Plein Air in the Berkshires
October 2022 thru May 2023:
Please propose an exact day, time, and location on the Facebook page “Berkshire Plein Air.” Please state WHEN and exactly WHERE you want to work En PLEIN Air and invite others to join you! Early afternoons are often nice and it is beautiful to catch the light as it turns toward evening. To sign up, Reply in the comments section on “Berkshire Plein Air” if you want to join the person proposing the time and place. Dress warmly and pick a place out of the wind. Our Plein Air program is open to visual artists in a variety of media. Our regular daily program will begin again in late May or June., 2023.
For October 2022 thru May 2023 see specific Plein Air dates and location on the Facebook page “Berkshire Plein Air.”
Sign up here for June 16- October 6, 2023
Click on our Plein Air Instagram link for weather and location updates daily at 8 am during the Plein Air season. Please refresh your browser for the latest feed. Alternatively, hover over images from the Instagram feed below at the bottom of this page to get daily information on locations and weather conditions.
Join our Berkshire Plein Air group to paint, draw and photograph outside at different Berkshire locations each day of the week except Sundays, weather and regulations permitting, 10-1pm beginning June 16, 2023.
Sign up here for June 16- October 6
Free for members ($62-52 a year), @$50 the season for nonmembers, @$10 a day for nonmembers or @$25 the season for affiliate members stating their affiliation who abide by our rules*. Click here to apply for membership to the Guild of Berkshire Artists.
Check for weather, location or regulation updates at 8am on our website BerkshireArtists.org/Plein-Air at the bottom of this page.
You must SIGN UP by 6:30pm the night before, follow the rules, and check our website after 8am that day for changes due to weather, location or regulations. If no one signs up, the event is cancelled.
Open to artists at all levels. Watch artists at work (masks and 6 feet distance please). Work till noon, then join us for lunch (each buys or brings a lunch) followed by critique providing positive suggestions. Bring oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, drawing, photography or digital painting equipment. Click on the following links to see resources and videos on Plein Air. in 2023 we offer workshops to help you learn how to work Plein Air and to advance your skills:
Plein Air Workshop with Lori Bradley May TBD Sign up at BerkshireArtists.org/workshops
Plein Air Workshop with Chris Morel: June 13-15 Sign up at BerkshireArtists.org/workshops
Photographers might want to join us at 11 to take photos and review them and pick two or three of your favorite ones that day to share after lunch.
RULES* for ALL locations: Leave area pristine! Take everything with you (even watercolor water). Be friendly and answer visitors questions. Pay admission to venue. Stay off paths and do not work inside buildings. Clean tools and brushes at home.
Check berkshireartists.org/plein-air to sign up before 6:30pm and after 8am, the day of the event for notices about weather, location and regulations.
Monday: **Hancock Shaker Village 1843 West Housatonic Street Pittsfield, MA 01201, meet at picnic tables, 413-443-1088. http://www.hancockshakervillage.org./
Tuesday: West Stockbridge. Meet at walking bridge at 38 Main Street next to Stone House Properties. Lots of good places for lunch here. Williams River with its three bridges, Pond, Turn Park, 1854 Town Hall, No. Six Depot, Shaker Mill Bookstore, Six Depot, Public Market and The Foundry.
Wednesday: Great Barrington or Williamstown or Cheshire and sometimes Pittsfield, Sheffield, Housatonic River and other locations such as the Clark and the Oxbow. Propose a place the week before. Bring lunch.
Thursday: Stockbridge **Berkshire Botanical Garden, bring lunch. 5 West Stockbridge Rd, Rt. 102, MA 01262, 413-298-3926. www.berkshirebotanical.org.
Friday: Lenox, town center, Lilac Park, Library Park, Frelinghuysen Museum, or Parsons Marsh, etc. Bring lunch, eat at location or plan to eat nearby. Check for the exact location. Lenox MA 01240,
Saturday: **The Mount, Lenox. 2 Plunkett St, Lenox, MA 01240, 413-551-5111. www.edithwharton.org
**entrance fee (usually $15-20) or membership to the venue ($50-65). We recommend getting the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) level (price varies about $150) and go everywhere we go plus 850+ other locations in North America all year for two named adults. . We recommend a NARM level membership ($130-150)at your favorite place so you can get into the places we go and more than 850+ places in North America including the Clark, the Frick, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.
In July and August, we hope to have volunteers demonstrate how they are getting started that day so that people new to Plein Air can learn and we can learn new tricks. Opportunities for demonstrating Plein Air skills are available. Text Karen by Thursday the week before and we will share information about your 10 AM demonstration with the local media.
If no one signs up by 6:30 pm the night before the event is canceled.
Text Karen between 8am and 1pm with any concerns or suggestions at 617-868-7082. THANK YOU!
If the weather looks great off-season, go onto our Facebook page "Berkshire Plein Air" and propose a time and place to meet. You might want to post the night before and then confirm the weather at 8 am that day. We have actually had Plein Air sessions outdoors in good weather in January and February, so propose it if the weather looks like you want to paint or photograph outside.