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The Mother Road

Open Air-Open Road, Paint Out and Show

CELEBRATING the ICONIC ROUTE 66 IN 

NEW MEXICO AND TEXAS


About

This is a non juried plein air event open to artist members of Plein Air Painters of New Mexico (PAPNM) and the Amarillo Art Institute (AAI) Artists may paint plein air anywhere along the historic route 66 in either Texas or New Mexico during the Paint Out period of the  event.

Up to two paintings completed during the plein air event will be exhibited at the AAI Gallery from each of the sixty six artists signed up for the event.

PAPNM is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization of artists dedicated to preserving and promoting painting "en plein air" - painting in the open air or outdoors.

AAI is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization located at 3701 Plains Boulevard, Suite 72D, Amarillo, Texas 79102 (806) 354-8802

Show Schedule

  • April 14 to May 13. Sign up period. Sign up are on PAPNM website. Must be a in good standing of either AAI or PAPNM.
  • May 14 to Aug 29. Paint out period.  Paint along or near historic Route 66
  • August 29. Last date to receive shipped work at the AAI. 
  • September 1 - 10 to 4pm. drop off ready to hang art work at AAI 
  • September 4. AAI and PAPNM websites - Gallery will go live
  • September 5. Opening Reception at AAI 
  • October 3. Show ends.
  • October 6. Unsold work may be picked up. Shipped work will be sent back to artists by AAI

    Prospectus

    Click here: Prospectus

    Paint Outs

    • In lieu of stamping blank canvases prior to painting for the event, invited artists will receive a “Date Stamp” card via email to print out and photograph next to their painting as they paint on location. 
    • These process shots required are: 
      • one showing the initial layout (with painting location clearly visible in background) and 
      • one showing the painting 80% complete on location (with the painting location clearly visible as background). 
    • Each photo must include the Date Stamp card. 
    • Artists may paint through August 29. 
    • Prints of these process shots must be delivered with the finished painting to AAI

    Placard Mother Road paint out.pdf

    Organized Paint Out Schedule

    Registered Paint Out participants may paint at any time during the paint out period, the team will be organizing several paint outs.  Stay tuned for more information.  We have 3 scheduled already!

    • June 6,7,8: Tucumcari, New Mexico. Lead - Stephanie West
    • June 21-22: Shamrock, Texas. Lead Ladonna Daniel
    • July 18-19:  Shamrock Texas. Lead Ladonna Daniel
    • 23 Apr 2025 12:26 PM | Phyllis Gunderson (Administrator)

      Post in this blog if you and your painting buddies get the inspiration to paint along the Mother Road during the painting period outside the organized Paint Outs.  

    Paint Out: May 14 to Aug 29 


    Show Dates:  Sept 5 - Oct 3 


    AAI Art Institute 3701 Plains Boulevard, Suite 72D

    Amarillo, Texas 79102

    (806) 354-8802

    https://www.artsinthesunset.org


    Entry Requirements and Fees

    • Entry Fee $25.66
    • First 66 PAPNM or AAI Members who apply.
    • Each registered artist will be allowed to exhibit two paintings that were completed during this event’s paint out
    • No minimum size. 
    • Maximum size per piece is 18” x 24” or 432 square inches unframed. 
    • All work must be at least 80% completed en plein air, during the paint out.
    • All work must be sturdily framed, or gallery wrapped and ready to hang with D-rings and wire. No saw tooth hangers will be accepted. Artists will not be allowed to substitute other work for improperly framed work.
    • Delivered paintings must have labels on the back of the painting and be accompanied with 2 progress photos taken during the painting process (start and 80% complete) with the placard visible in the photo
    • See the prospectus for more details on delivery requirements.
    • All applicants must register online here: Sign Up

    Eligibility

    Entry Fee $25.66 due at time of sign-up (non-refundable)

    Open to PAPNM and AAI artist and student members working in two-dimensional media, excluding photography and digital media. Your membership must be current during the entire time of the event

    To join PAPNM click Join Us


    Volunteer

    Contact Stephanie West or LaDonna Daniel to help out with the Paint Outs (see TEAMS below for contact information).

    Where to paint along the Mother Road

    Lots of Opportunities to paint and emerge yourself in the lore and history of iconic Route 66 the Paint Out leaders have put together paint out guides for you

    New Mexico Guide

    Texas_Places_To_Paint.pdf

    TEXAS_West_To_East_Guide.pdf

    TEXAS_Shamrock_INTINERARY.pdf

    Welcome_letter.pdf

    Mother Road Paint Out Happenings

     

    No pictures to show

     

    Interesting information on Route 66 from the New Mexico True Site

    https://www.newmexico.org/route66/route-66-history/


    The history of Route 66 in New Mexico is a twisted one — literally.

    The United States embarked on a plan to connect rapidly urbanizing cities with rural communities across more than half the country. It was 1926, and the post-World War I economy began to rely on motor vehicles to transport crops, goods, and people from the furthest corners of every state into the cities for travel and trade. The project to use roads to link these areas was ambitious — the government endeavored to use as much existing road as possible. Thus, Route 66 was born of a connected system of dirt and gravel roads made passable for car traffic: An adventurous traveler could now start in Chicago and drive all the way to Santa Monica.


    Inception & the 1920s

    The topography of the state of New Mexico challenged the road-building efforts: Unlike the prairie land that brings the road from its inception in Chicago through the Texas panhandle, New Mexico’s variable elevations and preponderance of hard-rock landforms made creating a road work-intensive, as most pre-Great Depression road construction was completed by human and animal muscle. The first version of Route 66 in New Mexico crossed the eastern border at Texas, cut through Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, and then swooped northward to specifically connect Santa Fe to the national highway. The road then dropped the 2,000 feet of elevation from Santa Fe to Albuquerque through a series of ominous switchbacks, where the road traveled through the Duke City and southward to Las Lunas before it U-turned back north to connect back with the clean east-west connection at Laguna Pueblo. Route 66 crossed New Mexico’s western border into Arizona just past Gallup.


    1930s & the Depression Era

    This S-shaped version of the route was born in 1926, but the U.S. government implemented an intensive national-infrastructure-spending plan in the early 1930s to put Americans to work during the Great Depression. This included ambitious road-paving projects, of which New Mexico was a recipient: By the time New Mexico was made a state in 1912, there were only 28 miles of paved road. To increase efficiencies, the Santa Fe-to-Las Lunas loop was straightened to the linear east-west corridor, cutting off 107 extra miles from New Mexico’s stretch. The original road lasted until 1937 — by 1938, the U.S. government boasted that the Route 66 was universally paved. (This unique circumstance gives Albuquerque an interesting distinction: an intersection where Route 66 — the original route and the new, straightened version — crosses over itself.)


    1940s & Post World War II

    By World War II, New Mexico officially played home for a 465-mile stretch of what — in his seminal 1939 book, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ — John Steinbeck named “The Mother Road.” The name stuck, and Americans had for the first time a well-maintained, reliable road by which the populace could travel and relocate.

    Portions of the north-south cutoff up to Santa Fe and back are still drivable, though some of the sections through La Bajada north of Albuquerque are no longer passable. As for the original straight-line thoroughfare? Federal highway-building efforts in the 1950s eventually led to U.S. Interstate 40, which makes use of much of Route 66’s original path. Currently, there are 265 miles of the old route still travelable, which gives the motorist a look at some of the original boomtowns made by the traffic from Route 66: Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Albuquerque, Grants, and Gallup, among others. The traveler can count on the essential hallmarks of Route 66: motels, diners, souvenir stands, and an abundance of neon.



    Event Team

    Select team member's name to send a message. Visit the Directories' page to see all board members or additional important contacts. 

    Chair of the Event

    New Mexico Lead

    Texas Paint Out Lead

    Exhibit Lead

    Event Director

    Treasurer

    Sponsor Director

    Communications Director





    Mail information to:
    PAPNM
    P. O. Box 20503
    Albuquerque, NM
    87154-0503

    Mail Payments to: 

    PAPNM Treasurer
    PO Box 4612
    Santa Fe, NM 87502

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