St. Albert Artist, Samantha Williams-Chapelsky, Named Alberta's New Artist-In-Residence

One of the most common images of a painter is that of solitude: toiling away in their studio space, alone with their inspiration, or maybe a muse at most. But Samantha Williams-Chapelsky sometimes finds an audience watching her put brush to canvas.

As a plein air painter, Williams-Chapelsky does her landscape painting outdoors, immersing herself in her subject matter. And working out in the open means anyone can stop, watch, and even strike up a conversation.

“I was teaching a plein air workshop out in Italy, about a month ago,” Williams-Chapelsky recalls. “The crowd that all of these artists drew was really fabulous. It wasn't necessarily language that we spoke together, but they understood what you were doing and they were fascinated by why you were capturing it. 

“I think there's such a cool thing about meeting an artist in a space and chatting with them about their process,” she adds. “To see how an artist's mind works, I think that's a real gift.”

Albertans may also stumble across Williams-Chapelsky at work this year: She is Alberta’s fifth Artist in Residence and Arts Ambassador, and has a plan to do 100 plein air paintings during her tenure. She started in November with a favourite spot in the St. Albert river valley, and has plans to cross the province, capturing the range of our landscapes as she finishes canvases.

“I'm up to, I think, about seven or eight,” she says. “They're slowly coming along. A hundred is a lot, so I gotta get a move on while the weather's nice.”

Ah yes, the weather factor. Given our half-year dip into sub-zero temperatures, Williams-Chapelsky notes that plein air work takes a bit of planning—and a particular level of dedication—to see it through in a wintery place.

“With the paints that I use, you have up to about minus five that you can still paint,” she notes. “I'll still do some painting in wintertime, but it might be using the indoors, with the window [open to the] outdoors. You can also paint inside your car—if you happen upon an inspiring location, you can always do that as well. It's painting outside and Alberta's weather is fabulous… and it can be terrifying and it can be all over the map, so you're dealing with strange weather regardless. So it's a lot of fun for me, but it's definitely challenging.”

Williams-Chapelsky has been doing plein air paintings for a decade, about half of her career as a professional artist. As she found herself focusing on landscapes, plein air felt like the truest way to capture her subjects—and in doing so, connect with Canadian art history.

“I stopped doing a lot of other types of work midway through my career, and really recognized the benefit of painting from life: being able to capture that, as well as the skillset that's involved in that,” Williams-Chapelsky says. “There is a bit more skill when you're having to do it on site, when you have a limited time range. I really saw improvement in my own work by doing that. Then also through studying the group of seven and really learning about how they practiced plein air and why they did it and how they showcased the Canadian landscape at its best… That was really solely a Canadian thing to paint the way they painted. So I think it's a great homage to the past, as well as trying to make sure that I'm doing the best work that I can and challenging myself as an artist as well.”

Artical Written by: Paul Blinov

To learn more about Williams-Chapelsky's work, visit samanthawilliamschapelsky.shop.

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