Seventh Annual Prescott Plein Air Festival Celebrates “Art in the Pines” From August 26-30, 2026

Photo: Lydia Gatzow painting

Yavapai College’s Prescott Art Gallery is pleased to invite one and all to its annual celebration of outdoor painting. Art in the Pines: The 7th Annual Prescott Plein Air Festival will take place from August 26-30 at the Prescott Campus Gallery, the Richard Marcusen Sculpture Garden and selected scenic locations around Prescott and throughout Yavapai County.

Art in the Pines will feature 22 artists from Arizona, California and Washington, painting Yavapai County’s beautiful scenery. The public will be able to observe and engage with the artists at no cost as they paint on Friday, August 28, 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Richard Marcusen Sculpture Garden on the YC Prescott campus.

The public is also invited to a Reception and Art Sale at the Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center and the YC Prescott Art Gallery on Sunday, August 30, 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Attendees of the reception will be able to visit with the artists and purchase their paintings directly. Works created during the festival and not sold at the gala reception will remain on display and for sale at the YC Prescott Art Gallery September 1-11.

Photo: Lance Gulseth

The winner of the Best of Show Award, judged this year by Phoenix-based artist and longtime Art in the Pines participant Tom Conner, will receive a $1,000 cash prize. Last year’s Best of Show winner, San Diego-based artist Jose Nunez, will present a solo art exhibition at the Yavapai College Patty McMullen-Mikles Gallery in Clarkdale. Nunez’s plein air exhibition will run from Thursday, August 27 through September 17, 2026, with an Opening Reception on August 27, 5-7 p.m. Nunez and many of the Art in the Pines artists will attend the opening reception.

The 22 artists participating this year include: Dana Cohn, of Prescott, a Yavapai College Art Department adjunct instructor and noted muralist; Prescott-based artist Alison Crary; Robin Deshayes, of Los Olivos, California; Priya Drews, of Flagstaff; Kristine Dutton, of Prescott; Lydia Gatzow, of Sedona; Lance Gulseth, of Phoenix; Igor Kogan, of Gilbert; Barbara Mulleneaux, of Tucson; Ben Norton, of Rimrock, a member of the Yavapai College Art Faculty;  Clarrisa Kear, an MFA candidate at the University of Arizona; Prescott-area artist Josh Chaney;  Sedona artist Hope Ricciardi; Seattle-based artist Sean Lamoreaux; Prescott artists Neil Orlowski and Steve Baker; Casey Cheuvront of Scottsdale; Beth Okurowski of Prescott; Tempe artist Cindy Carrillo; Phoenix artist Anton Nowels; Kadin Goldberg, of Southern Arizona; and Tucson’s Cheryl Decker.