Park Place Mall swapped shopping bags for brush strokes Saturday as more than 40 artists gathered for Tucson’s first Plein Air Festival, hosted by the Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Alliance.
The event introduced mallgoers to the French-inspired tradition of “en plein air,” or painting outdoors, a practice made famous by Impressionist painters such as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Artists set up along the mall promenade to work live, often fielding questions from curious passersby.
“They’re painting from life,” said Eliza Plumlee, program coordinator for SAACA. “They’re looking at the subject matter and they’re trying to recreate it with paint on canvas.”…