(Moscow, Idaho) — The City of Moscow Arts Department and the Moscow Arts Commission announce the opening of online registration for the 15th Annual Palouse Plein Air painting event, with a deadline set for 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 5th.
Palouse Plein Air is an annual painting event that takes place every September, with experiences including painting workshops and a juried exhibition.
Caption: Past Palouse Plein Air Juror, Melanie Thompson, gives a painting demonstration at the University of Idaho Arboretum in 2022. Photo by Aaron Johnson.
This year’s juror is George Wray of Moscow, ID. Wray is an art professor emeritus from the University of Idaho where he taught painting and drawing for over 30 years. He received his undergraduate degree from Moorhead State College (Minnesota) and an MFA degree from California College of the Arts (Oakland, California). He has exhibited his drawings, paintings and light pieces throughout the Northwest and other areas of the U.S.
Wray particularly enjoys teaching drawing outside the formal classroom. For many years he taught with the University of Idaho’s “Workshop on Wheels” program, which traveled around the State of Idaho during summers. He has also taught “drawing as seeing” to scientists on the Juneau Ice Fields in Alaska. He has done drawings and rafted on the Salmon River, on an 18-day trip on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, and on the Copper River in Alaska.
Wray will adjudicate the Palouse Plein Air 2024 exhibition at the Third Street Gallery inside Moscow City Hall. The exhibition is set to open on Thursday, September 19th, with an artist reception and awards ceremony set for 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Caption: George Wray, Palouse Plein Air 2024 exhibition juror. Photo by Erica Wagner.
Participating artists paint outdoors at any location of their choosing within Latah, Nez Perce, Whitman, and Benewah counties. Participants may paint any combination of days within the painting period from September 9th – 17th. No use of electronic, pictorial, or other aids is allowed. All work must be done on location by the individual artist. Artists aged 18 years or older are eligible to participate. In addition, all painting media are eligible for competition, including gouache, watercolor, acrylic, oil, and pastel.
More information about Palouse Plein Air is available here: https://www.ci.moscow.id.us/
Artist registration is available here: https://moscowarts.
About Palouse Plein Air
Historic Moscow, Idaho, and the beautiful Palouse are the perfect destination for plein air artists, and the annual Palouse Plein Air painting event connects artists with the region’s landscape and arts culture. French for “open air,” the phrase “plein air” (pronounced plen-air) describes the act of painting outdoors. The outdoor experience on the Palouse is particularly rich, as its rolling hills, rivers, mountains, fields, farms, and homes tell the long history of the landscape.
Guided by the vision of the Moscow Arts Commission and University of Idaho art professor Aaron Cordell Johnson, Palouse Plein Air began in 2010, and the event continues to grow. A collaboration of community partners makes this growth possible; the City of Moscow Arts Department and the University of Idaho College of Art + Architecture work together to make a great event for artists and art lovers alike.