The Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational returns Saturday through Feb. 20, featuring 26 of the finest plein air painters from Hawaii and the Mainland. The event offers visitors and local residents the opportunity to watch the artists at work, learn about outdoor painting and support art activities in the community.
Jean Stern, the executive director of the Irvine Museum in Irvine, Calif., and a recognized authority on California impressionism, will once again be the guest speaker and juror during the upcoming invitational. His free lecture and slide show titled "American Masters: from Frederic Remington to Mark Rothko" will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina.
"My lecture this year will discuss 10 great American artists. Five of them are artists that most people will know, such as William Merritt Chase, James Abbott Whistler, John Singer Sargent and Frederic Remington, and five that they probably may not know but will surely agree that they deserve to be seen as great," Stern said.
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Ronaldo Machedo attracts an audience at a last year’s Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational
Stern credits the popularity and power of plein air painting to the fact that nature and the human experience are intertwined. He considers some of the artists participating in the Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational among the best plein air artists working today.
"Events like this bring out the best in the artists and in the people who attend the exhibitions," said Stern. "I have not yet found a more agreeable locale for enjoying great art and good friends than Lahaina."
All events are free and open to the public. For details, visit www.MauiPleinAirPainting.com.
