Plein-Air Painters of Princeton with Heather Barros Art at D&R Gr

Press Release

Princeton, N.J. – What does Princeton have in common with Giverny? Its own corps of plein-air painters actively immortalizing natural scenes in and around the town. D&R Greenway’s Evelyne V. Johnson Gallery shimmers with plein-air art just completed, in our recalcitrant spring and emergent summer. Heather Barros and friends take themselves to unique nature sites, such as Grounds for Sculpture, Prospect Gardens, the fishing bridge on Carnegie Lake to capture momentary beauty. Selected artists are Helene Mazur, Lucia Stout, Jordan Spector and Heather Barros. All Plein-Air Painters of Princeton art is for sale art– a percentage supporting the land trust’s preservation and stewardship mission. Galleries open 9:30 until 5 on business days. Call 609 609-924-4646 to be sure gallery not rented at time of visit. www.drgreenway.org One Preservation Place, off Rosedale Road, Princeton 08540.

Heather Barros is an incomparable art catalyst, as well as being renowned for the excellence of her own art. She conveys the best of multifarious art techniques to those wise enough to study with her at Art Collaborations. Indoor classes take place on campus at Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart, 1128 The Great Road, Princeton NJ 08540. 609-497-2161. http://artcollaborations.net/

Nineteenth-century Paris considered the results of the radical new movement of Impressionism to be nothing more than sketches. Undeterred, the Barbizon School in France and our Hudson River School, as well as the Tonalists of New England, increasingly took brushes, paints and canvas outdoors. Working en plein air, these painters required relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, as well as open composition, to capture light’s effects -- despite light’s annoying propensity to change. Impressionists also sought out ordinary subject matter (as opposed to gods and goddesses), as do Heather’s art companions locally. Van Gogh in Arles was so committed to working outside that Provencal sand, driven by the mistral (wind), is visible in some of his canvases.

Something about being not only out in but acted upon by real sun, and varying conditions such as air and mist, seems to have freed the brushes of Heather’s Plein-Air band. See Princeton scenes as they might have inspired Monet, Daubigny, Sisley, Pissarro and company, in the 1900 barn that houses D&R Greenway Land Trust. One Preservation Place, Princeton 08540, off Rosedale Road. Free, but call 609-924-4646 to be sure galleries not rented at time of prospective visit.

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D&R GREENWAY LAND TRUST IS IN ITS 29TH YEAR of preserving and protecting natural lands, farmlands and open spaces throughout central and southern New Jersey. Through continuous preservation and stewardship -- caring for land and easements to ensure they remain protected and ecologically healthy in perpetuity -- D&R Greenway nurtures a healthier and more diverse environment for people and wild species in seven counties. Accredited by the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission, D&R Greenway’s mission is to preserve and care for land and inspire a conservation ethic, now and for the future. Since its founding in 1989, D&R Greenway has permanently preserved more than 20,000 acres, an area more than 20 times the size of New York City’s Central Park, including 30 miles of trails open to the public.

The Johnson Education Center, a circa 1900 restored barn at One Preservation Place, Princeton, is D&R Greenway’s home. Through programs, art exhibits and related lectures, D&R Greenway inspires greater public commitment to safeguarding land.

Carolyn F. Edelmann, Community Relations; Curator, Olivia Rainbow Gallery

D&R Greenway Land Trust

One Preservation Place, Princeton 609-924-4646 X131

“In wildness is the preservation of the world” Henry David Thoreau