News Archive 2006
The 3rd Annual Everett Ruess Days & Escalante Canyons Working Arts Festival
The Third Annual Escalante Canyons Everett Ruess Days Working Arts Festival held October 2 – 8, 2006 in Escalante and Boulder was a great success in spite of some of the worst weather to hit Southern Utah in 100 years. The artists competing in this year’s event painted from the inside of their cars or on someone’s porch huddled bravely against the elements in the true “Plein Air” spirit in order to complete their entries for the competition. There were 64 Plein Air artists with a total of 72 entries.
View list of 2006 participating artists (.pdf)
| Cash prizes totaling $9,500 were awarded to these artists: Best of Show, $2000 prize Awards of Merit, $500 prize Honorable Mention, $100 prize People's Choice Award, $250: Garth Harrison, Vernal, UT Artists' Choice Award, $250: Robert Perez Jr., Pahrump, NV |
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There were 60 vendors of fine arts, crafts, and food, and considering the bad weather, the booths were well attended by town locals, Utahns, and visitors from across the nation. Our artists represented 10 states including Hawaii, Florida, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Colorado and California, as well as Utah and area residents.
Lynn Griffin’s original acrylic painting of “Dance Hall Rock”, donated by the Desert Wolf Gallery, was raffled off and the proceeds totalling $2,400 went to benefit the festival. Brenda Catmull, businesswoman and owner of the Boulder Mesa Restaurant, won the painting.
Other featured events at this year’s festival included an artists’ reception held Wednesday night at the Grand Staircase-Escalante Visitors Center, and speaking and musical events for everyone. Kicking off the festivities in Boulder was Cindy Michelli speaking on “Another Day in Paradise”; Bart Anderson delighted the audience with “Folklore of the Southwest”; and Stuart Steinhardt spoke on “Everett Ruess Block Prints”. Because of excessive rains, a tour bus was stranded in Boulder. The folks on the bus were treated to some great entertainment including Stuart Steinhardt on his banjo, Dave McGraw playing guitar, and The Desert Rattle Shakers delighting the crowds with their percussion numbers.
On Friday it was still pouring down rain. The school bus stopped and let the children see the myriads of waterfalls along the canyon walls. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle. This fantastic day reminded us of Thomas Moran’s epic painting of the Rio Virgin. On Saturday the sun came out, there was blue sky and the fantastic scenes just the day before had turned to tranquility. Record rainfall, hundred-year flooding and drenched artists didn’t dampen the spirit of the Festival or its participants. At one o’clock, the artists started arriving with their competition entries at the exhibit hall, with their precious paintings secured under their arms and covered with tarps. We started hearing tales of heroic artists fighting the elements to paint in the true spirit of “Plein Air” – outdoor location painting no matter what the weather challenges. Many local residents generously provided strangers the chance to paint a painting under the shelter of a dry porch. The usual weather in Southern Utah in September and October is amazing. Most years it is the most predictably greatest weather all year. We normally have warm days, long low fall light and brilliant fall colors. That is why we decided to have our festival in October. This year we had spectacular rainfall.
The exhibit hall was filled with vendors and artists. The scheduled musicians for Friday were moved into the exhibit hall instead of on the outdoor stage. Dave McGraw played his guitar along with Smokin’ ID, Stephanie Corby, and The Band of Friends. This year the speaker’s venue was at the new Grand Staircase-Escalante Visitors Center. The facility provided a formal gathering place along with a great audio/video system.
Speakers
One of the most exciting aspects of the Escalante Canyon Art Festival is the content, variety, and quality of speakers who are invited to attend the festival.
Festival speakers are funded by the Utah Humanities Council and sponsored by the Escalante Canyons Group for Arts and Humanities.
Our speakers for Friday October 6th were: Larry Cesspooch who spoke on "A First Nations’ History of the Great Basin". Local Characters Arnold Alvey and Art Snyder talked about the "Barns of Escalante". On Friday night our keynote speaker was author Polly Schaafsma who spoke at the Escalante High School on "Shamans and Other Canyon Explorers" and attracted a huge crowd of Rock Art enthusiasts. Cody Michaels gave a piano prelude prior to Schaafsma and gave a beautiful concert after the speech, which included Cody’s original compositions and a sensitive musical tribute to Everett Ruess.
The speakers for Saturday October 7th were: Alan Petersen who presented a stunning visual and intellectual treatise on one of Utah’s greatest artists, "Maynard Dixon’s West" Paula McNeill spoke on the two-featured artists of the 2006 Escalante Canyons Art Festival: "Kindred Spirits: the Art of Lynn Griffin and Wallace Lee". Craig Miller gave us a lively demonstration of "Old Time Dance in Utah".
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Saturday’s music included Kenny Hall’s Cowboy music and poetry, and Brad Exton, the newly appointed Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument supervisor, entertained with his guitar. Local talent Brent Griffin, Ted Engberg, and Kenny Hall interpreted western folk music and cowboy poetry. On a beautiful sunny fall day in Southern Utah, the crowds enjoyed a lively performance by the Narodna Dancers. A Utah based troupe of Traditional Folk Dancers.
Fifty plus vendors set-up in Escalante for Friday and Saturday and in spite of the rain, they seemed pleased with their sales. Visitors also praised the artists and events, and many won door prizes and silent auction items donated by vendors and local residents and businesses.
Saturday evening’s Gala concluded the festival with the awards ceremony and the auction of entries in the Plein Air competition.
Economically speaking, the Escalante Canyons Art Festival not only profited and added greatly to the festival coffers, but also added much to the local communities. Many participants patronized area motels, restaurants, gas stations and stores for up to a week or more. Also, those attendees of the festival supported not only the local businesses and festival, but also the organizations that prepared special food events: the Boy Scout Breakfast and the Potato Valley Lion’s Club dinner. Thus, the festival benefits our entire economy, and the artists, who so greatly appreciate where we live, enjoy and portray our environment without impacting it.
All members of the organizational committee for the Escalante Canyons Art Festival deserve much gratitude for their efforts and the success of the festival. Also, all donors, private and institutional, are immensely appreciated for the funds provided to insure the quality of this event. Major acknowledgement is extended to the Utah Travel Council, the Garfield County Travel Board, the Utah Arts Council and the Utah Humanities Council for their funding. We really want to thank all the volunteers and committee members for a fine festival this year.
Preparations will be continuing through the next several months in anticipation of The Fourth Annual Escalante Canyons Art Festival to be held beginning on September 30 and culminating on October 6, 2007.