The Cherry Creek Arts Festival (CCAF) is proud to taut the confirmed slate of 236 juried artists and 8 "Emerging Artists" for its 22nd annual show. The artists were chosen in a blind-jury process from 2,000 artist applications, making the CCAF one of, if not the most, competitive art shows in the nation. 23 artists are from the state of Colorado.
The exhibiting visual artists are the heart and soul of this festival: 100 of the 236 artists are first-time- ever CCAF exhibitors, with 101 artists returning from 2011. The remaining artists exhibited in 2010 and prior or were invited. The only artists exempt from the 2012 jury are the 12 award-winning artists and the annual commemorative poster artist from 2011.
Contributing to the extremely competitive nature of the jury and the high levels of art excellence are actual artist sales (in excess of $2.3 million for 2011) and consistently high national festival rankings. High sales are attributed to the event's setting in the heart of Denver's unique, beautiful and affluent district of Cherry Creek North, an educated art-buying audience of 350,000 annually, and a $900,000+ multi-media marketing campaign. The visual artists' success and quality are core values and measurements of accomplishment for the Cherry Creek Arts Festival.
Artistic excellence of original, handcrafted work is the sole criteria for selection of exhibitors. The Arts Festival features artists in 13 different media categories including: ceramics, digital art, drawing, fiber, glass, graphics and printmaking, jewelry, metalworks, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture and wood.
CLICK HERE for the names, mediums and images of all 2012 exhibiting artists
The panel of jurors was comprised of Cecily Cullen: Assistant Director and Curator at the Center for Visual Art, Metropolitan State College of Denver; Dolan Geiman: mixed media artist from Chicago, IL, and also a CCAF Invited Artist who won an award for excellence in art at the 2011 event for his mixed media work; Jennifer Perlow: Gallery Owner and Executive Curator at PS:Gallery in Columbia, MO; Elaine St. Louis: Art Director and Field Editor at Colorado Homes and Lifestyles Magazine in Denver, CO, as well as a freelance national Field Editor; Chris Vance: Painter from Bondurant, IA, and CCAF Invited Artist won an award for excellence in art at the 2011 event for his work in painting.
