Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Wild eyes

Plein-air artist has spent a year painting Idaho wilderness


By KAREN LINDELL
Express Staff Writer

Rachel Teannalach created this oil painting, “Boulder Front,” as the Idaho Conservation League’s inaugural artist in residence. More of her plein-air works featuring local landscapes are on display at Silvercreek Art in Ketchum. Courtesy photo

    Being the first “artist in residence” for the Idaho Conservation League has kept Rachel Teannalach out of a residence and into the wild.
    The plein-air painter has spent much of the last year traveling through Idaho to capture the state’s most magnificent—and vulnerable—landscapes, from the Boulder-White Clouds to the Owyhee Canyonlands.
    Her oil paintings of familiar surroundings, including the Boulder Front, Railroad Ridge, Elkhorn slopes, Redfish Lake and Bald Mountain, are on display at Silvercreek Art in Ketchum through Sept. 28. Twenty-five percent of sales proceeds from the “Boulder-White Clouds and Beyond” exhibit will go to the nonprofit Idaho Conservation League.
    What can an artist-in-residence do for the Idaho Conservation League’s efforts to protect the state’s wildest lands?
    “Ultimately, I hope it makes people form a connection to the actual place, not just to my art,” Teannalach said. “For people who are familiar with the landscape, seeing an image of it really ignites their love for that place. For somebody who’s never been there, it makes them take notice.”
    Teannalach, based in Boise, grew up in New Mexico. She graduated from Scripps College in Claremont, California, in 2003; and has shown her work in New York, California, Idaho and Finland. She’s also done artwork for Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma.
Teannalach started her partnership with conservation organizations in 2012 when she did an art project for the Boise law firm Advocates for the West. She worked with the Idaho Conservation League in a similar way, traveling to and painting many of the landscapes the organization has helped preserve, or wants to preserve. The ICL then asked her to create an artist-in-residency program.
    Many of the works in the Ketchum show are part of a series of paintings done in increments, such as images of the sky every night in January, or time-lapse paintings of the same spot over an entire day.
    She painted the Boulder Front, for example, every two hours from 5 a.m. to midnight.
    For plein-air painters, she said, “It’s kind of a race against the clock. You look up and all of a sudden this hillside that’s dark is completely lit up. Do you recalibrate, or make this a time-lapse image where there’s different lighting effects within the same image?”
    She’s also created a series of “tinyExpanse” small paintings — 3 inches by 3 inches — every day since Oct. 1, 2013. The yearlong project will soon end.
    “These works are a reminder that beauty is available everywhere,” she said. “You just have to pay attention.”


‘The Boulder-White Clouds and Beyond’
WHAT:
Exhibit of paintings by Rachel Teannalach, the Idaho Conservation League’s
inaugural artist in residence.


WHERE:
Silvercreek Art, 331 Leadville Ave., Ketchum.


WHEN:
On display through Sept. 28, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, or on weekday evenings by appointment.


DETAILS:
www.silvercreekart.com or www.teannalach.com.




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