OPEN AIR ART: This work by Bob Barish is featured in “By The Light of Day: Plein Air Show,” on view through August 27 at the West Windsor Arts Center. An opening reception will be held on July 15 from 6 to 8 p.m.

West Windsor Arts Center, 952 Alexander Road, West Windsor, presents “By The Light of Day: Plein Air Show,” on view through August 27. An opening reception is on Friday, July 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. Free admission. 

For this exhibition, West Windsor Arts invited artists to enter their en plein air artwork; artwork done outdoors. According to the organization, since the 1800s painting en plein air has allowed artists to capture the emotional and sensory dimensions of a particular landscape at a particular moment in time. It expresses a spirit of spontaneity and truth to personal impulse within art. Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh was notably a fan of plein air painting, or the practice of painting in the great outdoors. Other impressionist painters such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir advocated plein air painting, and much of their work was done outdoors in the diffuse light of a large white umbrella. Decisions have to be made quickly, therefore painting reactions are more intuitive.

Exhibiting artists include Bob Barish, Larry Chestnut, Emily Chiles, Huchen Courouleau, Magda Dodd, Carlo Fiorentini, Michael Graham, Marzena Haupa, Joelle Hofbauer, Margaret Kalvar-Bushnell, Snehal Kumbhar, Lori Langsner, Yun Li, Patrick Lieg, Christopher Mac Kinnon, Mary Manahan, Denise McDaniel, Mark Oldland, Neelam Padte, Rupa Sanbui, Aurelle Sprout, David Terrar, Mary Lou Thomas, Maria Vasquez, and Lei Yua.

For more information, visit westwindsorarts.org.