EnPleinAirTEXAS
The Ranch Fellowship is open to Past EnPleinAirTEXAS Competition Artists
Ranch Fellowship Events October 22 - 26th
The EnPleinAirTEXAS Ranch Fellowship bonds the area’s 100-year plein air painting history with an immersive invitational experience for four past EnPleinAirTEXAS Competition Artists in the authentic ranch culture of West Texas.
The four selected artists live and paint on a private ranch for three weeks. A spouse/significant other may accompany the artists.
Participants share daily ranch life with fellow artists, working separately on their art or exploring new ideas together.
A $1,000 Artist Ranch Fellowship is provided to help with travel, food, and other expenses.
Artists’ ranch paintings are curated for a major exhibit and sale in late October, benefiting the museum, with shared revenue favoring the artist. The exhibit draws new collectors and past patrons of the EnPleinAirTEXAS competitions.
Artists have the opportunity to share their talents and give back to the community, participating in a day of art engagement and teaching with local school children.
Community engagement and learning are enhanced by special events, as artists embrace the history of the 1920s Texas Artists Camp, which benefits SAMFA’s educational programs.
This exceptional opportunity is possible thanks to the relationships developed over ten years as area ranchers welcomed the EnPleinAirTEXAS (EPAT) Competition Artists to paint on their family property.
Much is on the horizon as the museum works to increase the visibility and participation of plein air painting with children, adults, and rural West Texas communities.
October 22 - 26, 2025
- Artists will return to San Angelo for activities celebrating the 100-year plein air painting tradition of the Texas Artists Camp.
- High school art students will spend time painting 'en plein air' with the Ranch Fellowship Artists.
- Thursday, October 23 - The 'STAMPEDE' Exhibit and Sale - artworks painted during the three-week Ranch Fellowship by the four Ranch Fellows. The sale continues through Saturday, October 25th.
- Friday, October 24: Ranch Fellow Artists will paint around San Angelo. The Ranch Fellowship Exhibit and Sale will continue all day.
- Saturday - Sunday, October 25 - 26th - the 2025 TEXAS Artists Camp Revival! A West Texas immersive artistic experience celebrating the 1920's Texas Artists Camp. All adventurous artists are welcome - more details will come soon!
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What is En Plein Air?
In the mid-1800’s, Impressionist artists began painting in the outdoors, or ‘En Plein Air’ – a French term meaning ‘in the open air’. Prior to the invention of the metal tube in the 1840’s, most landscapes were painted in the artists’ studios as they had no way to store or transport their hand-mixed paints. Impressionism is one of the best-known art movements of the past two centuries. It began to flourish as artists around the world left their studios to study the light and atmosphere in nature and paint on site with their now transportable tubes of paint.
Today artists seek to capture that same intriguing light and shadow outdoors and gather in ‘plein air’ events across the country, continuing this tradition.
Figures in a Landscape (ca. 1883) by Georges Seurat.
Original from The National Gallery of Art.
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Plein Air painting in Texas
In 1876 artist Frank Reaugh (1860-1945) settled near Terrell, Texas. By 1890, Reaugh and his students were making annual sketching trips, eventually custom building the “Cicada” an open-air touring bus to paint on location across west Texas. Two of these students were San Angelo natives, Mollie Crowther (1867 - 1927) and Helen King Kendall (1895-1946)
In 1921, in Christoval, south of San Angelo, Crowther and Kendall co-founded the Texas Artists Camp. It was attended by local artists José Arpa, Xavier Gonzalez, and Adele Brunet. The camp grew to be one of the leading plein air gatherings in the Southwest.
Find out more about San Angelo and surrounding Concho Valley under the TOUR SAN ANGELO
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