Competition and Festival of Outdoor Painting
on the North Shore of Lake Superior
Eligible Painting Period: August 15 to September 16, 2022
Competition Week: September 9-16, 2022
Competition Exhibit: September 16 – October 9, 2022
2022 Juror: Krystal Brown
Competition Week: September 9-16, 2022
Competition Exhibit: September 16 – October 9, 2022
2022 Juror: Krystal Brown
The Competition Class is now closed.
The Open Class will remain open until Competition Week begins on September 9, 2022, or until capacity is met based on available space in our exhibit and reception venue.
The Open Class will remain open until Competition Week begins on September 9, 2022, or until capacity is met based on available space in our exhibit and reception venue.
2022 Competition Class
2021 Open Class Winner:
Renee St. Leger Mini-Workshop Instructors: Duane Barnhart Carl Bretzke Jack Dant Nelia Harper Dan Mackerman Neil Sherman Lisa Stauffer James Turner Bob Upton Stephen Wysocki North Shore Invitational: Kristin Blomberg John Franz Paula Gustafson Matt Kania Sandi Pillsbury Michelle Wegler Kathy Fox Weinberg |
Juried Applicants:
Susan Lea Brush-Aamot Richard Abraham Sandra Ackerman Wade Ardery David R. Becker Douglas Berg MaryAnn Cleary Chanda Kraft Linda Croteau Tom Dimock Allison Eklund Bridget Ertelt Abbey Fitzgerald Hannah C. Heyer Julie Highlen Cynthia Kath Thomas Kutschied Tadas Kosciuska Brock Larson Mark Larson |
Cheryl LeClair-Sommer
Angie Malin Laura Martinez-Bianco Sandra Maxwell Susan McLean-Keeney Joanne Meierhofer Anne Molasky Jimmy Navarro Jo Nelson Gary Olson Mary Olson David Peacock Jesse Rasche Erin Renier Kelly Schamberger Kenneth Schweiger Kurt Schulzetenberg David Smith Tom Smith Adam Swanson Troy Tatlock Ken Valentas |
2021 Winners: Grand Prize winner Krystal Brown (center) will be our 2022 Competition Class Juror!
Plein Air Grand Marais is a 20 year tradition bringing outdoor painters to the North Shore of Lake Superior for a week of painting, learning, competition, and camaraderie. Since 2018, the event has been organized by Outdoor Painters of Minnesota and hosted by the Cook County Historical Society's Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery.
Plein Air Grand Marais welcomes artists of all ages and abilities. The Competition Class consists of invitational and juried painters, who submit four paintings eligible for awards in an exhibit at Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery from September 16 to October 9, 2022. The Open Class consists of registered artists who may exhibit their best original painting created during the event in a one-night exhibit and reception. A public art activity at Joy & Co. in downtown Grand Marais offers supervised plein air painting for children and adults and a clothesline art exhibit. A 90-minute Quick Paint competition, daily paint-outs, and Artists Socials are open to all registered artists. Any painter in Grand Marais during Competition Week may register to attend Mini-Workshops with professional plein air Competition Artists.
Thank you to our community partners and sponsors!
The Cook County Historical Society operates Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery, which hosts the PAGM Competition Exhibit.
Set Out Screen Printing in downtown Grand Marais will screen-print our PAGM logo in black or white ink onto a shirt that you provide. The cost is $20, and OPM receives half as donation.
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Wet Paint has donated funds for PAGM activities and fine art materials from suppliers for PAGM awards.
Joy & Co., which sells art materials and gifts from its store in downtown Grand Marais, donates gift certificates for Open Class Quick Paint awards, and supervises a public plein air painting activity in their alley during Competition Week.
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Mini-WorkshopsEvery year, some of our professional plein air painting instructors competing in the event offer a 3-hour workshop during the week of competition. These popular mini-workshops are attended by painters of all ability levels, helping to make Grand Marais a destination-painting event for artists to learn from each other and get inspired.
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Daily Paint-OutsIn 2022, paintings must be painted en plein air in Cook County between August 15 and September 16, 2022 to be eligible for Competition and Open Class exhibits. Watch for paint-outs and other opportunities to paint together beginning in August. During Competition Week, we'll have daily paint-outs at new and classic locations, including Artists' Point, Kadunce River and other access points for the Superior Hiking Trail, Sugarloaf Cove, Gunflint Trail, and a nocturnal paint-out in downtown Grand Marais.
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Public Art ActivitiesPlein Air Grand Marais provides opportunities for community members and visitors to try outdoor painting. Berton Boxes were available at local sponsor Joy & Co. for anyone to stop by and create a painting for public display in a picket-fence outdoor "gallery."
Artists' SocialsPlein Air Grand Marais is more than a painting competition: it is an opportunity for artists of all levels to socialize, learn, and make new connections.
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Open Class Reception & Competition Painting Preview in Harbor ParkOn Wednesday at 5pm at Harbor Park is our Open Class painting display, reception and awards. On Thursday at 11am before the Quick Paint, Competition artists display paintings for presale and enjoy each other's work.
Hootenanny
It's a Thursday night tradition: After the Quick Paint, we gather at 7-10pm at the harbor picnic shelter at the Grand Marais Municipal Campground to sing, play music along with our ad-hoc band "The Plain Errors," and celebrate the week's painting achievements.
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