Escalante Canyons Art Festival

Shedule Of Events

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM - Helga Watkins: Design for Landscape Painting

Cost: $180 /  Maximum of 8; Minimum of 4 / All ability levels

Escalante Innovation Center 100 West 100 North, Escalante, UT, United States

It is convenient at times to think of composition as equivalent to design in representative painting.

While composition is a critical factor, there is also a range of other substantial design factors that determine a painting’s final impact. In this workshop, we will examine the elements of design (of which composition is one) and how to apply these effectively in landscape subjects.

Plein Air painting, as anyone who’s ever tried it knows, is an especially challenging form of artmaking. It requires the artist to improvise upon and organize the chaos of the natural world, while painting confidently and efficiently within tight time constraints and subject to the vagaries of the outdoors.

To produce effective work under these circumstances, you need really a solid framework and strategy.

During the first morning, we will formally examine the elements of design as they relate to landscape painting. We will paint outdoors in the afternoon, and then continue through the second day.  Participants will remain in general proximity, to make sure there is time for plenty of individual feedback from Helga and to provide opportunity to learn from one another. To conclude we will reconvene with our work indoors to enjoy and discuss our work.

2:00 pm - 3:30 pm - Kevin Berend and Grace Welker: "Where I’m From"Poetry Session

Cost: Free /  Minimum 2, Maximum of 20 / All ability levels

Escalante Town Park Pavilion

Like visual art, writing offers a window into our relationship with the land. Poetry provides a unique perspective to reflect on those relationships. In this session, we’ll read and analyze George Ella Lyon’s famous poem "Where I’m From", then use it as a template to create our own versions from our own life experiences. Participants will be invited to share their work and engage in discussion about process, style, and technique.

7:30 am - Deb Harwick: Group Painting Excursions
Meet at Escalante Town Park Pavilion

If you are new to the festival and looking to meet up with fellow artists, or you just enjoy painting with others, then please join Deb Harwick on her daily excursions. You will be traveling together as a group to each destination in your own, capable vehicles (although car-pooling is encouraged where possible). Location of set up at each destination and length and of stay will be decided by each individual artist.

Excursion sign-up sheets will be available at Sign-in/Stamp-in.

Devil’s Garden – so worth it!

Drive time: 30-40 minutes on a washboard road

Subject: Hoodoos and Vistas

Shade: Hard to come by

Amenities: Bathrooms and Picnic Tables

Deb has been flying out from Philadelphia and participating in the festival since the second year of commencement. In the past 2 decades she has painted and hiked from Capital Reef to Zion. She has won multiple awards at the Festival and has also sold much of her artwork at the festival.

Deb has fallen in love with Escalante and considers it a family reunion each year. She looks forward to meeting with artists each year who want to join the Festival Family.