By Christine Gianas Weinheimer EBS CONTRIBUTOR
Visitors
to Yellowstone National Park are invited to be part of the second annual
Yellowstone Plein Air Invitational Sept. 24-29, and help celebrate the current
and historical presence of art in the park.
During
this unique event hosted by Yellowstone Forever—the park’s official nonprofit
partner—sixteen of the nation’s best artists will paint “en plein air,” or outside
on-site, in various locations throughout the park. Visitors have the
opportunity to attend daily painting demonstrations and other art activities,
including a “Paint-Out” at Madison Junction on Saturday that gathers all the
artists, who will have 2 hours to complete a painting of Yellowstone.
A
selection of the artists’ “wet paintings” produced during the week will be
displayed alongside studio-produced pieces at the Old Faithful Lodge Recreation
Hall. This artwork will be available for viewing and purchase at a ticketed
event on Saturday, Sept. 28 and for the general public on Sunday, Sept. 29. A
portion of proceeds from the event will benefit Yellowstone National Park
priority projects and education initiatives.
Accomplished
painter and distinguished museum director Ian McKibbin White will judge the art
entries, in addition to giving the keynote address at the banquet.
Artists
at this year’s event will travel from as far away as Texas and California. All
14 artists from the 2018 Yellowstone Plein Air Invitational will return this
year, along with two new artists: John Cogan and John Potter.
John
Cogan of Farmington, New Mexico, paints the landscapes and wildlife of the
American West in a unique style that has become known throughout New Mexico and
the Southwest. A multi-year participant of the annual plein air events at Grand
Canyon and Zion national parks, Cogan has won awards at both events. In January
of 2019, Cogan was chosen as an Associate Living Master by the Art Renewal
Center, an honor that places him among the most important representational
artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
John
Potter of Red Lodge, Montana, spent 20 years as an award-winning illustrator
before committing his attention to painting full-time in 2002. Often painting
en plein air in the rugged mountain landscapes of the American West, Potter
brings his small outdoor studies home, where they are then used as reference to
create his larger studio works. He has participated in shows and exhibitions
throughout the U.S. and abroad, and is represented by galleries in Red Lodge,
Jackson, Big Sky, Cody and Santa Fe.
Maps of
artist demonstration locations will be available the week of the event at all
of Yellowstone Forever’s Park Stores.
Visit yellowstone.org/plein-air for more information including a full list of artists and a detailed schedule.
Christine
Gianas Weinheimer lives in Bozeman and has been writing about Yellowstone for
17 years.