PIPAF returning in June
Edit: PIPAF Postponed to September 16-19, 2021
Nancy Tankersley paints at Parrsboro Harbour during a previous International Plein Air Festival. The festival is returning in 2021 with an in-person competition restricted to 20 participants from Atlantic Canada only. They’ll be vying for prizes totalling $4,000. Lawrence Nicoll Photography
After going virtual in 2020, popular festival will feature in-person competition
Written by Darrell Cole, Amherst News
PARRSBORO, N.S. —
As much as 2020 was a year of challenges, Parrsboro Creative’s executive director is confident its acclaimed plein air festival will return with an in-person event this June.
Normally, the weekend festival attracts nature artists from across North America to paint the impressive scenery associated with the Bay of Fundy near Parrsboro. Last year, due to COVID-19, the plein air festival saw participants paint virtually in their home studios around Canada and the United States.
The festival, entering its fifth year, is coming back June 17 to 20, but it’s going to be much different with only Atlantic Canadian participants competing - although they will once again be permitted to come to the Parrsboro area to paint.
“We were so fortunate to be able to hold an event last summer, especially considering some of the major challenges faced by our counterparts in larger centres,” Jocelyn Li said. “I think because of where we’re situated, we were able to do something. There were a lot of things we couldn’t do, but we still had the wiggle room to get around and adapt to some of the restrictions because we had the space. And as a result, we were put in the spotlight. Everyone has been watching what we’ve been doing.”
Li said Parrsboro Creative learned a lot from going online-only last year with PIPAF in Isolation. She said those efforts were rewarded with unprecedented numbers of engagement on the website, which resulted in 80 per cent of sales from the previous year.
Although it expanded its outreach, the personal connection was lost with the online exhibition. As expected, she said, the online exhibition could not compare with meeting artists in person or being able to see the subtle qualities of paint layered on a canvas.
She said festival organizers are still figuring out an inside-outside combination of events which will allow people to see the artwork because at the end of the day artwork is made to be showcased – not left outside where it’s exposed to the elements.
There is always the risk travel restrictions within the Atlantic Bubble may not change, but she’s hoping, based on the trend from last year, things will improve as summer approaches.
“Our concern is less about travel restrictions and more about how COVID-19 is going to progress with the variants, and how that’s going to impact other provinces," she said. "We know the Maritimes pretty much respond to what’s happening in Ontario and Quebec. Our best option is to hold an event with limited participants using both indoor and outdoor venues.”
She said the 2020 festival, being entirely online, helped fortify its presence in the community – something important to maintain this year through its marketing and sharing the in-person events to its online audience.
“We’ve updated our website and migrated to a better platform so we can do a better job broadcasting,” she said. “We’re fully prepared to go completely online with our event, but we hope we don’t have to.”
The ability to continue through COVID’s restrictions is key because not only is it difficult to restart, it’s also easier to maintain or get new sponsorship and support than it would be if organizers were forced to start over.
Parrsboro Creative is still planning to hold a series of workshops that will ramp up following the Plein Air Festival and continue from July to October. Li said those details are still being worked out and a lot will depend on the path COVID-19 takes.
This year’s event will only accept 20 participants. An invitation has been extended to the juried Atlantic Canadian artists who participated in last year’s online event. The application fee has been reduced for this year’s event and Li said there are 12 available spots for painters to join by applying to https://www.parrsborocreative.com/artists-prospectus.
Prizes for this juried event, featuring Zwicker’s Gallery in Halifax owner/curator Ian Muncaster as a judge, total more than $4,000.
She said it’s great to have a curator, collector and art historian as a judge.
The deadline for applications is March 31. Successful participants will be notified the week of April 12.
