News & Upcoming Events

OPM's largest annual event, Plein Air Grand Marais, is an outdoor painting festival and competition on the North Shore of Lake Superior. 2020 PAGM was a great success in a challenging year for large gatherings and art events. About half of registered participants painted from home or remotely, and we had about 45 painters in Grand Marais for Competition Week. The Quick Paint on Thursday, September 17, 2020 was well attended, and we enjoyed spectacular weather with brilliant fall colors.

A limited number of paintings from the Competition Exhibit will continue to be published online and offered for sale at PleinAirGrandMarais.org through Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery until the end of 2020. To see photos from Competition Week and an artist's eye video tour of the paintings at JHP, visit OPM on Facebook.

Fall Members' Show at FrameWorks

2020 OPM members are exhibiting their best 2020 plein air painting for exhibit at FrameWorks Gallery in Highland Shopping Center. Painting drop off is November 9-10, from 10:00am to 7:00pm. Painting pickup is January 4-5, 2021, from 10:00am to 7:00pm. 

FrameWorks Gallery
2022A Ford Pkwy
St Paul, MN 55116

​Exhibit Dates: November 14, 2020 – January 2, 2021
Opening Livestream: November 14, 2020 at 5:30pm on OPM's Facebook page
Call FrameWorks Gallery to schedule a visit: (651) 698-3372‬

Follow OPM on Facebook to watch or volunteer to host additional livestream exhibit tours with participating artists.

2021 Spring Members' Show at the Phipps Center for the Arts

Renew your membership for 2021 and start painting to participate in OPM's Field-to-Studio exhibit at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wisconsin. Paintings must be plein air only or studio exhibited with plein air field study. Studies may be framed or not, the idea being to educate our audience about artists' process when creating paintings from observation and design rather than from photos. Large paintings are welcome, but please email us if your painting is larger than 48" in any direction to confirm available space. The Phipps will handle sales and retain 40% commission.

Phipps Center for the Arts
109 Locust Street
Hudson, WI 54016

Exhibit Dates: May 7 – June 13, 2021

Artists Respond | Call for Art

Art makes us human. In these convulsive times, art is being created in crucibles of grief, racial inequity, illness, economic anxiety, and yearning for peace and justice. OPM has created a venue for contemporary and historical protest art to inspire appreciation of the work being created now in context with great works of the past. Please email JPEG images of your art or suggestions for historical artists’ work to events@outdoorpaintersofminnesota.org. We’ll include the artist’s name, artwork title, and link to the artist’s web site or social media handle. With your help the slideshow below will grow. We hope it will inspire support for contemporary artists responding to this moment in history and the creation of more art.