Pat Brodowski thrives on plein-air painting as an immersive experience in the outdoors. She’s painted since attending Maryland Institute College of Art in the 70s. Currently she organizes Virginia Local Plein Air, a painting group of 60 painters, and creates plein-air painting events and exhibitions in her small Virginia town of Stanardsville.

She is an endlessly curious artist who just has to get to the bottom of how things work. In her book Gardening and Foraging Natural Dyes she describes all facets of dye pigments from plants and has taught textile dyeing at Common Ground, area museums, and the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  As the former heirloom Vegetable Gardener at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, and as Historian/Educator at the Carroll County Farm Museum, Pat has explored the fascinating life of plants from seed to food, to medicine, in ceremony, and in art. Her passion is to link plant lore from antiquity to encourage plant lovers today.