Barga will once more be the setting for a group of artists from abroad who will busily attempting to get down in oils, pastels and drawings an “essence of Barga”.
The American artist Brian Keeler and a group of his students will be in the city next month and as in other years, Brian will also be offering a free lecture at Casa Cordati on May 20th
A wine and cheese social- FREE and open to the public- starts at 4:30 where artist Brian Keeler will have some of his newly created Italian plein air works on display along with his students’ work.
He will also have a copy of his new book, Dramatic Color in the Landscape there to view. At around 5:15 Keeler will present an engaging slide lecture on the Italian Renaissance and the humanist aesthetic and how the lessons of the past relate to today’s artist
Brian Keeler in Barga 2007 | 2014 |
Brian Keeler was born in 1953 and he lives in his hometown of Wyalusing, Pa. USA. He primarily devotes his time to painting landscapes, still lives, figures, and portraits in oil, pastel and water-colour.
Brian has made the landscape and cities of Italy one of his painting projects over the decade and he conducted landscape and life drawing classes here in Barga since the spring of 2004 , 2006, 2007 and up until 2013
His oil paintings are often begun with quick pencil sketches or studies done in pastel or with oil, usually in a smaller scale on location. Keeler then goes back to his studio and creates larger format oils based on these first-hand compositions and from photos.
He feels that there is something irreplaceable about being outside and experiencing nature first-hand while creating paintings in a single sitting. Feeling the air, hearing the ambient sounds of nature and even the background sounds of traffic, lawnmowers and people, seeing the effects of light and serendipitous occurrences of nature all contribute to an emotional connection to his subjects.
One of the artist’s main attractions to any given landscape is the quality of light and the play of light on fields, clouds and topography. His site containing other examples of his work can be seen here.