Show Preview | AIS’ 24th annual National Juried Exhibition

The American Impressionist Society’s 24th annual National Juried Exhibition will be held at Somerville Manning Gallery in Greenville, Delaware, in the Brandywine Valley. For 40 years, the gallery has offered and exhibited significant works of American art, showcasing its trajectory from the Brandywine Tradition to the American modernism, postwar and contemporary movements through many critically acclaimed shows while also working with countless museums and institutions to help build their collections.

“AIS presents our annual exhibitions in different locations throughout the U.S. When selecting where to hold our exhibitions we search for galleries that embrace impressionism paired with interesting and inspiring scenery for our artists to paint,” remarks Liz Ahrens, AIS executive director. “The Brandywine Valley is steeped in history, is home to distinguished museums, boasts thousands of acres of gardens and is easily accessible for many of our members. Somerville Manning Gallery is highly respected.”

The exhibition kicks off with a week of opening events from Tuesday, August 1, to Saturday, August 5, featuring tours and the chance for artists to paint locations including Winterthur Museum, Gardens and Library, Brandywine Museum of Art, Hagley Museum, Brandywine Battlefield and the Gilpin House. “We encourage all AIS members, whether in the exhibition or not, to participate in our Opening Week events. Collectors are invited to the opening, the painting demo and the Wet Wall Exhibition to meet our artist members,” says AIS President and CEO Debra Joy Groesser. The show will be on display at the gallery August 3 through September 2.

From 1,657 entries of oil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic and gouache impressionist paintings, a five-member jury panel of AIS Signature members scored the work in a blind process. The group whittled the number down to 168 paintings that were selected for the exhibition to represent many active and highly acclaimed American Impressionists, and an additional 25 paintings by AIS Masters, officers and founders will be displayed.

Collectors will find various subjects, especially earth-toned plein air and neutral still life works, as well as peaceful grazing horses and bright floral studies. HARVESTING, Ran Wu’s portrait of a vineyard worker, takes an unusual downhill perspective, creating an immediacy between the bearer of lush purple-blue grapes and the viewer, closed in by dynamic sunlit vines. Wu’s portraits are more often close-ups, making this full-body work a rarer selection in the artist’s portfolio. Karen Werner’s LEMONS AND POMEGRANATES is a vibrant still life demonstrating different configurations of lemons, pomegranates, grapes and leaves. OFF TRAIL IN THE SPANISH PEAKS, by Aaron Schurr, depicts a small waterfall among lush terrain. Schuerr works almost exclusively in plein air, bringing images from his travels in all seasons from the field into the studio, and then to a global audience to experience vicariously.

The exhibition opens Thursday, August 3, with AIS Master Quang Ho serving as Judge of Awards, presenting alongside Groesser and AIS Vice President Cheryl St. John. In discussing his work, Ho has said, “Subject matter is not really important to me. I can find visual excitement all around me as well as on the canvas—from a knot on a tree, the graceful limp of a flower wilting, to a juxtaposition of a few simple shapes and colors…inspirations are inexhaustible.” Ho is a master of impressionism who has completed commissions for several prominent clients including the Coors Company, the Colorado Symphony and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. On Tuesday, August 1, he is hosting a demonstration workshop at the Winterthur Museum for members of the organization. —Janae Mancheski

contact informationamericanimpressionistsociety.org

This story appeared in the August/September 2023 issue of Southwest Art magazine.

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