Call to Artists !
The Bath County Plein Air Festival is a juried event. A jury of five professional local artists/curators select the artists to participate in the festival. Our featured artist selection process begins in January. A prospectus will be posted on Online Juried Shows January 1, 2020. We will accept materials from prospective artists for our 2020 festival until June 30, 2020. Since we had to cancel the 2020 Festival, the artists juried into that festival will be carried over the 2021 festival.
Artists who receive First, Second, Third Place, People's Choice, and Best in Show Peer Review need not apply for the following year. All other award winner need to apply. To be considered for the Bath County Plein Air Festival, you must meet the following criteria: · Be recognized regionally/nationally as a plein air artist. · Are currently represented by a fine art gallery with sales and regional/national media exposure. · Have been juried, or invited to participate, into other national plein air festivals within the last two years. The committee also considers the following:
Bath County Plein Air Festival awards $9000 in cash prizes:
We have a number of generous supporters who will open their homes to visiting artists. All juried artists will be placed in private homes. Several community members have also volunteered to host dinner for the artists. |
“I was enormously impressed with the
community support this event received, the warm hospitality extended by residents of the community and the extent of the planning by Warm Springs Gallery that made the very first outdoor painting event in Bath County a huge success. I know that every artists I spoke with was overwhelmed by the generosity of county residents in providing accommodations, hosting dinners offering financial support, and buying paintings. I'm sure they will continue to tell others about the beauty of the landscape and the wonderful people of Bath County.” --M. Steve Doherty, Editor Plein Air Magazine “What an amazing week, with talented painters, beautiful landscapes, perfect weather, and the generosity of friends, donors and hosts of Bath County. Our accommodations were so comfortable, our painting sites incredible and we artists have never been so pampered at an event. It was lovely to meet so many local residents who were so welcoming with their properties, homes and farms. ”
—Priscilla Whitlock, artist |
2021 Festival Judge: Dawn Whitelaw

After over thirty years of teaching painting, Dawn Whitelaw still thinks of herself as a student. Like the painters she so admires, Sorolla, Sargent, and Zorn, she fully understands the importance of not only painting from life, but also keeping it simple. “It’s not about rendering every eyelash or tree limb, but about finding the character for your subject and presenting the essential information.”
Dawn Whitelaw is one of the artists in residence at On Track Studios in Franklin, Tennessee. She is a founding member of the Cumberland Society of Painters and a charter member of the Chestnut Group. Ms. Whitelaw is currently on the faculty of the Peninsula School of Art and the Portrait Society of America, where she holds the office of Vice Chairman. In recent years, The Plein Air Convention and Expo featured her as an instructor in their conventions in Nevada and California and she was on the faculty for the first Plein Air South event. She currently travels the country to conduct workshops in oil painting principles and drawing. Dawn is an enthusiastic plein air painter receiving 2nd place awards in the Door County Plein Air Festival in both 2014 and 2015. In recent years, she has won awards in The Olmsted Plein Air Invitational, the Piedmont Plein Air Paint Out and in Plein Air Richmond. In 2012, 2013, and 2015, Plein Air Magazine included her work in feature articles. The American Impressionist Society elected to Master status in 2016 and she won the Fine Art Connoisseur Award of Excellence in the 2016 National AIS Juried Exhibition. Whitelaw has a painting in the permanent collection of the Rahr-West Art Museum. For more inforamtion about Ms. Whitelaw please go to: www.dawnwhitelaw.com.