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Carmel is, once again, becoming a plein-air art studio. After a two-year, COVID-induced hiatus, the legendary Carmel Art Festival will paint the town Friday through Sunday. At a time when plenty of people still feel reluctant to gather indoors, how appropriate to host a festival outside, during which 60 juried artists from across the country will paint throughout the Peninsula, while passersby witness landscapes and seascapes unfolding across the canvas.

The term, “en plein air,” is a French expression meaning “in the open air,” which refers to the practice of painting outdoors with the artist’s subject in view. Working with natural light, saturated color and, sometimes, shifting scenery as they paint, plein air artists must cope with changing conditions of light, temperature, weather, and subject. Thus, the piece typically is completed in one session.

Sponsored by the Carmel Gallery Alliance, the 27th Carmel Art Festival invites plein-air artists to paint through Friday, ultimately submitting two finished paintings by 3 p.m. Friday, in competition for first, second, and third-place awards. Those winners will go on to compete in a “quick-draw” prize-winning competition on Sunday, during which they will have two hours to complete a painting, plein air. These paintings will be sold via silent auction.

“It is a great honor to be asked to participate with all these fellow plein-air artists, both local and out of town,” said local artist Delia Bradford, of the legendary Bradford family of artists, who has competed in the festival several times. “It’s so fun to see everyone’s interpretation of a landscape I paint all the time. There can be pressure to produce two plein-air paintings in a set time frame, but I just put all the energy and excitement of the festival into my paintings.”

Bradford, who owns Delia art gallery in Carmel, already has a few favorite places in mind, where the setting inspires her work, and conditions tend to be forgiving during plein-air painting.

“It’s a roll of the dice to see what the weather will be when we go out to paint,” she said. “It could be sunny or foggy or windy or mild. This is a good way to ensure that we’re really painting plein air. If an artist submits a sunny painting, and it’s been foggy for two days, that’s suspect.”

Sometimes, rather than battling breezes along the coastline, Bradford sets up her easel inland, where she typically finds sunlight and still air. While she plans to paint with acrylics, other artists may choose pastels, oils, watercolors; whatever suits their skills, subject, and aesthetics.

The hub of the Carmel Art Festival is Devendorf Park, located on Ocean Avenue, between Junipero and Mission streets. All paintings completed during the festival will be exhibited in an open-air gallery, adjacent to the Sculpture Garden in the Park, which will feature ongoing sculpture demonstrations and complete works from Carmel galleries, among them Stephen Whyte Sculpture Studio and Gallery, Dawson Cole Fine Art, Bennett Sculpture Carmel, Classic Art Gallery, Gallery Sur, and New Master’s Gallery.

Established in 1974 by Bill and the late Jennifer Hill, New Master’s Gallery represents both established and new artists destined to become masters. It was Jennifer Hill who came up with the idea for a plein-air art festival, which she launched in 1993. Hill, who also served as president of the Carmel Business Association, which later became the Carmel Chamber of Commerce, believed an art festival would be good for artists, art galleries, and the wider art community, by marrying competition with collaboration.

Following Hill’s passing in 2006, festival president the late Tammi Tharp, who lost her battle with cancer in December, established the Jennifer Hill Award. In conferring the award, Tharp typically would select a quiet painting, whose imagery depicted something calming, serene, perhaps a pathway toward the sea, whose energy was a hallmark of Hill. In Tharp’s absence, this year’s Jennifer Hill Award will be presented by one of this year’s judges, Bill Hill.

At the helm of the Art Festival is President Hella Rothwell, a local real estate broker, who actually has been involved in its administration since 2000. This year, she has partnered with Vice President Ellen Wilson-Whyte, senior program coordinator for the Panetta Institute, whose husband is renowned local sculptor Stephen Whyte.

“I began my relationship with local art by creating websites for many Carmel art galleries,” Rothwell said. “The more I worked with them, the more I was exposed to and really looked at art, developing a deep appreciation for the work. Once the Carmel Art Festival wanted a website, I became even more involved in this volunteer effort, which has been so rewarding.”

In addition to Hill, judges include Patricia Terwilliger of Jones & Terwilliger, Sanya Micovic of Classic Art Gallery, and Tony Vanderploeg of Gallerie Amsterdam.

“This is my first time as a judge,” said Vanderploeg, 92, who has owned Gallerie Amsterdam for 26 years. “This will not be difficult because I will judge based on how I respond to the painting when I see it. I have learned that what most people like and don’t like is based on their initial response. The festival is something Carmel really needs because we have very talented artists who paint beautiful work that should be showcased.”

Each juried artist competing in the festival will submit two exhibition paintings for judging at Devendorf Park, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Friday, when the judges will have just two hours, from 3-5 p.m., to complete their challenging task of determining, among a diversity of mediums, subjects, perspectives and techniques, the first-, second-, and third-place winners, who will be awarded $2,000, $1,500, and $1,000, respectively. In addition, the judges will select three “honorable mentions,” painters whose work bears recognition, to whom they will award $500, each.

“I am so excited to be asked to participate in the Carmel Art Festival this year as a judge for the plein-air competition,” said Patricia Terwilliger. “After the last two years of living in a more isolated world, there seems to be a renaissance of appreciation for art and how it speaks to us on so many levels. It’s always so exciting to see the treasures that are created as the juried artists seek out those special areas to capture the magic of this magnificent coastal area.”

This year, participating artists have been invited to create a third painting of the commercial district of Carmel, on a 6-by-6-inch canvas provided by framer Randy Higbee, of his eponymous Costa Mesa art and frame company, along with a frame for each. Higbee will be present at Devendorf Park to judge the miniature submissions and award $100 each to his top three favorites.

Also strolling the plein-air painting exhibition during judging will be Carmel Mayor Dave Potter, who will confer a $500 Mayor’s Choice award upon the painting that speaks to him of Carmel.

“It is incredibly exciting to have the Carmel Art Festival back after its hiatus,” said Potter, whose mother was an established multi-media artist. “We are a community of artists; we are known for our art, so an event like this that celebrates the nature and diversity of art is wonderful and most appropriate. This means a lot to me because it represents both my heritage and my home.”

Participating artists will vote among submissions to present a $500 Artist’s Choice Award. And thePeople’s Choice Award will confer not only a $1,000 award but also the respect and approbation of the viewing public.

Once the judging is finished Friday, the festival will officially open at 5:30 p.m., beginning with the awards ceremony and the first opportunity for the community to purchase paintings, as well as the 2022 event poster, depicting “Twilight Showers,” by artist Sally Jordan, the 2019 People’s Choice Award, whose work is represented by Classic Art Gallery. Each time artists sell a painting, they are at liberty to replace it with another painting, which must have been completed during the festival weekend, which will continue, with live music, through Sunday afternoon. Sunday from 9 a.m.-noon is the “Quick Draw” competition, where festival competition winners will have three hours to complete one more painting. The winner will receive a $500 prize.

As in year’s past, the Carmel Art Festival will donate funds to the Youth Arts Collective which, for more than 20 years, has provided studio space and instruction, exhibition opportunities, and scholarships to more than 800 young artists on the Peninsula.

“A nonprofit public event,” said Rothwell, “the Carmel Art Festival was established to educate, inspire, and immerse people of all ages in the experience of visual arts. We’re thrilled to be able to continue to present this wonderful weekend of plein-air art.”

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