Shipley Nature Center welcomes plein air artists for new event
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The beauty to be found in the region’s landscape is well known by the Southern California Plein Air Painters Assn., which has organized countless plein air paint-outs throughout Orange County, including the annual Back Bay Plein Air Art Festival in Newport Beach. This month, the group will hold its first such event at the Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Beach’s Central Park West.
Open since 1974, the center is an 18-acre ecological sanctuary for California native plants and wildlife. The land boasts 4,000 feet of trails along with eight distinct habitats in an open-air setting, ripe with inspiration for painting. There are oak woodlands, Torrey pines, meadows and Blackbird Pond, a natural freshwater pond with mature willows and sycamores trees.
The inaugural Shipley Nature Center Plein Air Paint Out & Sale, presented by the artists’ association and Friends of Shipley Nature Center, is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22. The event is designed to celebrate nature and art as 19th and early 20th century artists did, taking inspiration from French painters who favored painting in “plein air,” a French term meaning open air. The event is open to the public, giving locals a chance to share in the natural beauty of the Shipley’s California native landscape.
During the first couple of hours of the event, local club plein air artists will paint alongside the trails of the nature center, welcoming engagement and observation from visitors. Then, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., club artists will gather to display for sale their newly-created artworks in the center’s amphitheatre. Previously painted and framed artworks by the same artists will also be for sale, all focused on the landscape surrounding the Shipley.
The Southern California Plein Air Painters Assn. was founded in 2001 by Margaret “Maggie” Jamison with a small gathering of artists from a painting class at Irvine Valley College taught by Jeff Horn. The association has since grown into a nonprofit dedicated to supporting local conservation efforts to protect O.C.’s natural landscape while hosting weekly in-person paint-outs and various art shows. The club has long-standing partnerships with OC Parks, the Newport Bay Conservancy and the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center, with 35% of the proceeds from art sales donated toward the preservation of Newport Bay.
Forty percent of the proceeds for each artwork sold at the Shipley Nature Center Plein Air Paint Out & Sale will benefit the habitat conservation and programs at the center. The remaining 60% of each sale will go to the artist.
Shipley Nature Center is located north of the intersection of Goldenwest and Talbert in Huntington Beach Central Park West, 17851 Goldenwest St. Admission is free, although there is a $5 suggested donation per person. Member artists can register in advance online at socalpapa.com.
