Twenty-one well known professional Georgia artists will participate in the Third Annual Open Air Meriwether, a Plein Air painting event. The artists will paint landscapes, waterscapes and landmarks around Meriwether County and its 7 cities from April 9 – 11. The art will be displayed and available for purchase at Artisans on the Square in downtown Greenville from April 12 through May 11. Everyone is invited to the opening reception on Friday, April 12 from 2 – 5pm at Artisans on the Square. Additional details are available at www.OpenAirMeriwether.com, where the paintings will be posted for viewing and purchasing as soon as they are completed by the artists.

      The event is co-sponsored by Arts Meriwether, a Chamber of Commerce committee which promotes art throughout the county, Big Red Oak Plantation, a hunting preserve in Gay which provides lodging for the artists, and Artisans on the Square, a fine art gallery in Greenville. The mission of Open Air Meriwether is to encourage and support arts education in Meriwether County. Proceeds from the event will be placed with Meriwether Educational and Community Improvement Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation established by Meriwether County Chamber of Commerce. The goal for the money raised by Open Air Meriwether is to establish an ongoing and sustainable program to promote arts education in Meriwether. Donations from the community to this effort can be made on the Donate Page of www.OpenAirMeriwether.com.

      Each year students are included in the Plein Air activities. Noelle Friend-Schilke, the art teacher at Mountain View Elementary in Manchester, brings her second-grade students for a delightful morning of observing, talking to and painting with the artists. Community supporters Ellen and John McEwen graciously open Cotton Pickin’ Fair Grounds for this enjoyable event. In 2018 Roosevelt Warm Springs Foundation hosted the students and artists at Camp Dream. Meriwether County is blessed with an abundance of natural and historic locations for painting opportunities and community businesses who support the mission of Open Air Meriwether.

      All areas of Georgia are represented in this event: Meriwether, Harris and Muscogee Counties (Sue Christman, Barbara Smenner, Kim Foster, Sylvia Rozell, Gloria Mani), Troup County (Steve Close, Charlie Warner), Coweta County (David Boyd, Martin Pate, Cindy Shaw), Fayette County (Brenda Sumpter, Lydia Ellis, Steven Stinchcomb), the Atlanta area (Charles Cashwell, Ed Cahill, Kendall Portis, Larry Smith, Marsha Savage, Millie Gosch) and other locations (Anita Elder from Dahlonega and Mary O. Smith from Woodbine).