Fall color began to arrive with warm breezes and perfect outdoor painting conditions during 2024 Plein Air Grand Marais. Almost 100 painters spent 8 days in early September enjoying daily paint-outs, workshops, and artist socials while competing for prizes awarded by this year’s juror, Brock Larson. 

Plein Air Grand Marais is a joint enterprise of Outdoor Painters of Minnesota and the Cook County Historical Society, which mounts the Competition Exhibit in the Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery. The event is unique in its emphasis on artists’ education and camaraderie, is organized by participating artists, and proudly attracts nationally recognized talent while welcoming painters of all experience levels. The event also celebrates artists in the Arrowhead region with a North Shore Invitational class of the Competition.  

The Competition Exhibit features 60 artists who each display four paintings eligible for awards totaling $7,000. This year’s paintings include scenes from paint-outs organized in wilderness locations throughout Cook County, including YMCA Camp Menogyn at an entry to the Boundary  Waters Canoe Area Wilderness accessible only by boat ride across Bearskin Lake. The  Competition Exhibit at Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery is displayed through October 6.

2025 Plein Air Grand Marais is scheduled for September 5-13, 2025. Registration will open on February 1, and the deadline for Competition Class registration is May 1, 2025. Interested artists and collectors should visit OPM’s website and subscribe to the PAGM newsletter for announcements and updates.

Here are the 2024 awards for Plein Air Grand Marais:

Juror: Brock Larson, South Range, Wisconsin 

Open Class Reception on Wednesday, September 11, 2024: 

Best in Show: Angela Velin | Temperance | Oil 

Three top awards for Tim Sullivan | Poplar River | Oil 

Paintings of Exceptional Jean Larson | Superior Glass | Watercolor 

Merit (POEMs): Stephen Herzog | The Hjordis – Magna Charter | Oil 

Three honorable mentions:

• Kelly Frankenburg | Wave after Wave | Acrylic

• Mary Klein | Gitchee Gumee | Oil 

• Elizabeth Lexau | Along the Way to the Lighthouse | Pastel 

Birney Quick Paint on Thursday, September 12, 2024: 

Grand Prize: Gary Olson | Gouache 

Three POEMs:

• Kelly Schamberger | Oil 

• Jimmy Navarro | Oil

• MaryAnn Cleary | Oil 

Competition Class Reception on Friday, September 13, 2024: 

Grand Prize for Best Body of Work: Neil Sherman | Oil 

Artists’ Choice Award for Best Body of Work: Hannah C. Heyer | Oil 

Six Top POEM Awards: 

• Hannah C. Heyer, Cynthia S. Kath Award for Exceptional  Color & Light: Waxing Poetic | Oil 

• David R. Becker, Nocturne: Hjordis Evening Cruise |  Watercolor and Gouache 

• Bob Upton, Transparent Harbor | Oil 

• Jack Dant, Evening Departure | Oil 

• Carl Bretzke, Mark on the Rocks with a Twist | Oil 

• Kelly Schamberger, Unabandon | Oil 

Special Categories:

Best Sense of Place: Deann Kroll, Canoe Workshop, Grand Portage | Oil

Beauty of Watermedia: Gary Olson, Cotton Grass | Gouache Beauty of Oil: Michele Combs, Hollow Rock | Oil 

Beauty of Pastel Lisa Stauffer, Storm Over Superior | Pastel 

Best Historic Site David R. Becker, Looking Into the Window of B.Bally’s |  Watercolor and Gouache 

Honorable Mentions 

1. Kurt Schulzetenburg, Fractal | Oil 

2. Stephen Wysocki, Island of Gods | Oil 

3. Michelle Wegler, Sea or Sky | Pastel 

4. Abbey Fitzgerald, Splash and Sparkle | Oil 

5. Nelia Harper, Turbulence | Oil