Plein Air Artist Demonstration with James Richards
Saturday, October 4, 2025 | 9a - 11a | prairie island road n
Winona’s own Urban Sketcher, James Richards will be doing a live demonstration of his work looking at ADM from Prairie Island Road N (just north of the intersection of Prairie Island Road N and Riverview Dr). This demonstration is outdoors, free, and open to the public to watch or to paint along.
This plein air artist demonstration is part of the Minnesota Marine Art Museum’s Upper Mississippi Plein Air Experience: Boats, Bridges, and Backwaters, a weekend of workshops, exhibitions, presentations, and public programs in Winona, MN. Now in its third year, the Upper Mississippi Plein Air Experience brings together two creative communities committed to making artwork out of doors: today’s urban sketchers and traditional plein air painters. Staged from MMAM, known for its stunning location on the Mississippi River in Southeast Minnesota’s Driftless Region and a world-class art collection, the Upper Mississippi Plein Air Experience is quickly becoming the fall destination for painters and sketchers alike.
Location
Just north of the intersection of Riverview Dr and Prairie Island Road N
About the artist
Jim's work crosses many creative boundaries, and drawing has always been a cornerstone of his creative life and work. He is an award-winning artist, author, urban designer and former university professor whose work explores real places and real stories around the globe. Jim is the author of the award-winning book Freehand Drawing and Discovery: Urban Sketching and Concept Drawing for Designers, a popular text at design schools across the U.S. and abroad.
He is an instructor and former Board of Directors member for Urban Sketchers, an international non-profit that promotes on-location sketching around the globe. His sketches have been published worldwide, appeared in solo and group exhibitions, seen in the National Geographic film Selah and on NBC Nightly News. His solo exhibition "Hemingway's Cuba" was shown in Hemingway’s estate outside Havana (now a national museum) during the 2015 Havana Art Biennial. Richards is the first American invited to have an exhibition in the Nobel Prize winning author's home.
Jim is a popular online instructor on Skillshare.com, Craftsy and The Great Courses. He travels globally to teach urban sketching workshops for artists, designers and travelers. . James Richards Sketchbook
