Pictured: Artists Choice winner, "Bound" by Daniel Robbins
Plein Air Easton, the largest and most prestigious plein air festival in the nation, broke every record with this year’s event. In no small part that success is due to the overwhelming community support, the generosity of the Friends of Plein Air, the Plein Air Easton Steering Committee, community partnerships, a plethora of volunteers, and the dedication of the Avalon Foundation’s staff.
Since its inception 16 years ago Plein Air Easton (arguably the largest & most prestigious outdoor painting competition in the United States) has been defying odds, challenging norms and defining the modern Plein Air painting movement. Building an international, juried, painting competition that is held in the intense heat of the summer in rural America; Plein Air Easton organizers are no strangers to challenges. However, the safety issues and uncertainty that came with trying to plan an art festival during an international pandemic were nearly enough to cancel this year’s highly anti
As it has to nearly everything, the COVID 19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench into customary plans for Plein Air Easton. Each year hundreds of accomplished artists apply for acceptance into the nation’s largest outdoor painting event, with the knowledge that only 58 positions are available. Plein Air Easton is known for its enthusiastic crowds, lively local interactions, lavish parties, brisk art sales, and a multitude of generous cash prizes. Clearly, to occur in any form, big changes became mandatory.
Plein Air Easton, the largest and most prestigious outdoor painting competition in the United States, is preparing for its 16th year this July. Each year, PAE chooses a single person to evaluate nearly 1,000 images submitted for consideration from plein air painters around the world and then, from those images, select the 58 artists who will compete in Easton in July. This person becomes the single judge for the event in the following year.
The Avalon Foundation is pleased to announce David C. Levy as the Jjudge for the Plein Air Easton 2019 competition. Plein Air Easton is the largest and most prestigious outdoor painting competition in the United States. Each year Plein Air Easton chooses a single person to evaluate hundreds of slides from plein air painters around the world and select the 58 artists who compete in Easton in July. This person becomes the single judge for the event in the following year.
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The competition artists for the 15TH Annual Plein Air Easton Competition & Arts Festival have been announced. During this weeklong outdoor art festival, scores of painters, collectors, and art enthusiasts descend on Easton and Talbot County, bringing their own flavor of excitement and spontaneity that surrounds art created en plein air (French for “in the open air”). The event has become recognized as one of the largest and most prestigious Plein Air events in the world.
Media Contact: Marie Pierre Nuthall, Plein Air Easton Event Coordinator, email
EASTON (July 26, 2018)
Plein Air Easton, the largest and most prestigious plein air festival in the nation, just completed its most successful year since its inception 14 years ago. It is widely recognized that a huge part of that success is a result of strong community support for the event and remarkably diverse partnerships among the event’s producer, the Avalon Foundation, Friends of Plein Air and a myriad of local organizations. This support, rooted in a deep sense of place, has enabled the event to continue to grow and expand year after year.
