The Bruce Outdoor Arts Festival, October 11 2025

When you think of the word “successful,” who’s the first person that comes to mind and why?

writing prompt #2093

Erin Hanson, a modern American Impressionist painter and my favorite artist. I see her as successful because I admire her craft and talent and also because how she runs her business as an artist.

My dream is to live a creative life (✔️) that is lucrative enough to support my family and serve community (WIP).

Her artwork is jaw-dropping, energetic, and vibrant. Bold contrasting color choices, moving scenes and thick brushwork make each of her many paintings (one a week for over a decade) a sight to behold. She sells her prints for a higher dollar amount than by budget allows, offers 3D replica prints, and sells her original works in the $20,000-$40,000 range. Wow. Quite a career she has built.

I purchased a coffee table book of hers several years ago, so I receive her direct mail marketing. It was in those print ads I learned that her career got its start through traveling art festivals.

She did art festivals, so I want to do art festivals.

I plan for 2026 to be my first art festival year.

In the research I did over the summer, I learned that applicants must submit photos not only of their artwork, but of their festival tent set up. Though I attended The 50th Annual Westport Fine Arts Festival on Memorial Day weekend a few years ago, I did so only as a patron of the arts and not as a means of research.

So this past Saturday, my husband, son and I headed to The Bruce for their 44th Annual Outdoor Arts Festival to enjoy the art, see the latest exhibits where we were members a previous year, and to note what the expectations would be for displays. And we’re lucky we did–the second day of the event was cancelled due to the incoming Nor’easter storm!

Thought I’d take the time to share some of my favorite artists from the event.

My Top 5 Favorite Artists from The Bruce 44th Annual Outdoor Arts Festival

Kathryn Maher

I so enjoyed the emotions evoked through Kathryn Maher’s cityscapes, her ability to capture form and blend oils that I lost myself temporarily and let her know that if she was ever interested in teaching, I’d like to be a student. She shared with me her mentor’s work, yet I found that her use of his techniques partnered with her affinity for storytelling proved that the student had exceeded the master.

I thought Kathryn’s work looked familiar to me, and I recalled her work from the Westport Fine Arts Fair I attended in 2023. Yep–I even mentioned her on that blog post and her work was the featured photo! I didn’t get the chance to meet her at that event, so though I had an involved conversation with her at this year’s event, I wasn’t sure until now that was indeed her.

Earl Charles Schofield III

Earl Schofield’s encaustic paintings had a magnetic pull. Ever the impressionist lover, I saw the ethereal quality of his renderings from a distance and knew I needed a closer look. When I went inside his tent, I learned that he paints with tinted wax, in layers that add a sculptural quality to the work. His process, a historical one that predates oil painting, adds layers of interest to stunning landscapes.

John Harris

John Harris can paint stones underwater better than stones can be underwater. His mastery of form and reflection of light upon water is simply masterful.

Stuart Yankell

Stuart Yankell’s work is energetic and full of movement, yet manages to evoke a sense of serenity at the same time. His technique yields to a kaleidoscope of colors, but his muting of many figures and emphasis of few creates a great balance of positive and negative space.

Yankell is another painter with an admirable career. He’s sold works to celebrities like Dave Matthews, Carlos Santana, and Ravi Coltrane (whose father’s jazz album A Love Supreme is on my recent listened to on Spotify, NBD…(ok, yes, big deal) and his studio is housed in the same building as a wildly famous sculptor (with unsavory ties that were prevalent in his era).

Jenny Pope

Jenny Pope is another artist whose work beckons you across the festival. Her Mary Blair level of color play, the graphic quality of her prints, in addition to her traditional technique–woodblock printing–carry her work far, and the cherry on top is the depth and care she gives to the labeling of her work, informing the viewers of scientific details about the location, plants and animals represented.