Ohio artists will go outdoors to create at 3-day Millersburg event
The Ohio Plein Air Society's annual Plein Air Competition will be held outdoors — en plein air — Sept. 19-21 in Millersburg. Painting on a private farm in 2022, Debra Dawson's painting placed second in the annual competition.
“I have never had a studio, and I do not understand shutting oneself up in a room.”
—Claude Monet
When visiting a beautiful place — Paris, the seaside or perhaps a local park — you might notice an artist, with easel set up, capturing the beauty of the surroundings in a painting. This is called painting en plein air.
“En plein air is French for outdoors, and plein air painting means to paint outdoors, observing and trying to capture the essence of your subject,” said Debra Joyce Dawson, founder, past president, trustee and competition chair of the Ohio Plein Air Society.
Additionally, the work must be completed without the use of photography or apps, and the finished painting must resemble the location.
Over the course of three days — Sept. 19-21 — Millersburg and Holmes County will play host to the annual Ohio Plein Air Society’s annual Plein Air Competition.
“Millersburg is a great place to paint because of the history, the interesting architecture, the welcoming people and enthusiastic organizers,” Dawson said.
The OPAS Competition is a three-day event with three different competitions. The main event will be two days plus Thursday evening with multiple cash and merchandise awards. The Nocturne is a nighttime competition on Saturday from 8-10 p.m., and the Quick Draw is a two-hour competition on Sunday at 10 a.m.
All scheduled events will take place in and around the Millersburg Courthouse square. Winners will be announced around 1 p.m. on Sunday. The outdoor competition will be held rain or shine, though finished pieces will be taken inside for judging in the case of inclement weather.
“People love to watch artists paint,” Dawson said, and the public is invited to do just that. Many of the artists’ creations will be on sale at the end of the weekend.
Held annually, the location changes throughout the state every two years, which keeps the subject matter fresh and enables the organization to reach a variety of artists and spectators.
“The OPAS Competition is to highlight and promote the act of painting outdoors,” Dawson said.
Any painting medium is allowed for the competition, which is open to any artist over the age of 18. Dawson said artists of any level of expertise can participate. All are judged equally in the competition.
“Every artist that enters has the same chance to win,” she said. “The competition is not just for experienced artists, even though there will be some artists who have attained a high level of proficiency and compete in competitions across America. Some come for the camaraderie of seeing old friends and making new friends during the event.
“Plus, there is always an educational aspect to painting with other artists and seeing the incredible variety of equipment, mediums used, technique and creativity. You could put 10 artists in a field to paint the same scene and you will see 10 different interpretations of that scene.”
The judge for the weekend is Massachusetts artist Margaret McWethy. The award-winning painter’s work has been featured in numerous books, and her artwork hangs in public and private collections across the United States. McWethy currently teaches impressionist still life and landscape painting on the Cape and South Shore.
The Ohio Plein Air Society was created in August 2002 and is a nonprofit organization. The first competition was held in September 2003.
“Since that time we’ve held a competition each year,” Dawson said. “Because we work out of doors, we were even lucky enough to be able to hold our competition during COVID, where OPAS partnered with the Columbus College of Art and Design.”
After the group was founded, six artists created the Paint Ohio Project. Each artist was assigned a certain number of Ohio counties to visit and paint something of historical significance from each of their counties. The artists worked with county historical societies to identify sites to paint, working en plein air.
“Once the paintings were all completed,” Dawson said, “all the works went on exhibition at the Ohio Historical Society before the works were broken down into five regions, and paintings from those counties each held exhibitions at a historical society.”
The entire collection may now be found in a four-color hardcover book, “The Land We Call Ohio.” All the original works were auctioned at a gala.
There are approximately 150 artists from all over the state who are members of OPAS.
“OPAS has a mission of education,” Dawson said. “We hold annual meetings with local and national speakers/artists who give talks and painting demonstrations.”
Several members are nationally known artists who regularly compete in the world of plein air painting.
The nonprofit holds two plein air workshops each year and also does outreach programs with children to get them painting outdoors. One of the annual workshops will be held in Millersburg after the close of the competition. McWethy also will serve as the workshop instructor. The workshop will be held at the Holmes County Art Center Sept. 23-25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
OPAS will give away over $8,000 in cash and merchandise awards for the competition.
“You can watch artists paint in Millersburg on Saturday night and see the Sunday morning Quickdraw,” Dawson said. “You may view the wet paintings on easel in the Millersburg Square, and after the judging, the works will be for sale by the artists.”
To see all the entries, the public is invited to view the works starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22. Artists are responsible for their own sales, and only paintings created during the competition are eligible to be sold.
Find OPAS and competition information online at www.ohiopleinairsociety.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/ohiopleinairsociety.
“There is nothing like seeing the real thing in three dimensions under the light of the sun,” Dawson said when asked why artists are drawn to working en plein air. “There is nothing like the exhilaration of painting nature. You see so much more painting from life, and you are painting objects in natural light. That opens up the spectrum of colors.
“Things are constantly changing, and you must work quickly, which often leaves you with a more spontaneous painting. No time to second guess anything, you just go for it.”