Bend’s ‘Art In The High Desert’ Draws Art Lovers

The smoky skies in Bend on Sunday didn’t stop art lovers from heading outdoors to browse hundreds of vendors’ inspiring artwork at the Old Mill.

This weekend was the fourth annual Art In The High Desert — a juried fine art and craft festival.

This year’s event showcased more than 110 artists selected from across the country and Canada, and it was all at the hands of Oentral Oregonians.

The show’s organizers, who founded it back in 2007, say they like to keep it small and intimate, with award-winning artists.

They said the best part about having the show in Bend: People are actually spending money and supporting the arts.

“People tell me, ‘I’ve been to a lot of art shows, I love art shows, this has the best quality art consistently throughout the whole show, I will not miss this show ever again,'” said Carla Fox, creator of the Art In The High Desert Festival, “And that?s really thrilling, because we work so hard to keep our quality up, and these artists have to work so hard to get into this show.”

“We ask the artists when they apply how they heard about our show, and over 75 percent of them say from other artists,” said Dave Fox. “To me, that?s one of the best compliments you could ever have.”

This is no ordinary art show — the artists themselves had to be picked to be here. A four-person jury reviewed more than 2,000 images sent in by artist applicants, and only 110 were chosen.

They spent the last three days showing off and selling their work, and organizers hope to attract even more interested artists in years to come.