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. Relying on a single and unique juror ensures a clear and new curatorial perspective from year to year and has led to the discovery of fresh talent not just for Easton but the larger plein air movement. While this approach has been central to the Plein Air Easton’s vibrancy, it also means that the person selected as juror must have exceptional credentials and an interesting perspective. 

PAE is pleased to announce that this year’s juror is Julia Marciari-Alexander, Executive Director & CEO of the Walters Art Museum. Each year, PAE carefully considers each juror and the PAE team is particularly inspired when a juror such as Marciari-Alexander brings a fresh bi-coastal perspective and a background rich in representational art to the PAE jurying process. Julia Marciari-Alexander has served as Executive Director & CEO of the Walters Art Museum since 2013. The fifth director of the Walters, she is the first woman to hold the post. During her tenure she has overseen the completion of a $30 million endowment campaign and a major restructuring of the organization. She is inspired by the collaborative work that she and the team at the museum do to create exhibitions and public and educational programs that connect the wide-ranging and diverse communities the Walters serves.

Marciari-Alexander came to the Walters from the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) where she served from 2008 to 2013 as the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs as well as periods in which she held the positions of Interim Co-Director (2009–2010) and Interim Deputy Director for Education (2010–2011). Prior to her work with SDMA, she spent more than ten years at the Yale Center for British Art, first as a curator and then as an Associate Director.

She earned her MA and PhD in History of Art at Yale University. She also received an MA in French Literature from New York University and a BA in Art History and French at Wellesley College. Marciari-Alexander is married to John Marciari, the Charles W. Engelhard Curator and Head of the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. They and their teenage twins, Beatrice and Jack, reside in Baltimore City.