This year the Sedona Arts Center’s most popular annual event, the Sedona Plein Air Festival, will be a first of its kind — an all-woman event — in celebration of the Arts Center’s Year of the Woman.
The Arts Center has explored a variety of themes in past Plein Air Festivals, from Art and Wine, to Native American Culture, to a Figurative Salon complete with a speakeasy. This year, due to global circumstances, the Arts Center decided to open the festival to anyone with an internet connection and will be holding this unique event from Saturday, Oct. 24 through Saturday, Oct. 31, entirely online.
Twenty-four talented female artists will be sending work from their own diverse locations across the nation for presentation in the Arts Center’s online gallery.
New work will be added as it is completed during the festival week, accompanied by short narratives describing artists’ selection of place and/or their creative process. This will provide for an entirely unique Sedona Plein Air Festival experience, as artists will be painting in states including Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, California, Colorado, New York and Florida.
Online presentations will allow for rich content that could not otherwise be experienced. Art lovers will be able to immerse themselves in unique virtual appearances from their favorite artists throughout the festival. From live demonstrations to short videos created by our festival artists all across the country, to an online gallery of new works updated daily — there’s something for everyone. The art will be available for sale immediately once it is presented online, so be sure to check social media and the online gallery to see the most current works created.
Sedona Arts Center is also pleased to announce new prize money donated for this year’s innovative festival. Vince Fazio, executive director of Sedona Arts Center, reports that most of the funds for prizes were donated by Arts Center board members after a significant gift from a local supporter got the ball rolling.
“I am delighted to announce that we have $5,000 in locally donated prize money for the festival,” Fazio said. “This means that we will award a significant prize for the opening work that artists submit and that we then also have funds for special prizes at the end of the week.”
The festival begins with a Meet the Artists event Saturday, Oct. 24 from noon to 1 p.m. Each artist is submitting one recently completed work which can be a studio or plein air work and an introductory video to represent themselves and kick-off the festival.
A panel discussion by the artists on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m. will address the theme, The Process of Art. At this mid-week point, artists will be presenting a particular work completed during the festival week to discuss. The public is invited to participate in this live-broadcast meeting which will end with a Q&A session. Links to all streamable content can be found on both the festival and Arts Center’s websites.
There will be a special awards presentation at the end of the week by the festival judge, Lyn Boyer of Durango, Colo.
Boyer is a well-known plein air painter and has won awards at the Sedona Plein Air Festival as well as many others in recent years. Boyer will be announcing the award winners and will discuss her selections live with all the festival artists present.
Awards will be given for both the work done during the festival and for the work which the artists choose to represent themselves at the start of the festival. The exhibition will continue online through November.
Schedule of Virtual Events
- Meet the Artists Opening Event: Saturday, Oct. 24, Noon to 1 p.m. Explore the online gallery where each artist will have placed their first work. For this first painting we invited the artists to present a very recent plein air or studio work of their choosing.
- Artist Panel Discussion on The Process of Art: Live online Wednesday, Oct. 28, 5 p.m. In the midst of the festival week artist’s will each be discussing a work of their choosing from the paintings completed thus far.
- Virtual Awards Ceremony: Live online Saturday, Oct. 31, 5 p.m. Artists will have turned in final works for awards consideration by 5 p.m. on Friday. Lyn Boyer of Durango, Colo., will be the festival judge. She will announce the Award winners and discuss her selections.
Artist Awards:
Artists will receive awards based on their first painting selected for the Opening Event. Awards are: First place, $1,000; second place $600 and third place $400.
Artists will also receive awards for work done during the week of the festival. Awards are: First place, $1,500; second place, $850 and third place $650.
Visit SedonaPleinAirFestival.org for more information.
Sedona Arts Center is one of Northern Arizona’s most well-established cultural organizations and serves as the creative heart of Sedona. Founded in 1958, the nonprofit organization is based at the Art Barn in Uptown and offers year-round classes, exhibitions, festivals, and cultural events that enhance the creative life of the Verde Valley.
The Center’s Fine Art Gallery, now open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., promotes the original works of over 100 local artists and regularly offers special assistance for collectors and art buyers, offers private studio visits, and fosters hundreds of arts education opportunities each year.
Visit SedonaPleinAirFestival. org for more information.
