18th annual Telluride Plein Air

The Sheridan Arts Foundation (SAF) hosts the 18th annual Telluride Plein Air festival June 28 through July 4, 2021. Exhibition and Sale days are July 2-4, 2021 outside the Sheridan Opera House and in Elks Park.

Each summer, over the Fourth of July weekend, the Sheridan Arts Foundation hosts 20-25 nationally renowned plein air artists in beautiful Telluride, Colorado for a week of outdoor art. The Telluride Plein Air Festival has become an indispensable part of Telluride’s Independence Day festivities, allowing locals and tourists alike to observe some of the nation’s top plein air artists at work. The festival culminates in a three-day sale, where the artists display the work they have created all week long. The Telluride Plein Air’s participating artists were selected through a juried process, in which applicants submitted images and a biography to be reviewed by a panel of artists, gallery owners and educators.

For the duration of the sale, each artists will follow the CDC guidelines of wearing a mask at all times, each booth will be at least 6 feet apart, and the SAF will encourage the artists to keep their distance from those who wish to stop and enjoy the art. The Sheridan Arts Foundation created this event 18 years ago to benefit community programming and the continual upkeep and restoration at the historic Sheridan Opera House in Telluride. The Sheridan Opera House has provided quality entertainment to Telluride since 1913. All artwork profits will be split with 40 percent benefiting the SAF, and 60 percent retained by the artists. With the halt of virtually all of the Sheridan Opera House’s programming due to COVID-19, this festival is more crucial than ever to keeping the Sheridan Opera House’s doors open.