Horsebarn Hill is one of UConn’s iconic vistas whether in winter, spring, summer, or fall. Now, those views are immortalized as fine art.

“A Year of Plein Air Painting on Horsebarn Hill” recently opened at the Jorgensen Gallery, in The Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. The exhibition displays 366 canvases painted over the course of a year by award-winning artist Blanche Şerban. Alternating panoramic views, local scenes, and minute subjects, the project documents the light and the atmosphere on the hill through the seasons. 

After promising her daughter that she wouldn’t travel during her senior year of high school, Şerban found herself wanting to take advantage of staying put in Storrs for a year. The result? More than 360 10-by-10-inch canvas paintings, all of which were completed through “plein air” painting, the French term for painting outdoors.  

Plein air challenges artists to capture a live subject as the light is changing over it. This style of painting allows an artist to repeatedly paint the same landscape or subject, with each painting depicting a different scene.

“It’s not the subject you paint, but it’s the light,” Şerban says.

She was introduced to this method of painting while studying at the School of Arts in Bucharest, Romania. She recalled one of her first classes, an introduction to plein air, when she was brought outside and had to sit on the curb in front of the art institute and draw the city around her.  

Şerban says she didn’t initially think this would turn into the extended project it has become. She started to paint outside at Horsebarn Hill to do something unique while keeping the promise she made to her daughter. Part of her motivation was to get to know Storrs better, which led her to painting at different times. Now, with the project complete, Şerban is not only more familiar with the famous location, but has come to notice intricate details embedded in nature. 

“The minute subjects of the Horsebarn Hill Plein Air project are an invitation to open ourselves to art, to the unique experience of each of us, to the transformative experience of nature that enriches, deepens and inspires human life,” she says.

Şerban hopes that members of the UConn community will take this opportunity to look at Horsebarn Hill and the nature around Storrs in a new way. “Nature generally makes us more open and sensitive to what happens around us,” Şerban says. “Just being aware that nature is everywhere around us here can provide so much support and relief.”

“A Year of Plein Air Painting on Horsebarn Hill” is on display until December 14. Jorgensen Gallery hours are Monday-Wednesday 10-4, Thursday 1-4, Friday 10-4, and prior to performances and during most intermissions.