Star Tribune: 'Plein Air' Painters Come to Fridley

Anna Pratt reported in the Star Tribune about a group of "plein air" painters who brought their easels to the Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts in Fridley recently—and stayed outside:

Paul Boecher set up a mini-art studio on the tailgate of his pickup truck in a Fridley parking lot last Thursday morning. ... Boecher is part of an informal group that meets each week to paint “en plein air,” a French term meaning in the “open air.” ...

Tom Dimock, a retired graphic designer who lives in Columbia Heights, explained: “You’re interpreting as you go along.”

In “plein air” painting, “You make your decisions really quickly,” he said. “What you started with two hours ago can be radically different” later on.

If you'd like to see paintings inside Banfill-Locke, get there by Saturday. April 6 is the closing day for the current exhibit, Soul Retrieval: Art of Transformation and Healing, with paintings by Ashley Dull and Julian Coffman as well as other works.

Related:

• Slideshow: Painters Flock to Fridley Community Ed Class