August 20, 2022
West Liberty Area Arts Council is hosting its 5th annual Plein Aire Event on September 24th and 25th.
Registration will be available online through our website as well as in person at Brick Street Gallery, 104 West 3rd Street, from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm on Saturday, September 24th. Fees will be paid, and canvases stamped at this time. $30.00 will allow an artist to submit two paintings to be judged. Each additional submission will be an additional $10.00. Any medium is acceptable. Paintings should not be signed so that the judging is anonymous.
Judging and viewing of work will be at the West Liberty Public Library. Artists will submit their entries at the library on Sunday, September 25th at 2:00 pm. Work must be framed and ready for display. Unframed work will not be accepted. If an artist sells a piece after the judging WLAAC will receive 20% of the purchase amount.
Commissioned Painting/Bidding
We are hoping to have patrons in the community offer monetary awards to have their home or business included in a painting. The patron providing the highest monetary prize will be allowed to select first from all the paintings. Any additional patron offering an award will be allowed to select a painting after that. Those making the selections do not necessarily need to choose the work they commissioned. If these awards are available artists will be made aware of them when they get their canvases stamped.
Prizes
First Place—$500.00
Second Place—$250.00
People’s Choice—$100.00
First Place in First-Participant category—$100.00
Quick Paint award—$150.00
Painting selected by viewers at Brick Street Gallery—$100.00
Quick-Paint competition
This year we will have a quick paint competition that will take place while the judging is going on. Artists will work on a painting while judges are judging.
Carlos Maldonado is providing a monetary award of $150.00 and will choose the winning picture. That artist will receive $150.00 and the picture that Carlos painted during the quick paint event.
First-Participant category
This year once again we will have a first-time participating category. Anyone who has never before entered a plein aire competition will be considered for the $100.00 prize. Their entries will also be eligible for all other prizes.
There will be a class held for people who want to know more about plein aire painting competitions. It will be more about the competition rather than being a painting class. The class will be held at Brick Street Gallery on Tuesday evening, September 20 starting at 6:30. Anyone is welcome and there is no fee.
After the competition
Artists will have an opportunity to display their work in Brick Street Gallery for the month of October. People in the community will be invited to come to the gallery and vote on their favorite picture. At the end of the month there will be a gallery prize of $100.00 awarded to the artist receiving the most votes from those viewing work at the gallery. The pictures will also be for sale during that month.
The arts council is excited about the Plein Air event this year. We survived COVID-19 and this year we are trying to evade the heat. Now we just need lots of artists to come participate. Tell all your friends, those who are old hands at plein air and new folks too.
Tags: classes, contests, events, painting, plein air, plein aire