BOZEMAN — Twenty-seven artists from across the U.S. and beyond are trading studios for streams, streets, and skylines as they take part in the Bozeman Art Museum’s third annual plein air painting week.
Artists will be painting on location across Gallatin and Park counties through Saturday, capturing the natural beauty and architecture of the region in real time.
Bozeman resident and professional artist Erin Jones Graf found her inspiration not in the mountains, but on the side of the road near a grocery store.
“I just saw these hollyhocks and I was like, 'those hollyhocks are so pretty,'” Graf said.
Graf has been painting professionally for more than a decade and said the practice of plein air painting, which means “open air” in French, allows artists to fully immerse themselves in their surroundings.
WATCH: From Streets to Streams: Artists Explore Gallatin and Park Counties in Plein Air Week
“Then it was like day two of painting this week and I just had the idea of like, ‘I think I am going to go back and paint those hollyhocks,’” Graf said.
“It’s probably been going on in France and Europe for 100 years,” she added.
Graf said she’s excited to see the popularity of plein air painting growing in the United States.
“The process of plein air painting is just using the opportunity to learn and grow as artists,” she said.
The artists participating this week include locals, out-of-staters, and international painters. Locations stretch from West
Yellowstone to Paradise Valley.
“It’s just an opportunity for people in the community to be able and go and interact with a whole bunch of artists,” Graf said.
The event includes scheduled public painting sessions, meet-and-greets, and a large opening reception where finished works will be displayed and available for purchase.
“It is just the perfect combination of like the outdoors, the wilderness, and enjoying the landscape,” said Emylyn Harris, associate director of the Bozeman Art Museum.
Harris said the museum’s goal is to create more chances for people to experience art in everyday life.
“We’re welcoming anyone in the public to walk through Peets Hill and see the artists paint live and in person,” Harris said.
Hours before one of the evening paint sessions, Seattle-based watercolorist David Orrin Smith was already unpacking his brushes.
“I was overjoyed to discover that there is this sort of niche world of plein air events,” Smith said.
Smith showed one of his recent paintings from Maryland, a large-scale piece bursting with color and movement. He said he enjoys the exposure and spontaneity that painting in public allows.
“As I like to say, when I’m out here I'm kind of mad conspicuous because I work a lot of the time at this scale, and it's like giant watercolor,” he said. “You have to either be a hermit and go off in the mountains and talk to no one. Or I enjoy talking to people and sharing with them kind of how it works and what I am up to.”
Although the Bozeman Art Museum opened just five years ago, Harris said events like this are becoming central to its mission.
“Just raise the arts so that it's more visible for the community and so that there is a place for both tourists and locals to go and experience what Bozeman has to offer,” Harris said.
To see what other events the Bozeman Art Museum has planned: https://bozemanartmuseum.org/exhibits/upcoming-exhibits/
