38th Annual Wallowa Valley Festival of the Arts

The 38th Annual Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts begins on ​Friday, September 11 at 5 p.m.​ This year’s Festival is a little different In response to the ongoing Coronavirus situation. Although we won’t be able to gather for our traditional in-person celebration, we have created a virtual Silent Auction online - all the bidding will happen here:  ​https://josephy.org/arts-council/festival-of-the-arts/​ . All artwork will be hung at the Josephy Center and can be viewed in person beginning ​Monday, September 14 from 10-5 p.m.​  A computer will be available in the gallery to make bids as well as a card with the link so viewers can bid on their cell phones. Silent auction and artwork will be on display until September 30.   

Festival Director, Jeff Costello, states, “We are so sorry that we will all miss our annual in-person gathering and celebration of the arts this year, but our priority has to be everyone’s health and safety. With that, we are still committed to doing everything in our power to keep the Festival tradition alive…so, going virtual for this year was our best option. We want to continue to support our artists, even if that must be from remote locations.  And, hopefully, this will just make our next opportunity to gather in-person again, to celebrate the arts, that much sweeter!”  

The juried show includes 45 works including photography, oil, pastel, watercolor, bronze and sculpture. Twenty-one artists are participating and eight of those are locals including: Leslie LeViner, Ellen Bishop, Mark Kortnik, David Brunkow, Carol McLaughlin Kortnik, Jennifer Hawkins-Connolly, and others.  We also have many prize winning artists from past festivals: Laura Gable, Bonnie Zahn Griffith, and Leslie Ann Hauer. And we will host a People’s Choice Award, voting will take place online or in person, the winner will be announced on Sept. 30.
 
Please save the date, we are planning on a special ​En Plein Air ​ Festival, from June 7-30, 2021.  Please contact Cheryl Coughlan, at the Josephy Center, 541-432-0505; or Festival Director, Jeff Costello, 510-390-2121.