PaintAmerica - Call to Entries

For immediate release PaintAmerica Executive Director

PaintAmerica Announces 2008 Paint the Parks Call to Entries

PaintAmerica, a national, non-profit organization to support and promote the visual arts, has announced the Call to Entries for the 2008 “Paint The Parks” National Artists’ Competition. Paint The Parks will attract many of our nations’ top artists, with a $10,000 purchase award for the Grand Prize. Many other cash prizes and purchase awards will also be available, making Paint The Parks one of the country’s richest art competitions. Full details and entry forms are available at www.PaintAmerica.org

The 2008 Paint the Parks100 Competition and the Paint the Parks “Mini50” provide the country’s top national venue for established and emerging representational artists to showcase their talents. The competition celebrates our country’s national parks, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the National Parks Foundation (www.nationalparks.org) The competition also supports the PaintAmerica mission of providing scholarships for young artists and promoting the visual arts across America.

The Paint the Parks Competition format rewards artists with great potential for sales of their work. It also provides recognition, exposure and awareness through a national traveling exhibition and an online display. The exhibition will be shown in venues such as The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, MO; The RW Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, LA; and The CACEG Gallery; Estes Park, CO. Showcasing the beauty and qualities of America’s National Park system as seen through the eyes of its artists is another benefit of the program.

The Second Annual Paint the Parks 100 carries on the tradition of the long-running Arts for the Parks competition. Last years grand prize winners were John Agnew of Cincinnati, OH for his painting “Looking for the Shore” and Ray Hunter of Santa Barbara, CA for his mini painting “Lesson on the Yellowstone”.

Entries representing any of the 390 National Parks are submitted and judged within one of the three National Park Regions. The highest scoring painting from all entries is named the Grand Prize Purchase Award Winner and claims a $10,000 purchase award. It, and the top 33 paintings from each of the three regions advance to the Paint the Parks100. Other artists in the top 100 also have the chance to receive additional cash prizes and purchase awards. Recognition is also given to the “2nd 100” artists.

The “mini” competition is for works up to 180 square inches. The full-size competition accepts work up to 720 square inches. A discounted entry is available for meeting the early deadline of May 1, 2008. The final competition entry deadline is May 31, 2008. Galleries interested in exhibiting the Paint The Parks Top100 should contact PaintAmerica at mail@PaintAmerica.org

###

P.O. Box 4031 • Topeka, KS 66604 • 785.273.4502 • fax 785.273.4510 • www.PaintAmerica.org