Take advantage of these art and plein air painting events and opportunities from our 2024 Ultimate Guide to Painting Events and Organizations. Bonus: Includes upcoming event deadlines!
(We want to include your plein air painting events! Don’t see your group listed here? Contact our marketing team to learn how to advertise your plein air painting events and more with Plein Air Today.)
California
19th Annual Frank Bette Plein Air Paintout
Dates: July 29-August 3
Opening Reception: August 10
Sponsoring Organization: Frank Bette Center for the Arts
Venue: South Shore Center
City: Alameda
Format: Juried
Contact: Margaret Fago
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 510.523.6957
Website: www.frankbettecenter.org
Experience the Island of Alameda. In 2005 the Frank Bette Plein Air Paintout began hosting up to 40 juried artists for a week of painting tree-lined streets, stately Victorian homes and shops, picturesque marinas, historic naval ships and a former naval air station, as well as beaches, lagoons, parks, and the island city of Alameda.
EXHIBITION: From Field to Frame: The PAC6 Show How It’s Done
Dates: Through July 7
Venue: Santa Paula Art Museum
PAC6 is a group of six women artists from Southern California who travel and paint together across the country. The artists are Linda Brown, Marian Fortunati, Nita Harper, Debra Holladay, Laura Wambsgans, and Sharon Weaver. For PAC6, “From Field to Frame” marks ten years of collaboration, and is their third major exhibition for the Santa Paula Art Museum. The show features over 70 new landscape paintings, including scenes from the group’s most recent “bucket list” trips to the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley in Arizona, and Hope Valley and the Monterey Peninsula in California. In other paintings, the artists have revisited some of their favorite destinations from the past decade, including Yosemite, Ediza Lake, and Lake Tahoe.
Website: www.santapaulaartmuseum.org
Colorado
7th Annual Georgetown Plein Air
Dates: July 26-27
Opening Reception: July 27
Deadline: July 12
Sponsoring Organization: Georgetown Trust for Conservation and Preservation, Inc.
Venue: Georgetown Old School, formerly Heritage Center
Format: Qualified plein air artists
Award Total: $900
Contact: Ruth Rosenfeld
Phone: 303.569.0289
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.georgetowntrust.org
In vintage, picturesque Georgetown, Colorado, 45 minutes west of Denver at 8,500-ft. elevation, in the Georgetown-Silver Plume National Landmark Historic District. A charming town of colorful Victorian buildings ringed by mountain views, Georgetown has long been a favorite of artists. Includes Quick Draw in historic downtown. Exhibit and sale through August 11. Registration and exhibition at the Old School (formerly Heritage Center), restored 1874 schoolhouse, 809 Taos Street. Late registration accepted. Join us for this painting event in the summer mountain air.
21st Annual Telluride Plein Air
Dates: Through July 6
Sponsoring Organization: Sheridan Arts Foundation
Venue: Sheridan Opera House
Award Total: $15,000
Contact: Ronnie Palamar
Phone: 970.728.6363
Website: www.telluridepleinair.com
E-mail: [email protected]
The Telluride Plein Air Festival has become an indispensable part of Telluride’s Independence Day festivities, allowing locals and tourists alike to observe 20-25 of the nation’s top plein air artists at work. The festival culminates in a three-day sale, where the artists display the work they have created all week long. The festival is a fundraiser for the historic Sheridan Opera House.
Idaho
13th Annual Driggs Plein Air Festival
Dates: July 17-27
Opening Reception: July 21
Sponsoring Organization: Downtown Driggs Association
Venue: Driggs City Center and Plaza, 60 South Main Street
Format: Open
Juror(s) of Awards: Suzie Baker and David Koch
Award Total: $4,000
Contact: Lisa Simmons
Phone: 216.235.7532
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.downtowndriggs.org
Please join us for the 13th Annual Driggs Plein Air Festival, held on the west side of the Teton mountain range. Artists and collectors enjoy many activities, like the extended exhibition and sale, artist workshops, opening reception with community concert, quick draw competitions, workshops, paint-outs, competition awards ceremony, and closing reception.
Maryland
20th Annual Plein Air Easton
Dates: July 12-21
Organized by the Avalon Foundation, Inc.
Judge: Nancy Tankersley
Contact: Marie Nuthall
Phone: 410.822.7297
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.pleinaireaston.com
Each year, 58 artists are selected to participate in the competition. The Quick Draw event (open to all) will be held on July 20.
Massachusetts
Berkshire Plein Air
Dates: Through October 11
Sponsoring Organization: Guild of Berkshire Artists
City: West Stockbridge
Format: Open
Contact: Karen Carmean
Phone: 617.868.7082
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.berkshireartists.org/pleinair
Create art outdoors with Berkshire Plein Air of Western Massachusetts. Daily 10am-1pm except Sundays, weather permitting, June-October. Meet at a beautiful Berkshire location: Hancock Shaker Village, The Mount, the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Work until noon, then positive critique over lunch (bring or buy). Oil, acrylic, photography, watercolors, pastel, drawing, digital painting encouraged. Bring your own supplies. Open to all levels. Come for a day, a week. Join us for exhibits, quick draws, demonstrations, workshops, and competitions. We also go to The Clark, Mount Greylock, Oxbow on Housatonic, a horse farm, Tyringham Cobble, Lake Cheshire, Bartholomew’s Cobble, Stockbridge, Lenox, Great Barrington, and Sheffield.
Minnesota
EXHIBITION: Andy Evansen: Celebrating the Midwest
Dates: Through July 31
Venue: Zeller Studio
City: Hopkins
Website: www.zellerstudio.com
The exhibition will include 48 of Evansen’s original watercolors depicting a variety of subjects from the upper Midwest.
Montana
Plein Air Montana 2024
Dates: July 28-August 3
Opening Reception: August 3
Sponsoring Organization & Venue: Bozeman Art Museum
Format: Invitational & limited Open, Juried
Contact: Linda Williams
Phone: 406.570.1419
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: bozemanartmuseum.org
With a hybrid of returning and juried artists and locations from downtown to the mountains just outside of Bozeman, artists have the opportunity to create some remarkable work, which will be eligible for awards and sales. The artwork will remain on display and available for purchase throughout the month of August. Opening night will be August 3 after a morning Quick Draw paint-out. Enjoy social gatherings, buyers’ events, and workshops.
Paint Under the Big Sky
Dates: Through July 31
Sponsoring Organization: Big Sky Artists
Venue: Big Sky Artists Studio & Gallery
Format: Open
Contact: Annie McCoy
Phone: 410.463.0645
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.bigskyartistscollective.com
Join us for painting in Big Sky, Montana, the “Last Best Place” for the most spectacular scenery in the country! Mountains, streams, wildlife, and wildflowers galore! Work exhibited for sale through July 31.
North Carolina
Cashiers Plein Air Festival
Dates: July 15-20
Opening Reception: July 17
Sponsoring Organization & Venue: The Village Green of Cashiers, NC
Format: Invitational
Contact: Ashlie Mitchell
Phone: 404.980.9361
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.cashierspleinairfestival.com
Eighteen invitational plein air artists paint en plein air to capture the landscape and beauty of the Cashiers area in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Artist originals hang in a special pop-up gallery held in The Village Green’s Lewis Hall from July 15-20. Proceeds from the sale of these unique paintings benefit The Village Green, Cashiers’ 20-acre nonprofit park for community enjoyment.
Wisconsin
Door County Plein Air Festival
Dates: July 21-27
Opening Reception: July 26
Sponsoring Organization & Venue: Peninsula School of Art
City: Fish Creek
Format: Invitational
Juror(s) of Awards: Charlie Hunter
Award Total: $18,000
Contact: Crystal Chesnik
Phone: 920.868.3455
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.doorcountypleinair.com
The Door County Plein Air Festival features 35 invited plein air masters and takes place among the diverse natural beauty and quaint harbor towns of the Door Peninsula. Listen and learn from daily artist demonstrations. Tour partner galleries where artists paint on site. View and purchase fresh paintings at our Friday-night Collectors’ Preview. Bid for your favorite quick-paint piece in Saturday’s live auction or purchase art during the open house. Online exhibition and sale through August 10, 2024.
Ireland
17th Annual Art in the Open Festival
Dates: July 20-28
Sponsoring Organization: Art in the Open
Venue: Greenacres, Wexford, County Wexford
Format: Open
Contact: Alma Hynes
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.artintheopen.org
Each day visit different locations including Wexford Town, coastal scenes, fishing villages,
historic buildings and rural countryside. Bus transportation is available. Optional workshops with outstanding professional artists, volunteer stewards, social events, artist talks, costume dinner, charity quick draw event, and two-day exhibition with awards.
July Deadlines:
- New York: Hudson Valley Plein Air Festival
Deadline July 15
https://wallkill.art - PleinAir® Salon Art Competition
Enter the PleinAir Salon $50,000 Art Competition. This is open to all artists and not just for plein air painters. You could win $15,000 and be on the cover of PleinAir Magazine!
Deadline: July 31
PleinAirSalon.com
Looking Ahead, Online
4th Annual Pastel Live
Dates: September 18-20, with Essential Techniques Day on September 17
Sponsoring Organization: PleinAir® Magazine
Venue: Online
Website: PastelLive.com
If you’re looking for a way to accelerate your painting skills and an alternative to expensive travel, Pastel Live features some of the finest pastel painters on Earth, over three days, plus an optional Essential Techniques Day before the main event starts. Essentials Day is a great opportunity for those who need a refresher before the main event, or those just starting out. Join us for demonstrations, lectures, painting critiques, discussions, group painting, and more … all online from the comfort of your own home.
Stay tuned for more painting events coming online or near your hometown! We’ll post next month’s painting events soon!
