Northbrook's Inaugural Plein Air Festival To Paint The Town

NORTHBROOK, IL — Northbrook is hosting its first-ever "plein air" festival for three days starting Oct. 6. The Northbrook Arts Commission will host 25-30 Midwest artists specializing in competitive, open-air painting from Friday until Sunday, Oct. 8. On Friday and Saturday, visiting artists will create works at locations throughout Northbrook based on whatever inspiration they wind. Then, each artist will submit their three best oil, acrylic, watercolor, or pastel paintings for exhibition, awards and sale to the public on Sunday at the Village Green Center, 1810 W Walters Avenue.

There will also be a Quick Paint Competition held at Village Green Park and downtown area on Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to noon. In this lightning round, artists will be confined to a concentrated area and limited to two and a half hours to complete a painting from start to finish. The work will be judged and cash prizes awarded by acclaimed plein air painter and Northbrook resident Brian Sindler.

Also on Sunday, from 1-4 p.m., local musicians will perform, including a jazz combo, a Flamenco/Gypsy Kings-style duo, and classical guitarist Christopher Laughlin. There will be food vendors and a live outdoor painting demonstration with award winning artist and teacher Steve Puttrich. Awards will be presented at 4 p.m. and artists' work will be available for purchase.

While artists have been painting plein-air (outdoors directly from nature,) for centuries, plein-air festivals have seen a rise in popularity over the last 10 years with large events sometimes attracting hundreds of artists in places like Cedarburg and Door County, Wisconsin, according to the Northbrook Arts Commission.

Some of the artists set to participate in the first annual Northbrook Plein Air Festival are Steve Puttrich, Errol Jacobson, and James Hajicek of Chicago, Lee Radtke of Lake County, D.K. Palecek of Northeast Wisconsin, and Wendie Thompson of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

Members of the community have been encouraged to come out and enjoy watching the artists throughout the event. Feel free to stop and observe them at work and welcome them to town. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Northbrook — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Check out some examples of work by artists who will be appearing at the festival:

The event is being organized by the Northbrook Arts Commission with partial sponsorship from the Northbrook Park District. For more information about the event, please contact Bruce Bondy of the Northbrook Arts Commission at 847.421.6999 or email: bruce@bondystudio.com

» via the Northbrook Arts Commission

Schedule:

• 9:30 a.m. – Noon Quick Paint Competition – Village Green Park/Corner of Shermer & Meadow/ Downtown Northbrook
• 1-4 p.m. Live Music at Village Green Park
• 2-3 p.m. Painting Demo by Award Winning Artist Steve Puttrich
• 2-7 p.m. Exhibition and sale of finished artwork – Village Green Center, 1810 Walters Ave.
• 4:30-5 p.m. Awards Ceremony – Village Green Center

_{Top photo: Steve Puttrich painting | All art via Northbrook Art Commission, used with permission}