The entry jurist and awards judge have been named for the 8th Annual Plein Air–Easton! Competition & Arts Festival, which takes place July 14-22, 2012.
Donald Demers
The entry jurist, who selects which artists will contend in the competition, is Donald Demers from Eliot, Maine. Mr. Demers is one of the finest marine and landscape painters in America. The exemplary level of his paintings has placed them in some of the most prestigious public and private collections in the country. Demers is a highly sought‑after instructor; his teaching has taken him around the United States and Europe. His work as an illustrator has been honored four times in the annual exhibition of the Society of Illustrators. Demers’ marine paintings have garnered him a record 21 awards at the Mystic International Marine Exhibition, including the prestigious Rudolph J. Schaefer Award. He has received awards for his landscape painting from the Joan Irving Museum in Irvine, California, the Laguna Plein Air Invitational, and the Guild of Boston Artists. Demers is a Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists, an elected member of the Guild of Boston Artists, a Signature Member of the Plein Air Painters of America, an elected member of the Salmagundi Club, and an elected member of the California Art Club.
Demers was born in 1956, in the small, rural community of Lunenburg, Massachusetts. His interest in painting maritime subjects began while spending his summers on the coast of Maine near Boothbay Harbor. After finishing an exemplary high school art program, he furthered his education at the School of the Worcester Art Museum and the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Demers’ maritime experience came about as a crewmember aboard many traditional sailing vessels including schooners and square-riggers. He continues to be an avid sailor.
Tim Newton oil by Richard Schmid
Returning as awards judge in 2012, after serving as the entry jurist in 2011, is Tim Newton from New York. Mr. Newton is the founder and curator of “American Masters,” one of America’s foremost art exhibitions and sales, which is held every May at New York City’s Salmagundi Club. For more than 130 years, the Salmagundi Club has served as a renowned center for fine artists from around the country. Through the years, the club has been the singular gathering place for great creators of art, illustration, design, and architecture, such as Thomas Moran, Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Charles Dana Gibson, Carl Rungius, Ogden Pleissner, Frank Tenney Johnson, and many others—as well as for those who appreciate and collect fine art. Honorary members have included such luminaries as Sir Winston Churchill, Buckminster Fuller, Paul Cadmus, Al Hirschfeld, Thomas Hovin, and Schuyler Chapin.
“Historically, the Salmagundi has been a Who’s Who of American art,” says Newton. “The artists in American Masters are the Thomas Morans and Carl Rungiuses and Ernest Blumenscheins of today.Our goal is to make this club the epicenter of the American art world, a bastion of American representational art, the flagship location of a great movement to restore traditional values of art that is meaningful to the human spirit.” An art collector since the early 1990’s, Newton serves on the board of the Artists’ Fellowship as well as being vice president of the Salmagundi Club. He is also on the advisory board of The Stobart Foundation.
Al Bond, Executive Director of the Avalon Foundation, says, “To have authorities of this caliber as jurist and awards judge is further evidence that we have established Plein Air–Easton! as a major event in the country.”
Plein Air–Easton! is a project of the Avalon Foundation. The Academy Art Museum is the accredited museum venue for the competition exhibit. The event is supported by the Talbot County Arts Council, along with corporate and individual donors. Donations from Friends of Plein Air–Easton! support the event while promoting conservation and tourism through the arts and a distinct sense of place. Strong community support and sponsorships have helped make Plein Air–Easton! one of Easton’s largest events and the premier plein air festival in the country.
The deadline to enter the Plein Air–Easton! National Competition is March 9, 2012. Competition Artists will be announced March 30, 2012.
For more information, artists prospectus, galleries, and itineraries, visit www.pleinaireaston.com or call 410.822.7297.
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