Moments: The Plein Air Movement 2022

July 28 - August 27, 2022

Artlink Contemporary Gallery is pleased to present Moments: The Plein Air Movement.

In partnership with the Fort Wayne Artists Guild, this group exhibition will include pastel, oil and watercolor paintings by three plein air artists: Greg Barnes of Charlotte, NC; Christina Body of Wilmette, IL; and Vlad Yeliseyev of Sarasota, FL. 

Translating to “in open air” in French, plein air painting sets out to convey the atmosphere and natural experience of a subject. In adherence to this approach, artists seek to capture the true essence of a given landscape, emphasizing color, light and movement.

Please join us for the opening reception on Thursday, July 28th from 5-8 pm!

About the Artists

Christina Body
Christina Body is an urban landscape artist known for her unusual viewpoints and vibrant scenes of Chicago. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and minors in Photography and Theatre, from Southern Illinois University, where she was a Fine Arts and Athletic Scholarship recipient for four consecutive years. Her formal training began with an art scholarship under the mentorship of professor emeritus Robert Paulson at Southern Illinois University.

Christina’s award-winning studio and plein air paintings have earned her participation in prestigious national juried exhibitions, national plein air painting competitions, museum shows, scholarships and numerous private and corporate collections and commissions, including Northwestern Memorial Hospital Corporate Collection and The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Greg Barnes
Greg Barnes began painting full time in 2002, on the heels of the 911 disaster. Feeling that "life is short” he finally took his Fine Art degree from Wake Forest University to heart. Greg became attached to soft pastels through his love of drawing and doing portraits when he first began to make a living as an artist. Soon he discovered plein air landscape painting to be his greatest joy, so he pursued that further.

Now he divides his time between plein air painting, selling work at outdoor art festivals, and teaching. His work has received numerous awards and is collected throughout the US and beyond.

Vlad Yeliseyev
Vlad Yeliseyev came to the United States from Russia in the 1980s equipped with a classical art education from the Moscow School of Art and a Master’s Degree in architecture. Now a renowned watercolor and plein air artist, for 30 years Vlad has been living and working in the United States, where his artworks have often been praised for his unique ability to reflect light in his paintings.

After a successful career as an architectural illustrator, Vladislav became a popular speaker and demonstrator at the watercolor and plein air conventions in the United States, as well as a jury member and a judge of many national and regional watercolor and plein air competitions.