AIR BRUSH. A participant in a previous Go Paint! event captured scenery along the Chippewa River near Durand.

Summer is a spectacular season of fun. It is a time when the beaches are packed with swimmers, action movies are released in theaters, children go off to find adventure, and students are dismissed from classes for three months (unless they are in summer school). Many hobbyists will also be free to relax and appreciate their creative outlets under the warm sun.

Luckily for artists young or old, Valley residents or visitors, amateur or professional, the community is invited to participate in the 7th Annual Go Paint! Chippewa Valley. In May, the Pablo Center at the Confluence will host a series of events focused on allowing artists to embrace their creativity and showcase the natural beauty of the Chippewa Valley’s landscapes by painting “en plein air” – in other words, outdoors, reproducing on canvas what they see before their eyes.

Several Go Paint! contests for will take place between May 4-10, encouraging registered artists to capture this beautiful region through art. Winners will earn the chance to have their work displayed in a juried gallery exhibition at the Pablo Center, with such past examples as rolling farmland, picturesque riverbanks, scenic downtown streets, and charming forest paths.

The featured artist and awards juror for Go Paint! is the talented Martha Hayden. A graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, her artwork is part of numerous public collections around the world. This includes artwork in the Library of the British Museum, the Museu de Arte Moderna in São Paulo, Brazil, as well as her famous mural in the Beloit Municipal Building, which is said to be the largest landscape painting in Wisconsin.

From 10am-3pm on Saturday, May 4, painters aged 18 and younger will have the opportunity to join this free event with their families and participate in art projects offered by the Pablo Center’s ARTmobile. That afternoon, from 3-5pm, registered artists are invited to take part in a Quick Paint contest as Phoenix Park, which will be followed by cash prizes at 6pm. On Tuesday, May 7, join with family and friends at Lazy Monk Brewing for an open paint while overlooking the Chippewa River. And artists are invited to paint all week around the region and to turn in their stamped canvases at the Pablo Center between 10am and noon on Friday, May 10.

The week’s worth of events will encourage people to explore the region through art. All registered artists will have the opportunity to keep the works they’ve entered on display all summer at the Pablo Center. Everything will be for sale, but this exhibit showing the region’s landscapes will be free and open to the public. Learn more about the events and how to become a registered artist at pablocenter.org.