Red Wing Arts hosted the 15th annual Plein Air Festival in June 2021. Some of the region’s most recognized plein air artists were selected to participate in the community event painting “recognizable Red Wing.”
Red Wing, which sits at the entrance to the Driftless Region, is a stunning place. The charming downtown, dramatic bluffs, rolling hills, vistas and winding rivers define the historic town.
PLEIN AIR 2021
ON EXHIBIT JUNE 25-AUGUST 15
Congratulations to the 2021 Award Winners!
best of show
derek davis
Lightning Show
Second Place
Hannah Heyer
A Moment on the Cannon River
Third Place
Christopher Copeland
Back Roads, Early Morning
Best Sense of Place
Dan Mackerman
Lower Quarry Vista
Sponsored by Outdoor Painters of Minnesota
Best Sense of Red Wing
Michael Broshar
Mainstreet
Sponsored by Red Wing Shoe
Best Oil
Richard Abraham
March of the Bales
Best Watercolor
James Turner
The Gardener
Best Pastel
Avon Waters
A Crack of Light
Judge’s Award of Merit – Diane Foster, Ivan Zassavitski, Jo Nelson, Lisa Stauffer, Lynn Brown
Open Class Award of Merit – Tadas Kosciuska
Best Quick Paint, Artist’s Choice – Michael Broshar
Best Quick Paint, RWA Student Intern’s Choice – Lisa Stauffer
2021 Plein Air Judge: Scott Lloyd Anderson.
Scott’s previous career as a magazine art director greatly informs his art. He started painting in 2000 and has traveled across the country to many plein air events. He’s won top awards at a few: San Luis Obispo, California; Telluride, Colorado; and here in Minnesota, Grand Marais and Burnsville. In the spring of 2010, he won the top prize in the prestigious Salon International exhibition in San Antonio, Texas.
Plein Air magazine gave him 1st place, semi-finalist, and Honorable Mention honors in one of their 2011 Salons. His art has been written up in national art magazines such as American Art Collector, Art Aficionado, Plein Air, and Southwest Art magazines––locally, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, St. Paul’s Pioneer Press, Mpls/St. Paul and Minnesota Monthly magazines. He has been accepted into the Minnesota State Fair Juried Fine Arts Exhibition twelve times since starting painting, winning five ribbons and two Honorable Mentions. He was also a recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant in 2012.
No stranger to judging, he has been privileged to serve at events in La Crosse, Hudson, Grand Marais, and Red Wing’s first plein air event in 2013. He continues to be an ambassador for the beauty of our upper Midwest, but has enjoyed painting in Italy, China, Mexico, England, and Canada.
“The Red Wing Plein Air Event is about this place. Since this event started, over a thousand paintings have been created of Red Wing and the surrounding area. That’s not common, but neither is Red Wing. ”
Artist Derek Davis painting en plein air
Artist Hannah Heyer painting en plein air