Students at Escalante Canyons Art Festival

Each year, Escalante Canyons Art Festival grants the art department at Southern Utah University in Cedar City $500.00. These funds are provided to assist with lodging, transportation, or entry fees for students who want to participate in the plein air competition and attend the festival. In the past several of these students have won awards at the festival.

Registration fee for any student with a valid student ID card is $20.00.

Each year we are offering a special student award with the assistance of Dixie National Forest Visitors Center at Red Canyon.

Rob Wilson (left), the 2010 Student Artist Award winner, has his show in the Dixie National Forest - Red Canyon Visitor Center, located west of Bryce Canyon along Scenic Byway 12. Congratulations Rob! He painted all winter in frigid and snowy Red Canyon to finish his show, in the true spirit of plein air! In conjunction with the Dixie Nation Forest, we plan to award this prize to another promising student in 2011.

The Festival has been given an 8' and a 12 ' Gallery area with excellent gallery lights and security at the Red Canyon Visitors Center for TWO MONTHS to be awarded as a prize for the best student entry. This is in addition to the prizes Escalante canyons Art Festival already offers. The display gallery is a well-lit and beautiful space right in the main room of the visitors center. Thousands of tourists stop at the visitors center each month, making this an excellent opportunity for a young artist. The space is large enough for between 10 and 20 small paintings. The award will be made by Escalante Canyons Art Festival, and will be judged along with the other works. Richard Costigan, USFS Red Canyon Visitors Center, will make the presentation at the Saturday evening gala.

The criteria is that the works be plein air and approximately 1/3 of the paintings must depict Red Canyon area and the other 2/3 can depict scenes along highway 12 from Bryce canyon through Escalante and Boulder all the way to Torrey and Capitol Reef. The chosen artist will have 6 months to complete the paintings for the exhibit, which will take place when the visitor’s center re-opens in the spring. The exhibit will be installed on April 20, 2011 and will run from April 22 to June 17, 2011 (57 days)

The size of the paintings need to be small, from approximately 8" by 10" to 12" by 12", and then must be nicely and consistently framed.

After the show opens in April, the artist is welcome to do "artist in resident" work around the Red canyon area. Red canyon Visitors center will not provide printed promo or a reception. The artist can sell works through the "Bryce canyon Natural History Association" who will take 30% commission of sales. The artist must complete and frame entries and make some extra artwork if and when sales occur. Forest Service cannot do the money transactions.