By Gerri Miller
Staff Writer
Artists from throughout the area gathered in Prattville Friday and Saturday to paint the town as part of the annual Plein Air Painting Event.
The Prattville Creative Arts Center and Gallery opened its doors as a home base for artists as they went out to paint scenes in and around Prattville. Prattville offers a myriad of subject matter for artists, from the historic architecture to the Autauga Creek dam and spillway and the well-known Musgrove Fountain.
The bamboo garden, Pratt Park, and the many artesian wells, for which Prattville became known as the “Fountain City,” were subjects of oil paintings and watercolor paintings as the artists descended upon the community.
What exactly is a Plein Air Festival? En plein air is a French expression meaning “in the open air,” and refers to the act of painting outdoors with the artist’s subject in full view. Plein air artists capture the spirit and essence of a landscape or subject by incorporating natural light, color and movement into their works.
Cultural Arts and Special Events Manager Barbara Simpson said 14 artists participated in this year’s event. They were from Prattville, Wetumpka and Montgomery, Millbrook and Tallassee.
Those artists were Karen Thornhill, Marty Woodall, Rick Robertson, Yankee McKinnuh, Caitlin Sawyers, John Sigler, Makayla Lockhart, Emma Ferrari, Anne Barbero, Kate Ives, Rajbir Kaur, Sherri George, Gail Cocarro and Simpson.
Woodall painted vignettes of the fountain, a flag waving on a downtown sign, and the colorful wall on Kimberlia’s restaurant.
Simpson said that with this event, “we hope to do a couple of things. We want to promote our local and regional artists and we want to promote Prattville and the wonderful sites that are here to see and enjoy. We have been holding the event since 2017 and it has been really fun.”
There is also an event scheduled for next Saturday at the Creative Arts Center for students K-12. It will be led by Charlie “Tin Man” Lucas and Carole Bandy Carson. It is free and students do not have register and they can come anytime between 10am and 2pm. The Creative Arts Center is located at 203 West 4th Street in Prattville
The “Paint Prattville” Plein Air Painting event is part of the month-long Celebration of the Arts which leads up to the Wilson Pickett Music and Arts Festival on April 2. The Wilson Pickett Music and Arts Festival will be held in Pratt Park, where there will have an Artist Village, a Music Stage, chalk art project, games, hands-on arts projects, food vendors, and more. The art will be open from 10am-5pm and the music stage will continue through 9 p.m.
The event is sponsored in part by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. For more information on the Prattauga Art Guild, call (334) 595-0851 or visit https://www.facebook.com/prattaugaartguild/.
Through its various exhibits and programs, the Prattauga Art Guild brings fine arts and art education to Prattville and the River Region. As a part of the Prattville Council for the Creative and Performing Arts, the Art Guild is funded by the City of Prattville.
