Door County Art Scene: Plein Air Artist Featured at UU Gallery

Liz Maltman gives the impression that the “open air” is the only studio she needs. Maltman discovered painting “en plein air” (meaning in the open air) in 2004 and has been enamored with it ever since.

She works primarily in pastels, favoring their immediacy, vibrancy of color and portability in the field. Her goal in painting a landscape is not so much to paint it exactly as she sees it but to capture the essence of the scene and the feeling that the particular day evokes.

Originally from Chicago, Maltman moved to Fish Creek in 1974 after completing undergraduate degrees in Art History and Psychology. Since then, she owned and operated several businesses, notably The Magic Jacket (1982-98), as well as her own business in interior design and decorative painting.

Maltman was chosen to participate in the first annual Peninsula Art School, Plein Air Festival in 2007. She is very pleased to have been juried in to the 2009 festival at the school. She was a featured artist for several years at the Francis Hardy Gallery, Arts Collectors’ Showcase Exhibit. Her work is represented locally at Margaret Lockwood’s Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor.

Maltman is also adding acrylic paintings to her representations, though the ones shown at the UU Gallery are only “en plain air” pastels from 2008.

The public is invited to the UU Gallery any Sunday following services, from 11 am – 12:30 pm. Additional gallery hours are on Mondays from 1 – 3 pm at 10341 Hwy. 42, Ephraim. For more information or interest in displaying art work call 920.839.2606 or visit http://www.uufdc.org.