Carmel Art Festival Returns to the Most Beautiful Place in the World
By Chadd Scott on
Artists have been coming to Carmel-by-the-Sea since the early 1900s. Early residents included authors George Sterling, Jack London and poet Robinson Jeffers who pitched tents in the woods. The tragic San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 brought more people. The refugees and early adopters decided to try making a permanent go of it. Their legacy is the town’s robust cultural community, highlights out of all proportion to a place counting fewer than 4,000 residents.
The artists will come again for the 32nd annual Carmel Art Festival May 16th through 18th, 2025.
Combining plein-air painting and live sculpting with exhibits, sales and live music, the festival takes over Devendorf Park, located amidst the town’s impossibly charming one-square-mile central business district chock full of hotels, inns, restaurants, shops, galleries, and tasting rooms a half mile from the beach.
Artists begin arriving Wednesday to scout locations and start work on paintings which must be submitted for judging by Friday afternoon. Sixty juried plein air artists turn the streets, coastline and landmarks around Carmel into live studios before their freshly painted works are displayed, judged, and sold over the weekend.
A Carmel Art Festival artist paints on the beach. Courtesy Visit Carmel.-1
“Point Lobos is very popular, but then there are other people who want to do something not as standard as the classic Carmel coastline,” Carmel Art Festival co-chair Ellen Wilson said. “They'll go inland to Salinas, to some of the fields, or in the Carmel Valley where you get more beautiful sunshine. Carmel can be a bit foggy this time of year. They paint all over the community.”
Putting this already condensed process in a microwave, Saturday morning features a “quick draw” competition where artists are given two-hours to produce an original plein-air artwork from scratch.
“Everybody really has a good time because the artists stay close to (Davendorf) park. Instead of driving out to Big Sur or something like that, they descend all over town,” Wilson explains. “If you happen to be walking around town on Saturday morning, you're going to see a huge amount of artists just painting right in front of you.”
Artists primarily from across the western United States, but Europe and China as well. Every one applies for entry into the festival and is selected by a three-person panel of experts.
“We have a lot of oil painters, but also pastel artists, watercolor artists, and that's always nice to see that variety,” Wilson said. “I'm always amazed how I'm still surprised at what's produced even though I've been working with the festival for a good 10 years, and I live here, but still, (the artists) come at it with fresh eyes.”
This area, the Monterrey Peninsula 120 miles south of San Francisco, may be the most beautiful landscape in the world. It’s on the short list. Big Sur, Monterrey Bay, Pebble Beach, Point Lobos. Dramatic, rocky ocean cliffs confront crashing waves. To the west, the endless, ever-changing blue of the Pacific. To the east, the rugged Santa Lucia Mountains. That eternal question, “mountains or beach,” in Carmel, one doesn’t have to choose.
Breathtaking, stunning, picturesque, magnificent, transcendent, stupefying; the thesaurus was created for places like this – and there aren’t many. On top of that, the quaint Hallmark village of Carmel-by-the-Sea offers more than 100 art studios, galleries, and antique stores with B&B’s and exceptional dining all conveniently located within a walkable downtown.
“What we will always have is the most fascinating subject for these painters, this landscape, the mountains and the sea and the cypress trees,” Wilson said. “It’s a place (the artists) want to paint. It's a place they want to come.”
An artist paints en plein air around Carmel, CA. Courtesy Visit Carmel.
The Festival Evolves
With its spectacular setting, it may seem like hosting the festival is a matter of receiving applications, raising a glass, and enjoying the weekend. Not so. The COVID years shook the event. It was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 and forced to reinvent itself after.
“Originally, the festival had been organized by a lot of the ownership of the galleries and sadly, it had been an older cohort that had worked on (the festival) for so long,” Wilson explained. “Over that period, some of them decided they didn't want to be involved, had to back out, we had a couple people who sadly passed away. We had all the history of the festival, but 2022 was really a regrowth year for us.”
Regrow it has. Expand even.
This year, for the first time, Saturday’s events will extend onto a block of Mission Street directly bordering the park. Wilson’s aim is making the festival as much a community celebration as it is a celebration of Carmel’s artistic legacy.
“We're celebrating Carmel's history, and then we get to celebrate these artists that travel so far to paint these masterpieces of our area,” Wilson said. “This landscape is inspirational. This landscape brought people together, then once those people formed the community, it continued to grow, and people became interested in being part of that community. The festival tries to mirror that, this celebration of the place we live.”
Aside from the Friday night’s VIP function, all festival events are free.
Carmel Art Festival paintings for sale. Courtesy Visit Carmel.
2025 Carmel Festival of Arts Schedule of Events
Friday, May 16:
- 10AM-2PM: See the freshly painted competition pieces check in for judging
- 11AM-2PM: Live music
- 3PM-4PM: Judging, including the People's Choice Award. The public will have a chance to vote for their favorite painting.
- 4PM: "Buy Now” sale opens—own the art you just watched being made
- 5:30PM: Awards Presentation & artist meet-and-greets
- 6PM-9PM–VIP Gala Party with some of the best local wines and food plus live entertainment by fan favorite Carlos Reyes. If you purchased a painting, you will receive 2 complimentary tickets to the Gala. Otherise, tickets are available at $75/person.
Saturday, May 17 (location: Mission Street between Ocean Ave and 6th):
- 9AM–11AM: Artists paint LIVE in just 2 hours during the thrilling Quick Draw
- 11AM–2:30PM: Art auction and live bidding begins
- 12PM: Competition winners announced
- 2:30PM: Auction closes
- Devendorf Park will feature kids’ art programs, sculpture-in-the-park, and more all day long
Sunday, May 18:
- 9AM–3PM: Final day of festivities in Devendorf Park
- 12PM–3PM: Live music
- 3PM: Festival closes
