The Coachella Watercolor Society's "Plein Air Painters"

The Public Art Department's offices are located in the Palm Desert Visitor's Center building, which is adjacent to the Eric Johnson Memorial Gardens. The gardens are representative of native desert plants and dedicated to Eric Johnson, noted as the first landscape designer to bring native desert plantings to Palm Desert. In addition, Mr. Johnson was the former editor for Sunset Magazine for many years.
Last week, we noticed several "Plein Air" painters in the gardens setting up their easels and starting to paint, which peaked my interest as we have been working on a sculpture tribute to the "Early California Plein Air Painters" that started coming to the Coachella Valley from around 1905 to the 1950's. It's estimated that over 200 artists came to this area to paint the desert, which is why the street in front of the Visitor's Center is named "Painters Path". Many very famous artists came to paint here and a few stayed to live including Maynard Dixon, Jimmy Swinnerton, Agnes Pelton, Fred Penny John Hilton, Orpha Klinker, Sally Ward, Fred Chrisnall, Bill Bender, Clyde Forsythe to name a few. The artistic legacy left by these painters is a milestone in the history of American art, a specific time and place that has been largely under-recognized in the mainsteam of landscape painting until recently when prices for their work has soared to astronomical heights. A recent article on the early desert painters by Ann Japenga can be viewed by following this link, http://www.bbhgallery.com/BBH_Gallery_Monthly.htm#PalmDesert
The "Plein Air Painters" of the Coachella Watercolor Society continue this tradition of painting the desert landscape. They travel to 30 various locations throughout the Coachella Valley from October to May, artistically rendering the natural desert landscape. Depending on the time of year, the group can vary from 15-40 artists. The hold demonstrations, lectures and exhibitions throughout the season for the enjoyment and education of the general public and art lovers.