Stewards
of the Land & Canvas: painting marlborough
By
Abby Luby
...Four
Marlborough based artists who joined MMiM and were active in the
paint-outs are Laura Martinez-Bianco, Barbara Masterson, Ellen Esposito
and Robert Hacunda. The November exhibition will show their work
along with about 35 other local artists.
Hacunda,
a full time painter who, years ago, worked with famous American
minimalist painter Brice Marden, was drawn to the group as a divergence
from the isolation artists experience when working alone. He recalls
the meeting to plan the paint-out. “We rode around in my van
to find different locations where we could paint. I got to meet
some artists I never knew. I love to paint outside - the greatest
teacher is nature.”
Painting
outdoors is known as plein-air painting, taken from a French term
which literally means ‘open air’ or painting outside.
The practice started in the 1830s by the Barbizon School just outside
the Forest of Fontainebleau in France. Painters such as Camille
Corot, Francois Millet, Theodore Rousseau, and Charles Daubigny
preferred to paint outdoors as opposed to painting from sketches
in their studios. Some American plein-air painters are Winslow Homer,
William Merrit Chase and George Inness. Britain’s John Constable
was the first English painter to paint directly from nature.
One
of those influenced by the Hudson River School was Thomas B. Pope,
a 19th century painter who died in Fishkill Landing in 1891. Pope
was artist Mary Whitehill’s great grand-father. Whitehill,
a Newburgh based artist, will be participating in the MMiM art gala.
“Pope was a self taught painter and you could see that he
did many of the highlands and boats on the Hudson River,”
says Whitehill. “My father collected most of his paintings
and then sold them all.” ..
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