In 2018, Bobbie was invited to participate in the inaugural Plein Air Invitational at Yellowstone National Park. She was invited back for the event this year and was presented with an award for Best Body of Work.
Here are a few photos from this year’s event. You can see more of her Yellowstone series at Radius Gallery in Missoula, Montana or schedule a time to come by her personal studio in Stevensville.
Bobbie McKibbin & Jennifer Hoffman, Paint Out, Madison Junction, Second Annual Plein Air Invitational 2019, photo courtesy of YF’s photographer Matt Ludin 
Bobbie McKibbin visiting with colleagues – photo courtesy of YF’s photographer Matt Ludin 2019 
Kay Yaeger, Chairman, Yellowstone Forever; Bobbie McKibbin; Juror, Ian McKibbin White (no family relationship), Artist and Director Emeritus, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Photo courtesy of YF’s photographer Matt Ludin 
Bobbie McKibbin’s presentation – photo courtesy of Yellowstone Forever’s photographer Matt Ludin 2019
Click here for pictures from the 2018 event.
BOBBIE MCKIBBIN: YELLOWSTONE FOREVER (from Radius Gallery)
The new studio works by Bobbie McKibbin are based on photos taken in 2018 when she was one of fourteen artists participating in Yellowstone Forever’s inaugural Plein Air Invitational. Her work there earned her an award for excellence, as well as an invitation to return to this year’s invitational in September.
Bobbie McKibbin’s mastery of pastel drawing is nationally recognized. Her work appears in over 30 museum and corporate collections, including the Smithsonian, and has been featured in dozens of solo, invitational and juried exhibitions over the course of a 40-year career in the arts.
From a distance, McKibbin’s drawings appear photographic, documentary. As one gets closer, the highlights on grass, sky, water, emerge as overt chalk lines—seemingly random, almost disconnected from the background. In the space between, as our eyes adjust, we experience the dynamic interplay between viewer, physical place, and the artist’s hand.
McKibbin writes, “My work is shaped by living and working in the West… I see myself as a kind of reporter, someone who documents, a witness to the mystery and beauty that surrounds us. My work faithfully records a sense of place and at the same time celebrates the act of drawing and image-making.”
Yellowstone Forever is the official nonprofit partner of Yellowstone National Park. They offer exceptional visitor experiences and educational programs and invite visitors to translate those experiences into lifelong support to preserve and enhance the park for the future. Learn more at www.yellowstone.org.
Find out more information at Yellowstone Forever.