They will come from as far away as California, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Minnesota … and from as close as Carmel. But by the time they set up their booths on Main Street and Range Line Road, they will have collectively traveled more than 113,000 miles just to display their art (and maybe sell a few things) at the Carmel International Arts Festival scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 22 to 23 in the Arts & Design District.
The festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22 and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 23. The event is free and open to the public.
There will also be a street party and concert featuring The Wright Brothers on Saturday night. Sponsored by White Claw Hard Seltzer, ART ROCKS! is a family friendly event from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22 that will take place at Main Street and North Range Line Road. The event will feature food and beverage vendors.
This year’s event marks the 21st annual International Arts Festival, an event that has grown over the years to claim the honor of being the second biggest festival in Carmel’s busy festival calendar, behind only CarmelFest. The Arts Festival – presented this year by Current Publishing – typically draws thousands to the event that also features music, food, an interactive children’s area and much more.
But in the end, it’s really all about the art. Festival organizers invited 150 artists to the International Arts Festival this year, but it’s not a simple process. Artists must apply to be accepted, submitting samples of their work in order to be considered.
“We have always taken seriously our role of selecting the best artists we can find because we know that it’s the beauty of the art that keeps people coming back to Carmel for this annual event,” said Dawn Fraley, chairman of the event.
Parking
Free parking is available at Carmel High School with a free shuttle service. There is street parking throughout the neighborhoods. Bike parking (Pedal & Park) will be provided in an area on 2nd Avenue NW between Scotty’s Brewhouse and Bub’s Burgers and Ice Cream.
There are underground public parking garages located at the base of Sophia Square (entrance off of 1st Avenue NW, south of 1st Street NW) and at the Indiana Design Center, 200 S. Range Line Road. Check out the map of the festival at carmelartsfestival.org/map.
Road closures
Effective 4:30 p.m. Friday through 9 p.m. Sunday, the following streets will be closed.
- Main Street from 3rd Avenue SW/NW to 1st Avenue SE/NE
- Range Line Road from 1st Street NE/NW to just north of 3rd Street SE/SW
Artists, awards and activities
For a list of the artists, visit carmelartsfestival.org/artists. You can also check out some of the new artists featured on facebook.com/CARMELIntlArtsFestival.
The Festival will award more than $6,000 in cash prizes to selected artists. That includes a Best of Show award, Mayor’s Choice award and prizes handed out in specific media categories. The list of media you will find includes 2D Art, 3D Functional Art, Ceramics, Fiber, Glass, Jewelry, Painting, Photography, Watercolor and Wood.
In addition to the artist booths, the International Arts Festival will feature these special events:
- Paint by numbers: New this year, Carmel High School students will have community paint-by-number canvases for festival goers to put their mark on a project.
- Guerin Catholic High School Live Mural painting: New this year, students have designed and will be painting live a mural in the lower level of the Indiana Design Center parking garage.
- Young@Art: Children’s patriotic-art projects honoring military. In conjunction with Andretti Motorsports, Primrose School will be organizing art projects for children ages 2 to 12, with each designed to be sent to our military and veterans as an appreciation for their service.
- Herron School of Art Emerging Artists Show: A new event in 2018 featuring juried Herron student works including, paintings, photography, art furniture and small sculptures at the Indiana Design Center first floor showroom.
- High School Art Show: A special juried high school curated art show at Hoosier Salon with students selected from Carmel High School and University High School. Scholarships will be awarded to winning artists.
- Microsoft Digital art classes: First year sponsor of the CIAF, Microsoft will offer digital art classes and a virtual reality experience on the second floor of the Indiana Design Center during the festival hours. Click here to see the full schedule.
– Minecraft: Go behind the scenes to learn how to code, program and play in your own gaming world. You’ll use fun, interactive coding to learn how creativity and problem solving come together to make something all your own. The workshop designed for ages 8 and older.
– Create Digital Art With Fresh Paint: In this free hands-on two-hour camp, students ages 8 to 12 will learn to create and share their own digital art with the Fresh Paint app for Windows 10. They’ll explore the basics of Fresh Paint, using lifelike oil and watercolors, pastels and more to craft their own creations. They’ll also get a sneak peek of advanced digital art skills like mixing paint and layering media. Activities will focus on learning through experience and peer-to-peer learning, and themes may be based on upcoming seasons and special events.
– Create Magical Moments with Photos: Discover how to create magical videos including mixed reality and 3D using Photos, one of the exciting new apps included with Windows 10. With Photos, it is easy to turn treasured memories into your own personal videos, with music, captions, 3D effects and more. You’ll learn to use Photos to organize your media files into albums, remix albums into videos and drop in music, transitions and 3D and other special effects. You’ll also learn to use Photos to edit and improve videos you’ve already made, and export and share your personally produced videos with family and friends.
– Create new perspectives in Virtual Reality: Start from scratch in Paint 3D or pull from the Remix 3D catalog to see 3D objects in your real world through Mixed Reality Viewer. Find a new angle for the stories you share. This activity is first-come, first-served. No reservations are being taken. Patrons 18 years of age or older can participate in the experience. Patrons ages 8 to 17 can participate with parental or guardian consent.
For more information and a schedule of events, visit carmelartsfestival.org.