International Plein Air Painters
Est. 10/19/01
Signature member Gerrye Riffenburgh
Biography
Recognized for her work nationally and internationally, Gerrye Riffenburgh has exhibited extensively in museums and galleries across the US and Europe, earning numerous awards.
After a brief career in Clinical Psychology, she returned to complete a degree in art, graduating summa cum laude, and continuing her study at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara Italy, and with such renowned artists as Sergei Bongart, Kevin MacPherson, Matt Smith, Ray Roberts, Dan Gerhartz and Carolyn Anderson. She has taught classes in art with the Community College District in San Diego and also in Europe.
Riffenburgh is a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society, the International Plein Air Painters, the American Society of Marine Artists, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club and the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society and is a juried Artist Member of the California Art Club, as well as a member of the Oil Painters of America.
She is the Founder of the Plein Air Painters Association of San Diego (PAPASAN), a group of artists, many of whom have exhibited nationally and won awards for their work. The group has met together every Monday since 1999 to paint the diverse landscapes of San Diego County and its environs.
Her works are in collections throughout Europe and North America.
AWARDS
Award for Excellence, Arts for the Parks,
Top 200; Juried Top Sixty,
Salon International; William Schultz Award,
American Impressionist Society; Trofeo di Marmi Award,
Cenacolo Buttini, Carrara, Italy; Honorable Mention Award,
National Annual Galleon Exhibit, London; Second Place Award,
Municipal Gallery, Partnership for the Arts; First Place Award,
California Art Club/Maurice Braun Plein Air Festival; Honorable Mention,
California Art Club/Maurice Braun Plein Air Festival; Special Merit Award,
California Art Club, Mission Trails Exhibition; Merit Award,
American Impressionist Society; First Place Award,
San Dieguito Art Guild, Members Exhibition; Third Place Award,
San Dieguito Art Guild Member Exhibition; People’s Choice Award,
La Jolla Art Association Member Exhibition; Certificate of Merit,
Annual County Awards La Jolla Art Association.
SELECTED EUROPEAN EXHIBITIONS
Museum Bredius 
The Hague, Netherlands
The Hague, NetherlandsMuseum Rijswijk Rijswijk, Netherlands
Rijswijk, NetherlandsAmerican Embassy The Hague,Netherlands (solo)
The Hague,Netherlands (solo)Oudewaal Gallery The Hague, Netherlands (solo)
The Hague, Netherlands (solo)Pasadhena Art Gallery The Hague, Netherlands
The Hague, NetherlandsCenacolo Buttini, Carrarra (Trofeo di Marmi Award)
(Trofeo di Marmi Award)Associazione Artisti Versiliese Viareggio, Italy
Viareggio, ItalyAccademia di Belle Arti Carrara, Italy
Carrara, ItalyGalleon Annual Exhibit London, England (Honorable Mention Award)
London, England (Honorable Mention Award)Pembrokeshire Library (solo) Pembrokeshire, Wales, GB
Pembrokeshire, Wales, GBSt David’s Annual Exhibit St. David’s, Wales, GB
St. David’s, Wales, GBFish Guard Art Exhibit Fishguard, Wales, GB
Fishguard, Wales, GBInternational Plein Air Painters Artists Organization WORLDWIDE Est. 10/19/01
Gerrye Riffenburgh Signature Member
Artist’s Statement
My plein air experience began while living in Europe when I started to create landscape paintings outdoors. I was struck by the differences in light and atmosphere in various areas. Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, with more moisture in the air, offered softer light, colors that were muted. In Italy, Spain, Southern France, colors were more brilliant, sharper shadows, brighter light.
Painting “en plein air” has its drawbacks and its blessings. While wind, heat, cold, insects, even rain and snow, and often swiftly changing light, create real challenges, the positive aspects are many. Some of these elements require a quick, spontaneous impression, not simply a rendering of the scene. No photograph can create the intimate relationship with nature that I feel when painting outdoors. Plein air painting is not just a representation of the nature around me. It is an expression of all of those sensations offered to me by the surroundings I am painting.
The great landscape artist John Carlson spoke of the “landscape sense” as “something apart from beauty, or color relation, or form relation.” He said “I mean the float of the cloud, the lightness of it…, the weight of the ground, its solid massive form, the roll of the hills; the growth and reach of the trees—each a graceful, personal, and individual thing”.
I have tried to bring to my plein air paintings my experience of the nature surrounding me as well as my unique interpretation of the subject.
in memory
