The 13th annual Escalante Canyons Art Festival-Everett Ruess Days runs from Sept. 16 when the artists arrive to begin painting to Sept. 25 with the final art sale and brunch. This art, literary, and musical gathering is one of the premier events in Southern Utah and has plein air artists painting throughout three counties — Wayne, Garfield, and Kane. The program this year is full of creative activities, educational programs, food, craftsman selling their wares, and entertainment.
Vast public lands such as Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Dixie National Forest, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and several Utah State Parks surround the town of Escalante on Utah State Route 12 between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks. Attendees traveling throughout the area are likely to see artists painting en plein air (a French phrase meaning “in full air”), inspired by these world-renowned landscapes.
Plein air competition
Plein air painters creating works in oil, pastel, watercolor, or mixed media work across the three-county region to compete for prizes valued at more than $10,000. Artists of all abilities, experience levels, and ages are encouraged to join the competition. A special category with cash awards provides incentive for young artists to participate. Besides the week-long painting competition, two paint-outs where artists have a limited amount of time to produce a work are scheduled. One is the Celebrate Public Lands Paint-Out in honor of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and the 20th anniversary of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, where artists will venture onto surrounding public lands and complete a painting in less than eight hours. The other is a new opportunity for the festival: the Nocturne Paint-Out where artists will have an evening to paint under the full moon.
Workshops
Several talented artists are slated to teach workshops throughout the festival week. Scotty Mitchell of Boulder, Utah, will conduct two pastel workshops. Kellie Day from western Colorado will instruct a day-long workshop on creative collage making. Lisa Takata from Phoenix, Arizona, will lead students in a mind-mapping and journaling workshop.
Demonstrations
Demonstrations include the basics of oil painting, getting comfortable with watercolors, and how to paint at night in either developed or natural settings. All demonstrations are free and open to the public, painters and non-painters alike.
Hands-on art
New for 2016 at the festival on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23 and 24, is the Hands-On Art Tent in mid-festival plaza where festival-goers of all ages can get their hands on paint, pastels, brushes, paper, scissors, and other art supplies to help create art themselves. Activities include such fun as making a collaborative mural, crafting star books, and creating a guided pastel painting.
Artist in residence
This year’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Plein Air Artist-in-Residence is Loretta Domaszewski from Montana. She works full time creating and teaching art. Bonnie will set up her easel and paint for a month in and around the area, conducting a public program and having her work exhibited and sold during the festival.
Speaker series
The keynote program features renowned dark skies author Paul Bogard. Bogard’s thought-provoking and inspiring, nonfiction book, “The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light,” was published in 2013 and explores the gradual disappearance due to light pollution of true darkness from the night skies for most people on the planet. On Sept. 24, his program at the Escalante High School Auditorium will be followed by a book signing and star viewing with high-power telescopes.
The speaker series is scheduled throughout the week beginning on Sept. 21. Speakers include the following:
—Ace Kvale, a National Geographic photographer.
—Lisa Takate, journal-making and mind-mapping artist.
—Christa Sadler, author of soon to be published “Deep Time on the Grand Staircase: 25 Million Years in the Life of Southern Utah During the Late Cretaceous.”
—Lisbeth Louderback and Bruce Pavlik, researchers studying the native Escalante potato.
—Scott Thybony, author of “The Disappearances : A Story of Exploration, Murder, and Mystery in the American West.”
—Dr. Paula McNeill, art educator from Valdosta, Georgia.
More information about times, dates, venues, and more is available at escalantecanyonsartfestival.org.
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