Competition and Festival of Outdoor Painting
on the North Shore of Lake Superior

Registration: February 1 – May 1, 2021
Competition Painting Dates: August 1 – September 16, 2021
Competition Week in Grand Marais: September 10-17, 2021
Competition Exhibit: September 17 – October 10, 2021
This site is created for participating artists, with information about organized activities. An online exhibit of paintings completed for the event will be published at pleinairgrandmarais.org hosted by our event partner, Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery in Grand Marais, Minnesota. 

2021 Competition Juror:

David Gilsvik
​Two Harbors, MN
Represented by Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais, MN

2021 Open Class Juror:

Sandi Pillsbury
​Castle Danger, MN
Plein Air Grand Marais is a 19 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 together with the Cook County Historical Society's Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery.
Plein Air Grand Marais welcomes artists of all ages and abilities. The Competition consists of invitational and juried painters. The Open Class consists of registered artists who may exhibit their best original painting created during the event in an Open Class exhibit and compete for the Art On The Rocks award in the Quick Paint. 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. Daily paint-outs and Mini-Workshops with professional plein air Competition Artists are open to all artists.

Thank you to our community partners and sponsors!

Mini-Workshops

Every 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. This year, most of our Mini-Workshops were live-streamed or recorded for viewing by registered participants at home.

Daily Paint-Outs

In 2020, painters may paint anywhere legal and safe en plein air to be eligible for Competition and Open Class exhibits. For those present in Cook County during Competition Week, we scheduled daily paint-outs at Artists' Point, Pincushion Mountain, Sugarloaf Cove, Grand Marais Campground, and a night-paint in downtown Grand Marais.

Public Art Activities

Plein 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' Socials

Plein Air Grand Marais is more than a painting competition: it is an opportunity for artists of all levels to socialize, learn, make new connections and enjoy conversations, food and drinks together. In 2020, all our Artist Social events were outdoors: at the Harbor Picnic Shelter at Grand Marais Campground, the outdoor deck at Voyageur Brewing Co., a night-paint in downtown Grand Marais, and at Sugarloaf Family Cabins in Schroeder.

Artists' Outdoor Painting Preview

On Thursday at 11am at Harbor Park before the Quick Paint, artists displayed their work completed during Competition Week. It was our only opportunity during this year of pandemic programming to see each other's bodies of work in person, in one place.

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. 2020 delivered a cold snap, but that did not stop us from playing and singing in the warmth of a fire at the shelter.