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| Plein air painter Jane Bennett |
Rain or shine, she paints en plein air, or outdoors, and was expecting to do just that when appointed the inaugural artist in residence for Artfiles, a group involved in a pop-up project being staged by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA).
Although the authority provided her with some space to paint in a former George Street bank, Ms Bennett was working outdoors as usual, finishing a small oil treatment of the Opera House, when two foreshore authority rangers cut short her first full day on the job.
''I was bullied and harassed by the mindless goons operating as SHFA rangers. I was told not to paint in public,'' Bennett fumed on her blog this week.
The rangers were unhappy with a small painting of a spire and another of Punjabi dancers performing in the Rocks that were drying on the back of her easel.
''I was told I had a studio at 47 George Street and I was to get back to my studio and stay inside during the festival,'' she said. ''Obviously, I'm a danger to society and have to be stopped at all costs.
''They'd never seen a plein air artist before and wanted to make sure that they never saw one again. They won't.''
see also http://janebennettartist.blogspot.com/
1 comment:
Thank you for posting my little stoush with mindless authority. What made it even more weird was that I had written a very detailed explanation of how I painted & what I'd intended to do as Artist in Residence several weeks before and I had given this to Artfiles. So the time to stop me was before the festival started - not when I had 3 wet canvases on my easel! Artfiles and the SHFA Rocks Pop up Project had said that what I had planned to do would be very exciting. It certainly was, but not in the way I had expected! Previously I had painted during other festivals with no dramas - Australia Day at Darling Harbour for example - http://janebennettartist.blogspot.com/2011/02/australia-day-2011-at-darling-harbour.html
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