FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. —A new exhibit in University of Arkansas Mullins Library showcases artworks that were created in the fifth annual Garvan Woodland Gardens plein air painting event titled “Beauty and the Brush.” A plein air event involves painting a natural outdoor scene in open daylight. This year’s invitational event, held on April 3-5, drew 18 professional artists from six states.

“Flowering Border” by Deleen Davidson

The Dragon’s Staircase” by Eric Maurus

“Hope” by Gary Simmons

The Gardens, under the management of the University of Arkansas School of Architecture, is located on a 210-acre peninsula on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs. Begun as a private botanical garden by Verna Cook Garvan in 1956, it features hundreds of rare shrubs and trees, including camellias, magnolias, dogwoods, and more than 160 different types of azaleas, many of which were in bloom during the event.

Boulders and rocks transform natural streams into “water features” throughout the Gardens, such as the short waterfall in Eric Maurus’s “The Dragon’s Staircase.” Trails and pathways that wind leisurely through the lush specimen plantings are depicted in Deleen Davidson’s “Flowering Border” and Laura Reilly’s “Bridge into Springtime.” More than 80,000 tulips, daffodils and other flowering bulbs provide the brilliant color that glows in many of the paintings, such as Bill Garrison’s “In the Rain” and Carole Katchen’s “Magic Carpet.”

This year’s “Beauty and the Brush” artists were Marian Hirsch of Plano, Texas; John Potoschnik of Wiley, Texas; Ellie Taylor of Hawkins, Texas; Jimmy Leach of Stillwell, Okla.; Laura Reilly of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Phil Sandusky of New Orleans, La.; Bill Lewis and Barry Thomas of Little Rock; Gloria and Bill Garrison of Russellville; and Deleen Davidson, Robin Hazard-Bishop, Dolores Justus, Carole Katchen, Eric Maurus, Alison Parsons, Gary Simmons, and Long Hua Xu of Hot Springs.

The artists’ works were displayed in the Pratt Welcome Center at the Gardens through April. Then one painting from each artist was selected for inclusion in a yearlong traveling exhibit, underwritten by the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission. Additional venues on the tour include the South Arkansas Arts Center in El Dorado, the Arkansas River Valley Arts Center in Russellville, the Ozark Heritage Arts Center in Leslie, the Winthrop Rockefeller Center in Morrilton, and the Hot Springs Convention Center in Hot Springs. All artworks are offered for sale, with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit Garvan Woodland Gardens.

“Beauty and the Brush” will be on display in Mullins Library lobby level through May. For more information, call (479) 575-6702 or visit http://libinfo.uark.edu/info/artexhibit.asp.

Photos used with permission.