Competition and Festival of Outdoor Painting
on the North Shore of Lake Superior
Save the Dates for Next Year:
Friday, September 5 to Saturday, September 13, 2025
2025 Juror: Neil Sherman
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Competition Exhibit Venue:
Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery 115 W. Wisconsin St Grand Marais, MN 55604 |
Competition Week: September 6-14, 2024
Competition Exhibit: September 13 – October 6, 2024 PAGM Kickoff Painting Trip: August 11-16, 2024 |
2024 Juror: Brock Larson
2024 Competition Class Artists |
*Workshop Instructor
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David R. Becker*
Carl Bretzke* Andrew Carr William Check MaryAnn Cleary Michele Combs Colleen Cosgrove Shanna Cramer Jack Dant* Tom Dimock Allison Eklund Karl Everett Greg Finnegan* Abbey Fitzgerald Katharine Gotham Paula Gustafson Nelia Harper* Hannah C. Heyer Julie Highlen Logan Hudson |
Suhaila I
Julia Jaakola Kim Jore Matt Kania* Tadas Kosciuska Chanda Kraft Deanne Kroll Thomas M. Kutschied Mark Larson Cheryl LeClair-Sommer Ben Lindello Sandra Maxwell Tracy McDermott Joanne Meierhofer Jimmy Navarro Gary Olson David Peacock Jennifer Plourde Erin Renier Kelly Schamberger* |
Kurt Schulzetenberg
Susan Seaborn Neil Sherman Tom Smith David Smith Randy Spry Renee St. Leger Lisa Stauffer* Jasmin Strevel Christine Tierney Naomi Tiry-Salgado Bob Upton* Tim Vahle Ken Valentas Terri Vrtiska Michelle Wegler Stephen Wysocki* Jake Zirbes Michael Zirbes |
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Get your PAGM Caps and Beanies here, embroidered on demand through Tee-Spring.
Plein Air Grand Marais is an annual tradition since 2008 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. Painters self-select their class of participation: The Competition Class consists of invitational and experienced painters who commit to display four paintings eligible for awards in an exhibit at Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery from the opening reception Friday through the first Sunday in October. Open Class artists may exhibit one painting created during the event at a Wednesday night exhibit and awards 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 on Thursday, daily paint-outs, and Artists Socials are open to all registered artists. Anyone in Grand Marais during Competition Week may register to attend PAGM Workshops with professional plein air Competition Artists and the Juror Workshop on the Saturday after the final reception.
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.
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.
Artist and graphic designer Kim Gordon designed the logo and print materials for our event.
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Visit Cook County awarded a grant to the Cook County Historical Society to fund promotional materials for the event.
Wet Paint contributed gift cards for Artists' Choice and Honorable Mention awards and fine art materials from suppliers for Open Class awards.
Guerrilla Painter contributed a package of art materials for the Artists' Choice award this year.
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2024 Juror Brock Larson
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 paint-along workshop demos cost just $50 each and are open to painters of all ability levels, helping to make Grand Marais a destination-painting event for artists to learn from each other and get inspired. An individualized Juror Workshop with painting critiques is offered for $100 per person on the final Saturday of the event.
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2024 Paint-Out at YMCA Camp Menogyn
Daily Paint-OutsPlein Air Grand Marais is all about bringing people together to paint. Daily paint-outs are scheduled during Competition Week at Artists' Point, Grand Marais Campground, YMCA Camp Menogyn, various State Parks along the North Shore, Superior Hiking Trail, and a traditional 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 are supervised by 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. An opportunity for all artists to socialize together is scheduled every day of Competition Week.
Birney Quick PaintOn Thursday afternoon from 3:30-5:00pm, we have a quick paint competition in honor of Birney Quick, a pillar of Grand Marais's rich history of community arts. This exciting spectator sport attracts visitors to watch the timed all-weather event and was featured in an award winning documentary. Paintings are displayed on the rocks at East Bay near Artists Point and juried for awards immediately after the 90 minute event ends. The Birney Quick Paint is open to all registered PAGM artists.
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Painting Display in Harbor ParkOn Thursday at 11am before the Quick Paint, all registered artists may display and sell paintings created during the event and enjoy seeing 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.
Open Class Reception
On Wednesday of Competition Week at 5:00pm, the Open Class enjoys a public reception and awards ceremony. The 2024 reception was held in the event space of Up Yonder at Harbor Light.
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