Escalante Canyons Working Art Festival
Everett Ruess Days
September 25-26, 2009 in Escalante, Utah
(Plein Air Competition: September 20-20, 2009)
PLEIN AIR COMPETITION 2008
The Fifth Annual Escalante Canyons Art Festival held September 20-26, 2008. After 5 successful years, we feel we have an established track record and we are here to stay!
This year’s festival was a held a week earlier than in years past. As a result we had picture perfect weather. Our artists sat in the glorious sunshine as they finished their entries. The quality of the art entries was superb. Artists from all over Utah and several other states participated in the competition. At the silent auction on Saturday night we sold 54 out of 86 entries for the participating artists, or about 60%. In addition to the sales, we awarded $9,500.00 in prize monies to the artists, making it very worthwhile for the artists to compete. Most of the artists reported feeling that that they also benefited artistically from the experience of painting in the Grand Staircase -Escalante National Monument, Dixie National Forest, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Capitol Reef National Park, Artists experienced a sense of camaraderie and enjoyed the added benefit of painting with each other.
The 2008 Grand Prize Winner: Larisa Aukon, Oil/Acrylic >>
<< The 2007 Grand Prize Winner: Randsom Owens, Watercolor/Mixed
Larisa Aukon was our Grand Prize winner in oil/acrylic, Randsom Owens won the Grand Prize in watercolor/mixed media, while Tryntje Seymoure and Becky Joy each received an Award of Merit. Betsy Nelson received two Award of Merit awards for each category she entered. Honorable mention awards went to Robin Straub, Sarah Straw, Jeff Potter, Valerie Orlemann, Clay Wagstaff, and Mitchell Grimshaw, a student from Southern Utah University. The People’s Choice award went to Kelly Pugh, and finally the Artist’s Choice award went to Stephen Heward.
Coming Soon: A complete listing of artists
Arlene Braithwaite, painting instructor at Southern Utah University, brought several art students to the festival again this year, one of which won an honorable mention award. Escalante Canyons Art Festival dedicates a yearly art education gift to facilitate the participation of art students in the event. This gift affords students an opportunity to paint and compete in the “real world,” with professional artists. The students this year were all very excited, talented, and engaged, and most of them sold their entries at the silent auction. We intend to raise more money for next year’s educational gift, and we are making plans for a day-long workshop with two or three professional artists conducting demonstrations for the students, and for other artists as well if they choose to participate. Several of our artists have pledged time, talent, and money to this workshop and to our student scholarship program in 2009.
This year we had four judges, the winners from last year, and two well-known Utah artists. We feel that doing this pumps fresh blood into the judging process.
In addition to the plein air painting competition and exhibit, the festival also included nearly 50 artist vendors working in various mediums including wood, ceramics, textiles, stone, and glass, as well as many painters in watercolor, oils, and acrylics. Our lectures and speakers were well attended and discussed topics of interest ranging from prehistory to pioneer history, visual arts, local architecture and essays on flash floods, wilderness, rivers, and the outdoors. The keynote address was given by Craig Childs and preceded by “Shamrock and Sage.” Both captivated large crowds in the High School Auditorium on Friday evening. A more complete write up of the speakers and topics can be found on the Speakers page. The crowds were entertained all day on Friday and Saturday in the Festival Plaza by a great variety of talented musicians and dancers, many homegrown in Wayne, Garfield, and Kane Counties.
For more information about the 2008 Escalante Canyons Art Festival please visit the archive page (Coming Soon!).