Escalante Canyons Art Festival
Escalante Community Center, September 20-28
Lyn Boyer, For Sale by Owner, oil, 20 x 16.
This story was featured in the September 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art September 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
NESTLED IN southern Utah’s rugged canyon country, the picturesque town of Escalante is the hub for the Escalante Canyons Art Festival, an annual plein-air painting competition that culminates in an expansive art show and sale. This year’s festival kicks off on Friday, September 20, when more than 100 artists from around the country set up their easels around Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument and across a three-county region that spans a variety of scenery, from red-rock wilderness to rolling farmland to mountain views.
A working-artist festival at heart, the event is designed to bring visibility to what artists do, says plein-air coordinator Ruthanne Oliver, herself a fiber artist and watercolorist. She recalls being asked to bring her sewing machine to the very first festival 16 years ago so that she could demonstrate her process during the event. “That’s how it started, with everybody showing how they do what they do, and I’ve always hoped the festival would keep that flavor,” says Oliver. “That’s why we have so many artists’ demonstrations and hands-on workshops.”
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- Natalie Shupe, Morning Shadow, oil, 16 x 20.
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- Linda Dellandre, Many Paths, pastel, 12 x 12.
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- Sandi Snead, Morning Shadow Dance, pastel, 20 x 16.
This year is no exception, with several immersive workshop offerings that engage participants in everything from creating woodcut prints to making pigmented watercolors, and all skill levels are welcome. Festivalgoers can also observe a variety of creative processes from the sidelines as artists like Linda Dellandre, Günther Haidenthaller, Rae Ellen Lee, and Lewis Williams present demonstrations in painting, printmaking, and more. On Tuesday, September 24, artists paint in and around Escalante in a daylong Paint-the-Town competition, and yet another lively paint-out happens on Friday, September 27, at Kiva Koffeehouse on Highway 12, where 16 artists divide up into four teams and create collaborative paintings in acrylic, oil, pastel, and watercolor.
It all adds up to more than 200 plein-air creations, including competition pieces, that are for sale at the Escalante Community Center from 10 a.m. on Friday, September 27, until 6 p.m. on Saturday. (Artworks shown here were created at last year’s festival.) Also on view are works by this year’s featured artists—oil painter Bradley Spencer and Oliver herself—and by Artist in Residence Carol Johansen, who showcases oil paintings inspired by her monthlong sojourn and plein-air excursions in the Escalante area. —Kim Agricola
contact information
www.escalantecanyonsartfestival.org
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- Stephen Stauffer, Afternoon Hay Bales, oil, 12 x 24.
This story was featured in the September 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art September 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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