The Academy Art Museum and the Avalon Foundation are pleased to announce a new collaboration that serves to forward their shared missions to promote the arts and enhance the cultural life of the region.

“We are delighted to strengthen our historic collaboration by working together to present an annual exhibition during Plein Air Easton of works from the Museum’s collections and to offer additional educational components during the Plein Air program this year. In addition, we are also working together to enhance the attendees’ experience of the works created during the Festival through newly installed state-of-the-art lighting,” said Ben Simons, Director of the Academy Art Museum. Al Bond, President and CEO, Avalon Foundation, Inc., adds, “We view our missions as aligned and are excited about working more closely with the Academy. The Avalon Foundation’s production of Plein Air Easton seems like a great starting point for what we hope to be more extensive collaboration.”

During the upcoming Plein Air Easton festival, the Academy Art Museum will present the exhibition “Curator’s Choice,” a selection of Plein Air paintings from its Permanent Collection selected by the Museum’s Senior Curator Anke Van Wagenberg, PhD. On display at the Avalon Theatre, the exhibition highlights prize winners and leading pieces from Plein Air Easton from 2006–2008, including works by popular plein air artists Tim Bell, Jill Carver, Stephen Griffin and others. Another feature of the collaboration is a slide lecture by Van Wagenberg on “The History of Plein Air Painting” on Sunday, July 16, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Avalon Theater. The paintings were donated to the Museum by a generous patron of both institutions.

In addition, the Avalon Foundation is partnering with the Academy Art Museum to purchase and replace the light bulbs in the Museum’s galleries with state-of-the-art LED bulbs that will provide uniformity and brilliance to the lighting of Plein Air works hung in the galleries during the Festival. Manufactured by Soraa, a company specializing in lighting for artwork, the bulbs are LED 36° floods, projecting 1000 lumens, 3000 Kelvin value, and a CRI of 95. According to Al Bond, this means that color is rendered true across the spectrum, something the LED bulbs generally have done poorly until now.  They are also very energy efficient using about $2.23 in electricity each year. Funding for the light bulb replacement and the addition of one third more lighting fixtures was provided by a generous patron of both institutions.