Roger Tory Peterson Institute en Plein Air

In September, RTPI hosted the fourth annual Chautauqua County en Plein Air Festival. Artists walked in the footsteps of Roger Tory Peterson – exploring and painting the landscapes that nurtured his passion for the beauty of the natural world.

Taking their watercolors, acrylics, oil paints, and pastels outdoors, they studied the wonders of Chautauqua Lake, Panama Rocks, Johnson Estate Winery, McCrea Point, Cheney Marsh, Chautauqua Gorge, the 100 Acre Lot, the Peterson Preserve at RTPI, and other locations.

Pittsburgh plein air artist Ron Donoughe served as guest juror. His paintings can be found in many corporate and private collections, as well as the Westmoreland Museum of American Art and the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. He recently completed an Artist-in-Residence at Fallingwater, where Roger Tory Peterson served as the first Scholar-in-Residence.

Painting en plein air arose in the 1800s as a way of removing the artist from the studio and allowing them to discover the beauty of nature firsthand. Artists who famously created works en plein air included Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Today’s artists create works that reflect careful observation, artistic interpretation, and a sensitivity to the beauty that the natural world has to offer.