Artists from across Michigan and the Midwest will once again set up their easels throughout Glen Arbor this weekend as the Glen Arbor Arts Center (GAAC) hosts its 18th annual Plein Air Weekend, August 6-8.
The three day event celebrates “en plein air” painting, the practice of creating artwork outside, and will have artists working to capture everything from secret gardens to iconic landmarks in the area. The public is invited to watch artists at work before viewing and purchasing the finished paintings during the evening wet paint sales at the Glen Arbor Township hall. Enrollment is up with around 100 artists are expected to participate this year, according to GAAC Executive Director Scott Bauma, who credits the natural beauty of the area with helping make the event a longstanding tradition.
“The area up here is very conducive to this type of thing,” he said. “Many artists are here because of the natural environment, all surrounding us with the national park and Leelanau County. It’s a beautiful place to be, so we have an abundance of plein air landscape artists.”
The weekend kicks off Thursday evening with the Sunsetter in which artists will do their best to capture the (hopefully) spectacular evening light, followed Friday by the Quick Draw competition, where artists will have only three hours to create a painting based on this year’s theme, “Paint Glen Haven.” Saturday’s Paint Out, the marquee event of the weekend, invites artists to spread out across Glen Arbor, Empire and the National Park land to find inspiration before exhibiting their work that evening.
The Quick Draw and Sunsetter competitions will be judged by David Westerfield, and the Paint Out will be judged by Hank Feeley. Bauma said that both were selected because of their extensive experience as plein air painters as well as their long time involvement in the local arts community. Beyond the competition itself, Bauma said one of the weekend’s biggest draws is the opportunity for visitors to witness the artistic process first hand.
“We hope people watching the artists get a cool, behind the scenes look at how art is actually made,” he said. “Seeing a blank canvas turn into a finished painting in just a couple hours is pretty amazing. It helps people slow down, appreciate the creative process, and see our local landscape in a whole new way.”
For buyers, he added, a painting from this weekend in particular carries with it much more than aesthetic beauty. “When you buy a painting created that day, you’re buying the story of the light on the lake or a peaceful moment in the village,” Bauma said. The event ties into GAAC’s broader mission by “taking art out of traditional galleries and putting it onto public sidewalks, beaches and parks, we make art accessible, spontaneous, and a shared experience for everyone in our town,” Bauma said, and added that beyond that, the weekend also unites volunteers, local businesses, residents and visitors around a shared appreciation for Leelanau’s natural beauty and history.
Wet painting sales will be open to the public Friday from 4-6 p.m. and Saturday from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Glen Arbor Township Hall.
