Heartland Plein Air Festival brings outdoor painting to Omaha and Ralston's creative districts

OMAHA, Neb. — Ann Larsen, an artist from New York, is among the painters participating in the first Heartland Plein Air Festival, a week-long event featuring daily outdoor painting sessions across four state-recognized creative districts in Omaha and Ralston.

"When I first started, what I really was drawn to is that trash can over there," Larsen said.

That trash can is a bright green one near 62nd and Maple in the Benson neighborhood — an unlikely muse, but one Larsen embraced.

"Artists paint strange things, but I like the green trash can," Larsen said.

Larsen said she looks for shapes and angles when choosing a scene to paint.

"I look for angles. I look for marks, you know how I can make different marks squares, rectangles, whatever, and so that's really kind of what drew me to that particular scene," Larsen said.

The festival centers on plein air painting — a French term for painting outdoors.

"Plein air just means full air or open air. So plein air painting is just painting outdoors in the open," Debra Groesser said.

Groesser serves as board president of the Ralston Hinge Creative District and organized the festival. She said the event was years in the making — and came with an unexpected challenge.

"4 years of planning and who'd have thought we would have ended up with a week of rain when artists are trying to paint outside," Groesser said.

The festival features daily paintout events where artists paint outside at lunchtime in each of the four state-recognized creative districts: Ralston, Dundee, Benson and Midtown's Castle and Cathedral. Groesser said the collaboration between districts was central to the event's design.

"We did collaborate with all the others as far as providing paint out locations for us," Groesser said.

Annie Butler, director of the Benson Creative District, said being included in the festival was meaningful for her district.

"And so for her to invite us to this and let all of the other creative districts have a piece of it and be a part of it and showcase our district was really cool. It was really an honor," Butler said.

The final lunch break paintout will take place in Dundee on Thursday. On Saturday, the public will have the opportunity to purchase works at an auction in Ralston.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.