2025 William T. Turman Plein Air Competition & Exhibition

Competition Dates: June 20-25, 2025 Exhibition Dates: July 1- August 15, 2025

Reception: July 11, 2024 6-8 PM at The Gallery at Arts Illiana - 23 North 6th Street, Terre Haute, Indiana 47807

ABOUT THE WILLIAM T. TURMAN SWOPE PLEIN AIR COMPETITION AND EXHIBITION

The 2025 Swope Art Museum William T. Turman Plein Air competition is open to all painters. All works must be painted during the event period, June 20 - 25, and must be created in Terre Haute and Vigo County, Indiana. This outdoor painting event is a tribute to William Turman, a preeminent plein air painter from Graysville, Indiana. Turman was the second director of the Swope Art Museum, and Chairman of the Indiana State University Art Department for 40 years. Turman was part of the rich history of Indiana landscape painters including T.C. Steele, William MerriM Chase, and William Forsyth.

Meet Our Juror

Our juror for the plein air competition and Swope exhibition is Julio Suarez, Associate Professor of Art at Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan. View Suarez’ plein air paintings here: hMps://www.juliocsuarez.com/landscape Julio Suarez received his MFA in Painting from Indiana University Bloomington and a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he first discovered his passion for painting and drawing from direct observation. His influences range from old masters such as Velasquez and Vermeer to 20th century artists like Giorgio Morandi and the English painter Euan Uglow. Suarez's work has been exhibited nationally including at the Painting Center and Blue Mountain Gallery in New York City and Principle Gallery in Alexandria Virginia. He recently received a Best of Show award at the 56th Annual Greater Michigan Art Exhibition organized by the Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art.

Artist's Statement

My work is about perception, attention and looking for beauty in the mundane. Using direct observation, I paint the people and objects that surround me. I believe that only through drawing or painting something can I really see it and understand it. I enjoy both the process of discovering what makes something look the way it does and the struggle to translate that into paint in the simplest way possible. The interaction with the subject and trying to capture the many moments of attention placed on it, is what keeps me most engaged in a painting and why working directly from the motif is central to my work.

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