Plein Air Festival Award Winners Announced

Colin Page works on a painting while another dries on the backside of his easel.

Three of the 40 featured painters in the 2009 Door County Plein Air Festival, hosted by the Peninsula School of Art, were awarded Collector’s Awards during the festival’s Collector’s Preview in the school’s Guenzel Gallery on the evening of July 24. The artists were chosen by the votes of both their peers and those in attendance at the ticketed silent auction event. Award-winners were selected on the basis of their body of work produced during the festival.

First-time festival participant, Colin Page of Camden, Maine was awarded a First Place Collectors’ Award and received a cash prize of $750. Tom Nachreiner of Elm Grove, received a cash prize of $500 for his Second Place Collectors’ Award. This is the second consecutive recognition for Nachreiner, who won last year’s First Place People’s Choice Award. Shawn Cornell of St. Louis, Miss., received the Third Place Collectors’ Award and a prize of $250 cash.

Painting by Keary Kautzer, who earned an invite to next year’s festival with his First Place win in the July 25 Dockside Painting competition.

Keary Kautzer of Sheboygan, won a slot as a featured artist in the 2010 Door County Plein Air Festival for his First Place win in the Dockside Painting competition, held on Saturday, July 25 in downtown Fish Creek. The open two-hour painting event has drawn up to 75 hopeful painters in recent years. Kautzer also received art supplies donated by Artists Guild in Sturgeon Bay, for “Journeyman,” his watercolor of boats in the Fish Creek Marina.

Peninsula School of Art and Guenzel Gallery are located at 3900 County Hwy F, in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 9am-5pm. For more information call 920.868.3455, or email [email protected] or visit http://www.peninsulaartschool.org