Clark Mitchell paints a beautiful vista near D.T. Fleming Beach Park.

LAHAINA — Two renowned artists, Clark Mitchell and Ned Mueller, will teach workshops during the upcoming Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational (MPAPI) in February.

Both experienced teachers, Mitchell’s workshop will be held Feb. 9-11 and Mueller’s on Feb. 22-24.

The purpose of MPAPI’s workshop program is to reach out to the Maui community and give the local artist community the opportunity to study plein air painting with two distinguished MPAPI participating artists without having to leave the island.

The invitational offers workshops with MPAPI artists who have not taught on Maui before, thereby extending Maui’s art community to new talent each year.

Teaching artists have donated a total of three scholarships for their workshops. These scholarships will be awarded to three Maui high school seniors who will be studying art after graduation.

Currently, a program is being developed with the art departments of island high schools to select and choose the winners of the scholarships. This scholarship program works in coordination with MPAPI’s “Plein Air for the Young at ART” program in supporting art education for Maui’s youth.

Last year, Carl Paahana, a senior at Lahainaluna High School, won a scholarship to attend Ken Auster’s three-day workshop. For more information on workshop scholarships and registration, e-mail Bonnie Fox at bonnie.fox@sympatico.ca.

The Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational commences with a Kick off Paint Out on Feb. 13 at two of Maui’s most stunning locations: D.T. Fleming Beach and Kapalua Bay.

On Feb. 16, guest lecturer Jean Stern, executive director of The Irvine Museum in California, will present “American Masters: From Frederic Remington to Mark Rothko” at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina.

Featured events during the week include the Pacific’O Sunset Paint Out and Pioneer Inn Lahaina Harbor Quick Draw.

The week’s festivities will conclude at the Maui No Ka Oi Magazine Gala Reception on Friday, Feb. 19, where 100 paintings (three of the best paintings from each artist plus the Quick Draw paintings) will be unveiled at The Village Gallery at 120 Dickenson St. in Lahaina. Art lovers and collectors will have an opportunity to admire and purchase the newly created works while enjoying refreshments and mingling with artists.

The 2010 participating artists are George Allan of Maui, Ken Auster of California, Jacobus Baas of Oahu, Pierre Bouret of Kauai, Mark Brown of Oahu, Jan Bushart of Maui, Saim Caglayan of Kauai, Mike Carroll of Lanai, Joe Fletcher of Maui, Betty Hay Freeland of Maui, Darrell Hill of the Big Island, Debra Huse of California, Carleton Kinkade of Maui, Jim Lamb of Washington, Ronaldo Macedo of Maui, Clark G. Mitchell of California, Larry Moore of Florida, Ned Mueller of Washington, Billyo O’Donnell of Missouri, Colin Page of Maine, Macario Pascual of Maui, Mary Pettis of Minnesota, Scott Prior of California, Randall Sexton of California Marty Wessler of Kauai, Mary Whyte of South Carolina, and guest speaker and juror Jean Stern of The Irvine Museum, California.

The 2010 event is coordinated by Islanders-Hawaii Plein Air Painters, West Maui Cultural Council and The Village Gallery. The event sponsors include the county Office of Economic Development, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Maui No Ka Oi Magazine, Kaanapali Land Management Corp., The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, Pioneer Inn, Pacific’O Restaurant, Maui Land & Pineapple Co., Maui Printing Co. and The Irvine Museum.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, or to volunteer, contact event coordinator Kate Bahr at (608) 239-4610 or visit the website at www.mauipleinairpainting.com.