Evanston Plein Air Festival Paint Out & Block Party • Main Dempster Mile

Paint Outs are “quick paint” competitions for competing plein air painters! Watch painters work during the painting time. The community is invited to attend award receptions, meet competing artists, enjoy refreshments and shop for original art. Listed below are Paint Out areas, Paint Times and Award Ceremony location and time.

PAINT OUTS, JULY 16 -19, 2025

Wednesday, July 16 

• Painting Area: Noyes St.
• Judges: Sarah Kaiser-Amaral, Artist and Art Teacher and Laura Brown, with The Brown Team
• Painting time: 12 - 5p
• Award Ceremony: Sarah Kaiser-Amaral Artist Studio, 927 Noyes St.
• Award Time: 6:30p
• Sponsor: Laura Brown, with The Brown Team
• Click here to RSVP

Thursday, July 17 

• Painting Area: Downtown Evanston
• Judges: Darren Oberto and Ross Martens of Alley Gallery and EL Da' Sheon Nix, Director of Evanston Community Relations at Northwestern University
• Painting time: 12 - 5p 
• Award Ceremony: LeTour, 625 Davis St.
• Award Time: 6:30p
• Sponsor: Downtown Evanston
• Click here to RSVP

Friday, July 18 

• Painting Area: Main Dempster Mile at Chicago & Main Streets
• Judges: Katherine Gotsick of Main Dempster Mile and Matt Puchalski of Masterpiece Framing & Imaging
• Painting time: 12 - 5p
• Award Ceremony: Plein Air Festival Block Party, 514 Main St.
• Award Time: 6:30p
• Sponsor: Main Dempster Mile
• Click here to RSVP

Saturday, July 19 

• Painting Area: Downtown Evanston Farmers Market
• Judge: Katherine Horowitz, Director of Evanston Farmers Market and Juelle Daley, City of Evanston, Arts & Cultural Engagement Specialist
• Painting time: 8a - 12p 
• Award Ceremony: Hosted at the Evanston Made tent
• Award Time: 12:30p
• Click here to RSVP

Sunday, July 20, Plein Air Festival Grand Finale

Join us for an afternoon of art, awards, a plein air cafe and an Outdoor Art Market where artists will sell their work “off the easel”. Rotary’s Café International will have delicious food and wine for sale, with outdoor seating to relax and enjoy the festival. Hosted by Evanston Made and Rotary International, this event is FREE to attend. Hosted at Rotary International, Downtown Evanston, 1560 Sherman Ave., 12-4p.

• Enter Rotary International’s lobby to view submitted art and vote Festival Favorite, 12-3p
• Guest Judge, Cory Wright, professional plein air artist and teacher 
• Festival Award Ceremony: 3:30p
• RSVP for FREE here

Sponsor Evanston Made

If you wish to support Evanston Made with our general operating expenses in addition to sponsoring specific event(s), please consider sponsoring our work.

Your sponsorship not only will help Evanston Made produce quality programming, activities, and art events for our community, it will also provide the seeds for Evanston Made to become a more scalable and sustainable organization.

Evanston Made is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit art organization. Contributions to Evanston Made are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law, and our tax identification number/EIN is 84-3971750.

Click here to become a sponsor today and thank you for supporting Evanston Made.

Also check out other Arts events in Evanston, Fine Arts events in Evanston, Festivals in Evanston.