Call Detail
EnPleinAirTEXAS 2023 Application
Entry Deadline: 5/31/23
Application Closed

Entry Fee (Entry Fee): $40.00
Work Sample Requirements
Images | Minimum:Min. 3, Maximum:Max. 3
Total Samples | Minimum:Min. 3, Maximum:Max. 3
Call Type: Competitions
Eligibility: International
State: Texas

Celebrating 10 years in 2023, EnPleinAirTEXAS (EPAT) is one of the premier plein air painting competitions in the United States.  Nine years of sales have consistently averaged over $200,000 with over $30,000 in cash awards and substantial merchandise prizes.

EPAT brings 35 nationally respected artists to Texas to experience the ‘authentic’ West the week of October 20 – 28, 2023.  Artists spend part of the week hosted on private ranches with endless painting inspiration, and time in San Angelo, the ‘Visual Arts Capital of Texas’.  San Angelo is an architecturally interesting town complete with an 1870’s National Historic Register Fort, a river through downtown, lakes, and trains, and the International Waterlily Collection.
Events are scheduled throughout the week and always include food for the artists.

HOUSING FOR ARTISTS
Competition Artists are hosted by ranchers and by local residents who all welcome our celebrity guests with traditional West Texas Hospitality.  While on the ranches your meals and lodging are provided and some may have access to ranch vehicles.  In town, your hosts provide lodging and access to the kitchen in some cases.  Ask any former EPAT Artist, and you’ll learn more about our amazing hosts!

SALES
All art painted during the week is for sale and some may be displayed during the week at our ‘Wet Paint’ Gallery/EPAT Headquarters.  All paintings are then exhibited and for sale at the final weekend event, “The STAMPEDE”.  A 40% commission is paid to the museum, with artists receiving 60% of the sales price.  Demos or Saturday Paint-Out artwork are a 75% commission to the artists, with 25% going to the museum.

THE JUROR & JUDGE

2023 SELECTION JUROR, Kathryn Mapes Turner of Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Born in the mountain valley of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Kathryn Mapes Turner was the fourth generation to be raised on the Triangle X Ranch in Grand Teton National Park.  She grew up riding the trails of the valley, learning wilderness lore and gaining an eye for landscape.  Turner began studying art from noted local painters in her teens, then pursued a major in Studio Arts at the University of Notre Dame.  She spent an influential semester in Rome, Italy and then studied at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C., later earning a Master’s degree from the University of Virginia.

Turner is now nationally recognized with top honors from the American Impressionist Society and the National Academy of Equine Art and the Southeast Wildlife Exposition as the 2017 Featured Artist.  Her work has been showcased in the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Charlie Russell Museum, the Buffalo Bill Cody Center of the West, The Phippen Museum, the Brinton Museum and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. 

Turner believes that growing up in Grand Teton National Park, a place with such dramatic light and natural composition, gave her an intimate appreciation for art. She now travels all over the world, comfortable painting in watercolor and oil.

2023 AWARDS JUDGE, Michael R. Grauer of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
A Kansas native, Mr. Grauer holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art history from the University of Kansas; the Master of Arts in art history from Southern Methodist University; and the Master of Arts in history from West Texas A&M University. 

Grauer worked at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, before becoming curator of art and Western heritage and associate director for curatorial affairs at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas, from 1987 to 2018. 

He joined the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City in September 2018 as the McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture and Curator of Cowboy Collections & Western Art. He has curated over 150 exhibitions on Western art, culture, and history and authored 65 publications, including the Dictionary of Texas Artists, 1700-1945, Rounded Up in Glory: Frank Reaugh, Texas Renaissance Man, and Making a Hand: The Art of H. D. Bugbee, which received the Western History Association Wrangler Award for Best Western Art Book for 2020.

Grauer is one of the leading western art historians in the United States and lectures on art, history, and culture across the American West.

EVENT DATES & SCHEDULE
January 2 – May 31, 2023 Online submissions accepted through CAFÉ Press.

June 6, 2023  Artist Announcement at “The Envelope, Please!” in San Angelo, Texas.  All applicants will be notified beforehand by email.

June – August, 2023  Host Housing will be assigned to artists

Thursday, October 19, 2023
Artists may want to arrive today to be ready to start painting on Oct. 20th.

Friday, October 20, 2023  Event begins with artists painting on area ranches!

Sunday, October 22, 2023  Welcome Party for Artists, Hosts, and Sponsors on the rooftop of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts

Monday – Wednesday, October 23 – 25, 2023
Artists paint in designated areas in town, plus ample time for Open Paint anywhere within 30 miles.

Thursday, October 26, 2023
“Ranch Experience with the Artists” – a limited ticketed event allowing participants to come to a ranch and watch while artists are painting.  Optional for artists but strongly encouraged.  Lunch with quick exhibit then artists are free for the remainder of the day.

Friday, October 27, 2023
8 – 10 am – Artists turn in paintings from the week, framed and ready to hang on their 6’ lighted panels. Afterwards, artists can either paint at the waterlily gardens (with high school students watching) or do a short demo in the elementary or middle schools.
That evening, around 300 paintings from the week are presented at the exciting “STAMPEDE Art Exhibit & Sale” at the Stables at Fort Concho, a National Historic Landmark built in 1868 and the original home of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts. Cash awards of over $30,000 and merchandise will be awarded by 2023 Judge Michael Grauer

Saturday, October 28, 2023
Morning Paint-Out with $2000 in Awards plus an Open category for area artists. Exhibit & Sale, pop-up artist demos continue through 5pm at the Stables. Event ends this evening around 6 pm and artists remove all unsold paintings.

Application Requirements

Applicants 18 years of age or older must apply through CAFÉ with entry fee payment of $40 and submission of 3 digital jpegs of plein air paintings that represent their work.  Images should be at least 300 dpi resolution with a file size under 4 MB.  Two-dimensional mediums in oil, watercolor, pastel, gouache, pencil or charcoal are accepted.

Eligibility Criteria

You must be 18 years of age. Artwork submitted must have also be painted en plein air.