May 16 | 10:00a - 1:00p
Outdoor in the MMAM Gardens
Free | Registration encouraged but not required
Join Nelia Harper French and the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota to learn how to capture the "light effect" in this plein air landscape painting demonstration and paint-along. Nelia will demonstrate how to "see the landscape" through an artist’s eye while providing attendees with time-honed techniques, tools, and understanding of light in nature. Students are encouraged to paint-along or listen and absorb as Nelia guides participants through creating a painting from start to finish on location. While she will demonstrate in oil paint, the foundational principles of the workshop are used by all media for creating light and atmosphere in landscape painting. This demonstration is a wonderful start for beginning plein air painters while providing tools and resources for advanced painters in any medium or artistic style.
The Paint-Along Demonstration will take place in the MMAM gardens and it is open to the public. The event is free, but registration is required. Gallery admission will apply. This is part of the May New Look Weekend, and this event is associated with the exhibition, Myths & Legends of Minnesota: An Exhibition of the Minnesota Plein Air Collective (on view May 16 - September 13, 2026).
The Minnesota Plein Air Collective is a collaboration between the Art of the Lakes Association, Outdoor Painters of Minnesota, and Red Wing Arts, the nonprofit organizers of Minnesota’s three premier annual plein air painting competitions in Battle Lake, Grand Marais, and Red Wing, Minnesota. These groups join together in a different Minnesota venue each year to present an annual exhibition, spreading awareness throughout the state and bringing the joy and beauty of landscape painting to wider audiences.
About the Artist
Nelia Harper French is a classically trained fine artist and instructor whose artwork focuses on the intersection of people and nature. Her diverse subjects range from still life to plein air landscape paintings to portraits and narrative figure work. From small, detailed studies of natural objects to life size figures in the landscape, she chooses from a wide range of abstract shapes, color, texture, edges, line, and mass and the interplay of those forms within space to create realistic and natural impressionistic paintings.
While she works primarily in oil paint, she also creates with pastel, gouache, egg tempera and a variety of drawing mediums.
Nelia shares her knowledge in both in-person and online workshops, teaching youth and adults, creating community art projects, and encouraging others in the creation of art for personal and public engagement.
She is a grant recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board and Arrowhead Regional Arts Council and currently an Artist in Residence at Central School in Grand Rapids, MN.
Nelia studied at the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Arts in Duluth, MN and holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. She organizes local plein air paint-outs in her community and is an active Board Member of Outdoor Painters of Minnesota.
New Look Weekend
This event is part of the May New Look Weekend, celebrating the opening of two new exhibitions, Gordon Coons: Gidibaajimomin / We Tell Stories and Myths & Legends of Minnesota: An Exhibition of the Minnesota Plein Air Collective. Stop by to see the new exhibitions, or join the programming on Saturday, May 16 with unique opportunities to meet the artists, see demonstrations, and take a deeper dive into the exhibitions.
