Plein Air season is here. While Art in the Pines: Prescott Plein Air Festival waits until October, September offers an engaging fundraiser featuring the talented artists who will judge the main event. Grand Canyon Visions: The 5th Annual Prescott Plein Air Festival Judges Exhibition & Charity Auction, runs Tuesday, Sept. 17 through Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Yavapai College’s Prescott Campus Art Gallery.
“When I began my career, I quickly realized that painting on site – en plein air – was the best way to learn how to paint landscapes.” Artist Bill Cramer, one of 2024’s two Art in the Pines judges, explained. “It also seemed like a natural extension of my lifelong enjoyment of outdoor sports.”
A precursor to Prescott’s extremely popular Art in the Pines: Prescott Plein Air Festival in October, Grand Canyon Visions: The 5th Annual Prescott Plein Air Festival Judges Exhibition & Charity Auction features more than 50 paintings from the festival’s two prestigious judges – as well as 19 works from this year’s Plein Air participants that will be up for silent auction during the event.
“I came to love the experience of painting outdoors.” Festival Judge Dawn Sutherland said. “I often say the calls of birds, hum of insects, the warm sunlight and sometimes a little dust and dirt are painted right into the canvas. It is the immediacy, freshness and truth about the landscape that is my motivation.” Both festival judges are revered artists within Northern Arizona and the Plein Air community.
Cramer, a Prescott resident, received his fine arts degree from California State University Long Beach. He won Best of Show at the 2020 Prescott Plein Air Festival – one of many awards including the 2020 Oil Painters of America Virtual Salon Show; the Landscape Award of Excellence; the 2020 Grand Canyon Plein Air Artists Choice Award, and Best in Show and Artist’s Choice awards at the 2019 Sedona Plein Air Festival.
Dawn Sutherland began painting in 2001 and moved to Arizona from Wisconsin in 2004. A founding member of Arizona Plein Air Painters, she teaches landscape painting at NAU’s Honors College and has won multiple honors, including Best in Show at the 2023 Grand Canyon Celebration of Art; and the 2023 Mountain Oyster Annual Contemporary Western Art Show. Her work can be seen at the Arizona Handmade Gallery in Flagstaff, and the El Portal Hacienda in Sedona.
All the featured paintings at Grand Canyon Visions: The 5th Annual Prescott Plein Air Festival Judges Exhibition & Charity Auction will be landscapes, primarily depicting Northern Arizona and the Grand Canyon. All will be available for sale. The event also includes 19 paintings by the participating artists in this year’s Plein Air Festival, which will hang in the gallery alongside the Cramer and Sutherland paintings and be up for bid via silent auction throughout the month-long event. Proceeds from the auction will go to the Yavapai College Foundation to benefit YC student exhibitions.
Grand Canyon Visions: The 5th Annual Prescott Plein Air Festival Judges Exhibition & Charity Auction opens Tuesday, September 17, and runs through Tuesday, October 8. An Opening Reception will be held Friday, September 27, from 5 to 7 p.m. – to coincide with Prescott’s 4th Friday Art Walk – with snacks and a cash bar. The exhibition runs through Tuesday, October 8.
The Yavapai College Prescott Art Gallery is located within the Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center at 1100 E. Sheldon Street, on the Yavapai College Prescott Campus. The Gallery is open 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Admission is free. For exhibit schedules or more information, please call: (928) 776.2031 or visit: www.yc.visualarts.com.
***
Yavapai College operates six campuses and centers throughout Yavapai County and offers over 100 degrees and certificates, two baccalaureate degrees, student and community services, and cultural events and activities.
To learn more about YC, visit www.yc.edu.
