paint-out, tour, and exhibit at metro water resource recovery unit

The Metropolitan Council is commemorating 100 years of a Mississippi River cleanup initiative and improvement of wastewater treatment technology in 2026. They have invited OPM members to tour the facility and paint on Saturday, October 24 at the now-pristine discharge into the Mississippi. We are also invited to leave our paintings for display and offer for sale for two weeks in the new, modern office building at the MWRR’s campus in downtown St Paul. The Met Council intends to purchase one of the paintings for its permanent collection!

OPM’s Events Director, Allison Eklund, will be picking up paintings after the display the week of November 9, 2026 and will contact painters to arrange delivery or retrieval from her home in Roseville.

For this paint-out at a secure facility, there is limited space so we’ll cut off registration at 25 participants. Everyone will need to bring an ID like a drivers license and arrive on time, between 9-9:30am. We can store our lunches in a refrigerator during the tour. This is a sprawling campus with old historic facilities and new contemporary offices with a gallery to display our work. Here is the schedule:

Date: Saturday, October 24, 2026

Location: 2400 Childs Road, Saint Paul, MN 55106

9-9:30 Painters arrive, check in through security, settle in

9:30 Introduction and Tour of wastewater treatment facility

11:35 Lunch

12:30-3:30 Painting time at Effluent Channel

3:45  Set up gallery walk

4:00 Gallery Walk

5:00 Event concludes