Plein Air Art Festival is coming to Creve Coeur

 (Here's the entirety of my article that recently appeared a bit shortened in West Newsmagazine)

The world-famous Barbizon School of France helped form the popular Impressionist art movement. While rejecting the academy’s exclusive indoor art stance, Impressionism focused a practice of art skills in the great outdoors; hence the name Plein (Open) Air.

Those Barbizon Impressionists fully embraced that idea with their first outdoor show in 1874.

Fast forward exactly 150 years, and Creve Coeur is hoping to host its first Plein Air Art Festival this July per its City Council’s unanimous vote on Feb. 12.

Although the city’s name is French for ‘Broken Heart,’ Creve Coeur is confident that all hearts will be filled with joy for the event subsequently set in congruence with Millennium Park’s music concert set for Thursday, July 11. That is, if all the park’s improvements have been completed.

(Source: Adobe Stock) 

Creve Coeur Public Information Officer Melissa Bradford, who is also staff liaison for the city’s Art Committee, closed the meeting with the event presentation.

“This is a way to engage the community in cultural art and to celebrate Creve Coeur,” Bradford said. “Artists show up in the morning (on Saturday, July 6) at Dielmann Recreation Complex with their blank canvas that would be stamped on the spot. They would have nearly an entire week up until the following Thursday to pick a location outdoors within our city boundaries, and paint a scene outdoors. They would return that following Thursday and the plan, ideally, would be to host it in conjunction with the first summer concert in July. 

“The artists would bring their artwork back, put it on display, and have a reception open to the public.  The Tappmeyer House could be the place for that. With the concert ongoing, the public could view the paintings. They would be available for purchase and it would be a great way to kick off our concert series in our newly-renovated park.”

Bradford added that there would be a judging process where first and second place would receive cash prizes. Her next point was ways to seek funding for the event. One was asking for permission to solicit sponsorships from the community with those funds going toward paying the cash prizes for the artists. She included a document with a list of businesses they could potentially approach. The city would also make a general announcement in its residents’ newsletter, business newsletter and its website to seek sponsorship. Its Arts Committee would also solicit donations from individuals.

Another request would be for additional funds to cover other costs of the event. There would also be an entry fee to participate which would cover marketing of the event plus food and drink for artists and volunteers.

“The Arts Committee would also like to request from the City Council an additional $1,000 to help support the costs of this event,” Bradford said. “This is the first time we’re hosting it, and we want to make sure it goes off with a bang! It could be a really successful community event, show respect to the artists and ultimately lead to additional participation in future years.”

From Korrenspondance.org:  la peinture en plein-air…

The Creve Coeur Parks & Recreation Committee and Historic Preservation Committee were also highly supportive of the event when presented with the proposal at their November 2023 meetings.

A few other area cities that host a Plein Air event include Wildwood and Webster Groves in May and University City in October.

Per an inquiry from Council member Tim Carney (Ward 2), the city would like to use the inside of Tappmeyer House for art displays. Those would be created in the artists’ chosen medium that includes oil, watercolor, and pastel.

Arts Committee Chair Robert Morrissey was also on hand for the meeting. When the topic came around to artist entry fees, he said, “I was just talking to some artists the other day about this event, and they were expecting an entrance fee as high as $50. If we make it a higher fee, these artists can expect a really nice event and we can also make it a better purse.  The higher the purse we can offer, the better quality of artists. But this being our first event, we’re trying to be modest and look toward a long horizon.  So, we’re going to start off within budget.”

Bradford added that looking at other cities, first prize is normally $500-$750. It was also indicated that while this event is for entrants 18 and older, Creve Coeur may also have a high school only category.

Categories could include a “Best in Show” Award (Cash Prize), “First Runner Up” Award (Cash Prize), “People’s Choice” Award (Cash Prize), and High School Category: “Best in Show” Award (Non-Cash Prize).

Per an inquiry from Council member Nicole Greer (Ward 2) about who will judge the events, Bradford replied, “We would be looking at artists, experts, some from the St. Louis area and others outside the area so it’s unbiased.”

The Plein Air Art report added that the event itself ‘would be encouraging a cultural event that actively engages the community by supporting one of the organizational goals outlined in the Strategic Plan 2023-2025 and would help promote cultural arts within the city and encourage connections with other local art organizations.’

Meanwhile, Bradford made sure to give accolades to Arts Committee member Nan Kulkarni, who encouraged this event after previous experience coordinating events while serving on the Town and Country Art Commission.