and I think that’s a great sign.”
Artists pay $60 to participate. That money goes toward advertising, and toward supplies such as coffee, orange juice and hot chocolate. When the paintings are sold the night of the party, the society charges a 25 percent commission.
Beam added that the sales aspect — along with the relatively low commission and limited number of artists — are other reasons artists return.
“We want to work with the artists. Our goal is for education and to build a community event. So, we feel it’s a win/win situation…Based on my own experience with shows that have more than 30 artists, it does a disservice to the artists who come because, realistically, we can only hang so many paintings in the barn and there’s only going to be so many that we can sell. And the reason the artists come back is because we sell their art.”
Lead photo caption: Artist Jim Rehak works on a painting of the wetlands area near the Chadds Ford Historical Society. (Photo by Rich Schwartzman)
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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