It is with great pleasure that Plein Air Easton announces Elaine Adams as its 2015 competition jurist.  Mrs. Adams will be responsible for choosing from the 100's of entries which artists get to participate in this year's Festival and Arts Competition.

Mrs. Adams combines her extensive background in art history, executive administration and finance to provide a unique and personal approach to serving artists and gallery clients. As the wife of artist Peter Adams, she has been actively involved in various capacities in the art industry. For more than fifteen years she has been immersed in the contemporary-traditional fine art scene, and is recognized as one of the country’s most dynamic and influential forces in the growing shift away from conceptual art and back to representational, figurative formats.

Mrs. Adams has served on several art committees and cultural boards, including Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s American Art Council, Pacific Asia Museum, Art Center College of Design, the Pasadena Symphony, Rymann-Carroll Foundation, and the American Society of Portrait Artists. Since 1993, as a non-paid administrator, she has held the positions of Executive Director of the historic California Art Club (established 1909), as well as Editor-in-Chief of the California Art Club Newsletter. She is a published author and lecturer on topics relating to traditional fine arts, classical art training, and California’s artistic heritage. In 1997 Mrs. Adams developed the California Art Club Gallery at The Old Mill (El Molino Viejo) in San Marino, an 1816 grist mill built by the Gabrielenos and Franciscans of Mission San Gabriel. In November of that year, Southwest Art Magazine named Elaine Adams one of the country’s “Five Most Notable Women.” Other honors include recipient of the Pasadena Arts Council’s Gold Crown Special Award in 2000 for her contributions in advancing contemporary-traditional art. In 2007, the Autry National Center awarded Mrs. Adams the John J. Geraghty Award for the advancement of traditional fine art in the American West, and in 2014 she and Peter Adams were both granted the Lifetime Achievement award from PleinAir Magazine.

Prior to her work in the art world, Elaine Adams studied at the University of Southern California where she received dual bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and economics. After graduation, she worked as an accounts executive for Crowell, Weedon & Co., the largest independent investment firm in the Western United States. Because of her financial background, many collectors seek her advice and counsel before acquiring contemporary-traditional fine art, as she believes collectors should view their art collections as they would any important asset.

Christopher "Kip" Forbes will serve as the Festival's competition judge after serving as the 2014 competition jurist.  Mr. Forbes is the Vice Chairman of Forbes Inc., the media company founded by his grandfather in 1917. He has cultivated a well-deserved reputation for a life dedicated to supporting the arts. With an Art History degree from Princeton University, Mr. Forbes is currently the Chairman of the American Friends of the Louvre and serves on the Advisory Board of the Princeton University Art Museum, and the Board of Directors of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation, among other museums in the U.S. and abroad. In November 2011 Mr. Forbes was promoted to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor by the French Government, having been named a Chevalier in December 2003.   He is also a Knight of The Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem.  With extensive experience in cultivating the mutually beneficial relationship between the business and art worlds, Mr. Forbes has also organized many exhibitions and has written several books, articles, and catalogues devoted to Victorian art and Faberge.

The deadline to apply to to participate in Plein Air Easton is Friday, March 13, 5:00pm EST