The deadline to enter the 8th Annual Plein Air–Easton! Competition is March 9, 2012 by 5:00 p.m. EST. Artists Prospectus and submission guidelines are available at www.pleinaireaston.com. Entries may be submitted by online upload or by CD mailed/delivered to the address shown below. Accepted artists and alternates will be announced March 30, 2012 via posting at www.pleinaireaston.com.
The entry jurist, who selects which artists will contend in the competition, is Donald Demers from Eliot, Maine. Mr. Demers is one of the finest marine and landscape painters in America. The exemplary level of his paintings has placed them in some of the most prestigious public and private collections in the country. Demers is a highly sought after instructor; his teaching has taken him around the United States and Europe. His work as an illustrator has been honored four times in the annual exhibition of the Society of Illustrators. Demers’ marine paintings have garnered him a record 21 awards at the Mystic International Marine Exhibition, including the prestigious Rudolph J. Schaefer Award. He has received awards for his landscape painting from the Joan Irving Museum in Irvine, California, the Laguna Plein Air Invitational, and the Guild of Boston Artists. Demers is a Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists, an elected member of the Guild of Boston Artists, a Signature Member of the Plein Air Painters of America, an elected member of the Salmagundi Club, and an elected member of the California Art Club.
Demers was born in 1956, in the small, rural community of Lunenburg, Massachusetts. His interest in painting maritime subjects began while spending his summers on the coast of Maine near Boothbay Harbor. After finishing an exemplary high school art program, he furthered his education at the School of the Worcester Art Museum and the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Demers’ maritime experience came about as a crewmember aboard many traditional sailing vessels including schooners and square-riggers. He continues to be an avid sailor.
Returning as awards judge in 2012, after serving as the entry jurist in 2011, is Tim Newton from New York. Mr. Newton is the founder and curator of “American Masters,” one of America’s foremost art exhibitions and sales, which is held every May at New York City’s Salmagundi Club. For more than 130 years, the Salmagundi Club has served as a renowned center for fine artists from around the country. Through the years, the club has been the singular gathering place for great creators of art, illustration, design, and architecture, such as Thomas Moran, Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Charles Dana Gibson, Carl Rungius, Ogden Pleissner, Frank Tenney Johnson, and many others—as well as for those who appreciate and collect fine art. Honorary members have included such luminaries as Sir Winston Churchill, Buckminster Fuller, Paul Cadmus, Al Hirschfeld, Thomas Hovin, and Schuyler Chapin. An art collector since the early 1990’s, Newton serves on the board of the Artists’ Fellowship as well as being vice president of the Salmagundi Club. He is also on the advisory board of The Stobart Foundation.
Plein Air–Easton! has quickly become American’s premier plein air festival, attracting artists of high caliber and creating a stir among art collectors. The national Plein Air–Easton! Competition will showcase 58 national artists vying for cash awards totaling more than $20,000.
The Plein Air–Easton! Competition & Arts Festival will be held July 14-22, 2012. Artists create multiple paintings during the week. Then each artist selects two paintings to enter in the competition. Artists may also sell other paintings they bring with them or have painted during the Plein Air–Easton! festival, making available hundreds of pieces of some of the best art in America today.
Paintings will be for sale during the entire festival weekend, including special events such as the Collectors’ Preview Party on Friday evening, the Quick Draw Exhibit & Sale on Saturday afternoon, and an ongoing exhibit throughout the weekend at the Academy Art Museum. As paintings sell, replacements created by the competition artists will take their places, so that the exhibit evolves throughout the weekend.
The national competition is complimented by a comprehensive arts festival that draws thousands of artists, collectors, art enthusiasts, and spectators from across the country. Attractions include gallery exhibits, Collectors’ Preview Party, world class speakers, art demonstrations, photography contest, live music, and theater. Paintings by artists from the Delmarva region will also be available at the “Local Color” plein air exhibit, a juried and judged show featuring artists from the Delmarva Peninsula, presented Friday through Sunday at the Tidewater Inn.
Plein Air–Easton! is a project of the Avalon Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide diversified arts and educational programs that improve the quality of life in the Mid-Shore region. The Academy Art Museum is the accredited venue for the competition exhibit.
Again, the deadline for entries in the national competition is March 9, 2012. Competition artists will be announced March 30, 2012. The Plein Air–Easton! Competition & Arts Festival will be held July 14-22, 2012.
Information, Artists Prospectus, judges’ bios, and digital uploading of juried submissions are available at www.pleinaireaston.com. Submissions will also be accepted on CD sent by postal mail or delivered to: Plein Air–Easton!, c/o The Avalon Foundation, 40 East Dover Street, Easton MD 21601. For more information, email info@pleinaireaston.com or phone 410.822.7297.
In photo: Ellen General (far left) and Al Bond award the 2011 Plein Air–Easton! Grand Prize to Camille Przewodek (center) from Petaluma, California, at last year’s Collectors’ Preview Party. Photograph courtesy of Star Democrat.
In photo: The 2012 Plein Air–Easton! entry jurist is Donald Demers from Eliot, Maine. Mr. Demers is one of the finest marine and landscape painters in America. Photograph courtesy of Donald Demers
In photo below: The awards judge for the 2012 Plein Air–Easton! National Competition is Tim Newton, the founder and curator of “American Masters,” one of America’s foremost art exhibitions and sales, which is held every May at New York City’s Salmagundi Club. Portrait by Richard Schmid