WEST READING, Pa. – Art is coming to Penn Avenue in West Reading, and you might spot some artists painting all over Berks County ahead of a big weekend.

“There’s different styles, from palette knife work to watercolors, oil paintings, pastels,” said Jesse Prentiss, West Reading’s Art Plus Gallery.

From rolling fields to historic streets, paint brushes are capturing the beauty of Berks County, one stroke at a time.

“I just see the importance of plein air in this increasingly digital and artificial world, like keeping art real, going outside and creating, getting in touch with the outdoors and our inner artists,” Prentiss said.

“Art on the Avenue” is on the horizon, and to highlight the region, dozens of artists will exhibit their work.

“We are still one art show, but two distinct divisions,” Prentiss said. “So, we have the juried category that people and then the open category was more of a lottery system.”

The event draws artists from all over.

“Nancy comes all the way from Louisiana. Cindy came in from New York. We’ve got Patsy from Virginia, Lori from Texas,” Prentiss said.

Each artist is inspired by all Berks County has to offer.

“The biggest feedback we’ve gotten from the artists is they really enjoy the diversity of this area,” Prentiss said. “We’ve got big city, we’ve got historical architecture, we’ve got stuff that predates the birth of our nation. We have rural, we have suburbia — we have just a little bit of everything,”

This year, there’s a special award.

“We picked five historic sites that were active in 1776, and so it’s called the ‘America 250 War.’ It’s a $500 award for the best painting of any one of those five sites,” said Russ Slocum, West Reading’s Art Plus Gallery.

There are dozens more categories with awards for the taking.

“This one here in Hamburg,” Prentiss said. “This was the Best in Show and the Best Main Street last year.”

The artwork shows that everyone has a different way to appreciate the world around us.

“Like, this is what we know and see, and we don’t always see it in the way an artist can help us see it and appreciate…what our own backyard, how beautiful it really is,” Prentiss said.

Art on the Avenue takes place on Saturday, June 20, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Penn Avenue.