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Oak Group artists paint Eastern Sierra |
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Saturday, 04 July 2009 |
Art for Conservation event benefits Eastern Sierra Land Trust
By Catherine Billey
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
 Submitted photo.The Pleasant Valley just outside of Bishop is portrayed in pastels by Oak Group artist Chris Chapman. While this piece has sold, other artwork from the area, including an oil, will be for sale at the Art for Conservation event.
The Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT) has gathered about 50 artists for a juried Art for Conservation show at CreekHouse at Snowcreek Resort that will celebrate the beauty and natural diversity of the Eastern Sierra.
Fifty percent of all sales at the show will benefit the conservation work of the ESLT.
“We’re putting together an alliance of Eastern Sierra artists and the renowned Oak Group to create a collection of art that includes the ESLT conservation lands and other special landscapes,” said ESLT Executive Director Karen Ferrell-Ingram.
“What we’re trying to do is promote the beauty and natural diversity of our area in the Eastern Sierra by bringing these really prestigious artists together in one place.”
The nonprofit Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT) works with private land owners and the public to conserve natural areas, historical and biological resources, and working farms and ranches.
“We have a lot of members and supporters in Mammoth,” Ferrell-Ingram said.
“The main project we’ve done there is the Snowcreek VIII Open Space Covenant.” That covenant ensures that the 9 acres on the east side of Snowcreek VIII remains as open space/golf course, she explained.
In fact, it was Chuck and Margarita Lande of the Snowcreek development who invited the Oak Group artists to stay for free at Snowcreek VI in Mammoth and paint in plein air style for three or four days this year.
The involvement of the Oak Group of plein air painters from Santa Barbara began at the instigation of resident Mary Kay Prentice, who lived there before moving to Mammoth five years ago and who owns some of their works. She said it all came together after a cocktail party in Montecito last summer attended by ESLT board president Tony Taylor.
“The concept is to paint the four seasons of the Eastern Sierra, as well as some land trust properties that the Eastern Sierra Land Trust has already purchased,” Prentice said.
“ESLT came to us and we’re so excited that we’ll have a partnership to raise funds for them,” said Oak Group artist Chris Chapman. “We were presented with anything from Little Lake up to Lake Tahoe with a special eye and affinity for the conservation and easements that the land trust is working toward.”
Prentice believes the Oak Group may be the first group of artists to combine proceeds of art sales with saving beautiful lands.
“They’ve done that around California,” Ferrell-Ingram concurred.
“It’s a pretty exciting concept. We feel very lucky that they agreed to partner with the ESLT because they also work with the Nature Conservancy, and of course the Marin Agricultural Land Trust.”
“And the Big Sur Land Trust,” added Chapman, who is the Oak Group liaison for the show.
ESLT offered the opportunity for the artists to paint in areas that would not otherwise be easily accessible.
“We can provide access to our easement properties, which are all private lands,” Ferrell-Ingram said. Otherwise, it would be trespassing.
“We envision this as being a 10-year project,” Prentice said. “This is the first year for an art exhibit. We had wanted sculpture, but I don’t know that that’s going to happen.”
Next year, she said, there will be an exhibit in Southern California as well as in Mammoth that features even more of the Oak Group.
The Art for Conservation Show & Sale will take place at CreekHouse at Snowcreek Resort July 18 and 19, open to the public, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 13 July 2009 )
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