The Maryland Center for the Arts invites plein air painters to apply for one of 30 spots in its 10th Annual Harford Plein Air Festival. The Harford Plein Air Festival attracts painters from across the U.S. looking for new scenes to paint in hopes of winning over $10,000 in prizes and sales commissions. Harford County offers colonial and contemporary architecture, railroad bridges and covered bridges, quiet fishing streams and boulder strewn waterfalls, bucolic farm scenes and bustling small-town streets. This year's Entry Juror is Dr. Jacalyn Beam.
We encourage juried artists to produce their best work by allowing them to work at their own pace, from July 1 to September 12, verifying their work by submitting gps- and time-stamped photos or with traditional pre-stamped canvases. On Sept. 12, juried artists are invited to join Awards Judge John Hulsey of the Artist's Road at Ladew Gardens for painting. A group dinner follows. Three days of gallery sales and exhibits begin with an opening reception and awards ceremony celebrating 'Arts Across Harford,' a popular countrywide festival of visual and performing arts, which brings visitors from around the MidAtlantic region. Online sales continue from Sept. 20 to Oct. 31. Competition rules are available at www.mdcfa.org.

Total of 5 (Five) paintings for awards judging on September 13, 2024, at the Bel Air Armory. All work must be original and painted en plein air during the Harford Plein Air Painting Festival, between July 1, 2024, and September 12, 2024, without the use of photographs.

Paintings must be hung by the artist or the artist’s representative between the hours of 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday, September 13, 2024, at the Bel Air Armory, 37 N. Main St., Bel Air, MD 21014 A maximum of FIVE paintings from the Festival may be displayed at any one time on the gallery panel (ie, if a painting is sold, it may be replaced by one other painting). Only ONE painting of the five may be displayed on an easel, per artist, next to the provided artist’s gallery panel.