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Date: 7/6/2021
WESTHAMPTON – The Hilltown Plein Air Painters have opened with a show of paintings done during the pandemic titled “Coming Out of COVID” at the Westhampton Public Library through Aug. 31.
The exhibition launched on July 2.
“We are thrilled to be welcoming artists and community members back into our Community Room/gallery to enjoy reflections of beauty, of wonder created during the pandemic,” said Meaghan Schwelm, the Westhampton Public Library director. “The exhibit is a testament to the power of creativity and nature to help us through difficult times.”
The Westhampton Public Library typically features ongoing art shows, but those had to be put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With local communities inching toward a sense of normalcy, exhibits are once again occurring, and the Hilltown Plein Air Painters are the first group to have their art displayed at the library in quite some time.
“We’re local to the Hilltown area, so we’ve done shows there before,” said Plein Air Painters member Jackie Brodeur.
According to Brodeur, the Plein Air Painters would continue to meet weekly and create some work together in the spring of 2020 while wearing masks outside and socially distancing.
“This year, we started back up painting in the spring,” said Brodeur. “And then we thought it would be a good theme of the show to do ‘Coming Out of COVID’ because we were supporting each other in different locations and continuing to paint.”
Regarding the theme, Brodeur said that there were some artists who painted dark imagery to represent what they were going through during the pandemic, especially when it came to the isolation and separation aspects.
When the group was able to gather this spring, vaccinated and without masks, Brodeur said that theme of the paintings involved brighter imagery with sunlight and other cheerier objects. There are also some paintings of favorite past journeys since people were not able to regularly travel.
“Many of the artists included in this show draw inspiration from the natural world,” said Schwelm. “It feels exciting and appropriate that our first use of the community room as we slowly inch toward normalcy will be an exhibit titled ‘Coming out of COVID.’”
There will be nine artists from Hilltown Plein Air Painters that will be exhibiting their work, according to Brodeur. The group consists of 10 people, but Brodeur added that the membership changes for various reasons. The group has been together since 2003.
“I think everyone is excited to have the shows returning,” said Brodeur. “Everybody is curious to see what the paintings will look like and the different feelings that are expressed in the paintings. We’re really happy to have the shows returning.”
The exhibit will be open to the public during the usual Westhampton Public Library hours. People can show up without having to sign up for anything, but according to the library’s website, the library and board of trustees request that all visitors for public browsing continue to wear face coverings to “protect children, immunocompromised, and other vulnerable community members.”
The Westhampton Public Library is open to the public on Mondays and Thursdays from 2 to 8 p.m.; Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.