Plein Air Abingdon 2020
October 8, 2020 @ 9:00AM — October 10, 2020 @ 8:00PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
3-day Festival of Plein Air Artistry
Welcome to the 5th annual Plein Air Abingdon - COVID-19 edition! We are moving forward holding this event with new precautions in place for everyone's safe enjoyment.
Quick manifesto moment: "Survival is insufficient." We need creativity, art, and artists. We need you.
"Plein Air Abingdon" is a plein air paint-out and pop-up gallery that provides a place to:
- Create new work
- Sell your work
- Network with fellow artists and collectors
Event Dates: October 8-10, 2020 - MASKS REQUIRED AT ALL INDOOR LOCATIONS
For the Juried Competition, we are working on securing beautiful and interesting locations to host artists on Thursday, October 8 and Friday, October 9. These days will also include special networking events for artists and collectors in the evenings. On Saturday, October 10, artists registered for the Juried Competition may choose to finish any works in progress or create something new in downtown Abingdon to submit Saturday.
Note: By "Juried Competition" we mean that any artist can register for the three-day event, come and paint. On Saturday, October 8th all of these registered artists will chose their top 3 (or so, depending on space availability) pieces to submit to the gallery. Those pieces will by judged for our cash prizes.
Thursday, October 8 - suggested location Abingdon Vineyards. After painting at the vineyards all day, we will hold a pre-sale event and dinner at the winery. Pre-sale will be indoors in the event room and the number of people indoors will be restricted for safety. Dinner will follow the winery's format for their wine club events and include four stations of heavy hors d'oeurves with tastings of four wines. Additional food and wine will be available for purchase separately.
Friday, October 9 - suggested location Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards/Taste. Artists can check in at Taste beginning at 9am. Unfortunately due to COVID restrictions they will not be able to host a pop-up gallery/dinner event. If you would like to make reservations separately for dinner there, please do so by calling 276-644-5971.
Saturday, October 10 is the Quick Draw Competition (separate registration). On this day, we include the public in the artist's process and show what plein air artists do.
Quick Draw Check-in will take place at the Abingdon Arts Depot, 314 Depot Square, Abingdon from 9-10am.
More detailed rules for each competition will be emailed after registration. The top prize for the Juried Competition is $1,000 and for the Quick Draw Competition it is $500.
On Saturday, October 10, there will also be a Pop-Up Gallery, where all works created that day will be on display and available for sale (60/40 split with the Virginia Highlands Festival with 60% going to the artist). Jurying will take place prior to the gallery opening and ribbons will be placed at winning artwork. The Awards Ceremony will not take place in person. It will be live-streamed over the VHF Facebook page.
This event will take place at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, One Partnership Circle., Abingdon, VA.
All artist participants receive:
- The opportunity to sell up to three artworks created during Plein Air Abingdon at the pop-up gallery (60/40 split with the Virginia Highlands Festival, space permitting).
- Name and gallery affiliation (if any) on Festival's website and social media posts.
- Chance to win cash prizes ($1,000 top prize for Juried Competition, $500 top prize for Quick Draw competition).
Prizes: Juried Competition
- Best in Show - $1,000
- Second Place - $250
- Third Place - $100
- Quick Draw People's Choice top prize - $500
More info coming soon!
Full instructions and rules for artists may be accessed by clicking here!