A Day on the Mississippi Backwaters
Last week, MMAM invited our Upper Mississippi Plein Air Experience 2025 teaching artists, Joshua Cunningham and Kar-Keat Chong, out on the river for a day of painting, sketching, and exploring. Thanks to the generosity of museum friend and river enthusiast Caylan Larson, we boarded his houseboat and drifted into the backwaters of the Mississippi, a side of the river not accessible by foot or car.
As the boat slipped past sandbars and into narrow channels, the hum of the motors softened and the river revealed its wildlife. A huge Great Blue Heron seemed to cross our path at every turn, lifting slowly into the air and gliding just ahead of us. Overhead, Bald Eagles perched high in leafless limbs, watching as we passed beneath. These shifting encounters with light, water, and sky offered perfect inspiration for artists who work en plein air—a French phrase meaning “in the open air.”
For Joshua, that meant setting up his easel at the bow and slowly building his canvas with layers of oil paint—shadow, then form, then the glint of light saved for last. For Kar-Keat, it meant moving quickly with pen and watercolor, capturing the moment before it passed. His sketches felt immediate, alive, the white of the paper serving as highlights preserved from the very beginning.
Watching the two artists work side by side revealed just how many ways there are to see the same river bend. Joshua’s paintings unfold patiently, like the river’s own unhurried pace. Kar-Keat’s watercolors are swift and impressionistic, as if time itself might slip away.
This day was especially memorable for Kar-Keat. While aboard the houseboat, he created the watercolor that would become the first painting he ever signed with Signature Membership in the National Watercolor Society (NWS)—a luminous depiction of Winona’s boathouses that grew directly from this river experience.
Between painting sessions, Caylan shared his knowledge of the river’s movements, the culture of its houseboat communities, and the reasons this stretch of the Mississippi remains so beloved. He grounded the day in local insight, giving the artists a richer sense of place.
The whole experience was documented by married artists Pam Luer and Gary Bingner, who filmed the day for a short documentary that will premiere at MMAM’s For Love of Water Gala on October 4, with a special preview at the Launch Event on October 2.
This day on the river was only a taste of what’s to come. In October, MMAM welcomes artists, students, and enthusiasts for the third annual Upper Mississippi Plein Air Experience: Boats, Bridges, and Backwaters—a weekend of workshops, demonstrations, and celebration inspired by this landscape.
Upper Mississippi Plein Air Experience
October 2–5, 2025
Launch Event (Oct 2) – Opening celebration with teaching artists
Workshops (Oct 3–4) – Plein Air Oil Painting with Joshua Cunningham; Ink + Watercolor Sketching with Kar-Keat Chong
Artist Demonstrations (Oct 3–4) – Live plein air painting around Winona
For the Love of Water Gala (Oct 4) – MMAM’s signature fall fundraiser + film premiere
Off the Easel: Share-In + Social (Oct 5) – Closing celebration with artists and participants
Now in its third year, the Upper Mississippi Plein Air Experience has quickly become a fall tradition in the Driftless Region—an invitation to see the Mississippi through the eyes of artists and to share in the beauty of painting on location, where every shift of water and sky becomes part of the story.