Great Smoky Mountains Natl. Park — With every brush stroke, artists will help raise money for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It's part of the Plein Air Smokies event, which brings in acclaimed artists from all over the country to paint at the park. Ahead of that event, some East Tennessee students got a lesson on how to paint in nature.
Thirty students from Fulton High School and Gatlinburg-Pittman High School traveled to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to learn from the pros. Ahead of the in-person nature painting, students were able to practice in the classroom.
"Friends of the Smokies came out to our school and had a teaching artist work with the students to practice in our school garden. So, that was a great experience for them to come here, prepared and confident and just excited instead of nervous," said Caitlin Seidler, an art teacher at Fulton High School.
Seidler said painting nature is different than what her students are used to.
"There's a just a lot of textures, colors that you have to take into a rectangular frame. And they're surrounded by so much. So just choosing that scene, choosing what speaks to them allows them to put a personal touch on it. And just capturing what they see, observing what they see, but also showing it from their viewpoint is really a special experience for them," said Seidler.
Karen Bentz, the chairperson of the event, said artists can keep or sell their paintings and proceeds will go to Friends of the Smokies.
"This is really important because it tells the story of the national park. So it's really a view of these incredible artists and into what's so incredibly special about our national park, and it conveys the story," said Bentz.
Artists are able to keep their paintings or sell them in Knoxville. The proceeds go to Friends of the Smokies to help preserve the park. Rosalind Branton, a senior at Gatlinburg-Pittman High School, says it's her second time painting for an art class in the national park.
"Experience is the best learning ability you can ever have. I feel like it's so rare to have such great access to a place like this. When you're around it, you become more keen to it, and it's really beautiful," said Branton.
She said she's using what she learned to help her with this year's painting.
"Last year I did not know what I was doing. Typically when I paint, I don't look at something like that and paint it. It takes me a bit of time to plan it out and we're kind of under a time constraint. Usually, it's about eight hours, which is a long time. But when you're an artist, eight hours is not a long time at all," said Branton.
Seidler said some of her students had never been to the park before, so they were able to visit and learn new skills.
"This is their first time out here and just enjoying this amazing national park is so important for anybody in the East Tennessee area. And they're also experiencing what it's like to be a professional artist and create work that could really influence others to contribute to efforts to conserve the Smokies," said Seidler.
The Plein Air artist paintings will be available for sale at a Collectors Soirée on Sept. 27 in Downtown Knoxville at Regas Square Events. There will also be a quick draw event in Market Square on Sept 28. The artists will be painting what they see in the area, but the public is also able to join in.
"You can pay a fee to join us and we are gonna just have a great time painting the urban area, right outside the Market Square. They'll have three hours to paint and then those paintings will also go for sale. And then following that, we'll have a public art sale as well. So everyone's invited. It's gonna be fantastic and it really brings the entire region together the areas of Gatlinburg and Knoxville and everything in between to really celebrate the beauty of the great outdoors and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park," said Bentz.