Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery hosts outdoor painting event Saturday

This Saturday, residents will notice artists around the county capturing the beauty and the outdoor scenes of Holly Springs and Marshall County from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. The Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery will host the outdoor painting event “En Plein Air” in honor of the many summers Clark spent painting the beautiful outdoor scenes of Shinnecock Hills, Long Island, New York, with William Merritt Chase, who was the most famous art instructor in the country at that time.

Two Snow Lake watercolorists, Peggy McKnight and Mary Couillard, who paint have art studios in their homes will be participating in the art event.

McKnight is a well-known Memphis artist who moved to Snow Lake 15 years ago. She studied art at the Memphis College of Art and has many paintings in homes and commercial buildings in the area. She is well known for her paintings of old buildings and nature.

Couillard is a self-taught artist who began painting when she retired after a career as a professor of nursing and as a nurse practitioner.

She moved to Snow Lake almost three years ago.

“My paintings are a celebration of nature and my love of this wonderful medium,” Couillard said. Her work has been juried into local, state and international exhibitions.

Along with McKnight and Couillard, many other artists will check in at the Art Gallery Saturday morning. Artists will have a quick gallery tour for inspiration and a box lunch (donated by Belles and Brooks Club) before being sent to spend a fun-filled day of painting. Artists will return to the gallery with their paintings to be judged and put on display during the cocktail reception at 6 p.m.

Tickets for the reception are $20 per person and $10 for current art gallery members.

Clark would have been thrilled to know that Plein Air Painting has officially come to Holly Springs, where her beautiful “Plein Air” paintings from over 100 years ago are greatly admired and appreciated more than ever.