Educational event and Kickoff at Sugarhouse Park

Plein Air Public Lands: Utah celebrated the first educational event & kickoff at Sugar House Park. It was warm and summery morning. The event kicked off with fizzy water and chocolate muffins. Per usual, I brought enough goodies and treats to feed a forest.

After our guests had successfully filled their bellies, we began with a quick briefing of the definition of public lands in both the US and in Utah and how federally owned public lands are different than state-owned lands. Ther are 640 million acres of federal lands in the US. Over half of Utah lands are public, including national parks such as Zions, and Forest Service Land such as in the Unitas Mountains.

Plein Air Arts

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water House, Willa Cather’s novel Song of Lark, and Claude Monet’s Haystack painting series–what do they all have in common?

Monet plein air painted nearly 30 haystacks paintings in a field near his house in an attempt to capture the light. French art critic and writer Gustave Geffroy described the haystacks as “the poetry of the universe in the small space of a field.”

The Song of the Lark written by Willa Cather is a coming of age story of a young woman’s pilgrimage as an artist against the backdrop of the Western landscape. It is a classic story of American perseverance and its connection to the land.

What was any art but an effort to make a sheath, a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining, elusive element which is life itself — life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose? 

The Fallingwater house was built in 1935 and was designed by American architect Frank Llyod Wright. Fallingwater is one of Wright’s most widely acclaimed works and best represents his philosophy of organic architecture: the harmonious union of art and nature. It is located in the mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania. The house was originally designed and built for private residence and weekend home, but it is now open to the public as a museum and historic landmark.

If access to public lands were not available, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water House, Willa Cather’s novel Song of Lark, and Claude Monet’s Haystack painting series may not exist. The inspiration from their experience on shared open wild spaces helped shape their vision and craft. 

Slinging Paint

After defining and discussing the history of plein arts, Rex described his first experience outside putting paint on a canvas.

“Painting outside en plein air is such a unique experience. It can be exhilarating and oftentimes rewarding. But plein air painting is not always without its frustrations. Most of my growth in art has come through failure. The key is to pick yourself up and keep going, until each time you encounter an obstacle or roadblock you begin to recognize it for what it is–a lesson,” Rex said.

He followed up with a plein air activity, inviting participants to use popsicle stick-made viewfinders to simplify and edit their view.

We finished up the event with another activity. We invited participants to share their own experience with public lands. We asked them to finish the sentence “I value public lands because….”

“Public lands are important to me because I can hear all the beautiful sounds of nature like the birds chirping and the trees swaying in the wind” —Lucy, age 10

Thanks to everyone who participated and helped us celebrate our kickoff!