33rd Carmel Art Festival

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California

May 15-17, 2026

The 33rd Annual Carmel Art Festival on May 15-17, 2026 held in Devendorf Park in Carmel-by-the-Sea, will once again bring together artists and art lovers, visitors, and residents to celebrate Carmel’s artistic heritage and legacy. Viewing of art is FREE.

For the first time, we will be offering some fun demonstrations by our artists during the festival (free to the public) and serious workshops (for a fee set by the artists) prior to the festival on May 11 & 12. The public can sign up for these workshops prior to the festival right here on this website. Always wanted to try your hand at Plein Air painting? Or get some pointers? We will give you that opportunity. More information on how and who the artists are is being worked on right now.

And, of course, we will continue with our traditional Plein Air Competition amongst our juried artists whose paintings will be sold on a “buy now” basis starting on Friday, May 15 at 4PM. right after the Awards Ceremony.

The always popular 3-hour Quick Draw on Saturday, May 16 by our juried artists will have their paintings auctioned off right there on Mission Street starting at 11am between Ocean & 6th. Want to watch them paint between 8am and 11am? The public can get a list where they paint—many of them stay within the commercial district right around Devendorf Park.

New this year: On Sunday, May 17, artists will be able to sell one studio painting at the festival that they brought from home. It will be so interesting to see what they bring!

We will also be selling demonstration and workshop paintings plus other paintings they produced since May 13 that were not placed into the competition. This way, we will have new paintings up each day for the public to view and purchase right until the festival closes at 3 pm on Sunday.

Friday evening, 6pm-9pm, join us at the Opening Gala right in Devendorf Park, a great way to mingle with the artists, listen to live music, and partake of food & wonderful wines poured into a commemorative wine glass to keep. Specifics will be posted here on the website in January. This year you will be able to RSVP - sign up online for $75/person; it will be $100 at the door.

Warmest regards,

Hella Rothwell

President, Carmel Gallery Alliance/Carmel Art Festival

The Carmel Art Festival was first conceived in Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1993 by a group of gallery owners. It formalized into the Carmel Gallery Alliance, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit corporation, in 1997.