Plein air artists scattered their easels throughout the city of Holladay in September to capture on canvas landscape scenes of mountains, village store fronts and charming cottages. On Oct. 7, a quick draw four-hour event provided a place for Holladay Village Plaza foot traffic to connect with painters, musicians and businesses against a backdrop of high-quality art and music. The Plein Air Holladay events were all part of the annual Holladay Plaza Fest celebration. 

Plein Air Holladay is an event during Holladay Plaza Fest created by the Holladay Arts Council to stimulate and promote the arts in Holladay. Held within the Holladay City boundaries, professional, amateur and student artists were invited to register for the plein air competition, The artists were given 10 days to paint an outdoor landscape scene and to submit their paintings for judging.   

Holladay Plaza Fest gives artist a forum for selling their art work. According to Holladay Arts Council Executive Director Sheryl Gillilan, Ben Morrison, owner of Relics Framemakers & Gallery, has been a tremendous support over the last six years in allowing his art gallery to be used to display and sell completed art work during Plein Air Holladay. 

“We had 55 artists registered to paint scenes throughout Holladay and 18 artists registered to participate in the quick draw competition,” Gillilan said. “The quick draw competition allows artists four hours to complete an entire painting. Later tonight, an opening reception will be held at Relics Framemakers & Gallery where individuals can bid for the art in a silent auction.”

The Stoddard Brothers, a local acoustic band, set a festive atmosphere for the daylong event playing a selection of rock, blues, folk and reggae music.

Louisa Lorenz has participated the last two years in Plein Air Holladay. She graduated from BYU-Idaho recently and is represented by Relics Framemakers & Gallery. She enjoys painting landscapes and the challenge of plein air painting.

“This is my second time participating in the quick draw event,” Lorenz said. “When plein air painting, I memorize where the light and shadows are in the scene because when the sun changes position in the sky, color, light and shadows appear different.”

Robert Fuerer completed his formal schooling in Utah. He then moved to Asia where he opened a private art academy and taught art for 16 years in Taiwan. A permanent collection of his art remains in Taiwan in a local gallery. Recently, Fuerer moved to the U.S. to paint the mountains of Utah. 

“I have a condo in Holladay, but my art studio is located in Sandy,” Fuerer said. “Oil is my favorite art medium because it is more forgiving than watercolor or other mediums. I just found out that a piece of my art ‘Crucifixion’ will be shown in the Springville, Spiritual and Religious Art show. I’m pretty excited.”

According to Gillilan, judges for the plein air art event were Todd Hoffman, Stephen Shefield and John Erickson. Ranging from professional to amateur categories, cash awards were presented to all winning entries. 

Heather Johnson received the first-place amateur award for her painting, “Sunny House on the Corner.”

Susan Riedley received the cash price for amateur second place for her painting, “Autumn Pavilion.”  

Olga Hegner earned an amateur third-place award for her painting of “The Cotton Bottom.”

Louisa Lorenz won professional first place for her painting, “Settling In.”

Nick Rees received professional second place for his painting “Mt. Olympus Fall.”

Robert Fuerer won professional third place for his painting “Autumn by the Mountains.” 

Editor's note: a previous version of this story had the incorrect caption for the photo.