Benicia Arts Festival Schedule

Celebrate the plein air tradition with fresh paintings, live demos, and a community art-making experience.

Paint Out Wet Paint Show + Community Painting + Plein Air Demos
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Hosting the Paint Out Wet Paint Show, featuring fresh-off-the-easel work from 40+ talented local artists who spent the week capturing Benicia’s charm en plein air.

The People’s Choice Award voting is from 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Juror of Awards Carol Tarzier and Benicia’s Mayor Steve Young award prizes at 11:30 AM, while the People’s Choice Award winner is announced at 4:30 PM — giving all attendees a chance to cast their vote!

At noon, gallery artist Michael Dadasovich leads a “Paint Like Jerrold Turner” community painting (12:00 PM – 4:00 PM) in honor of the late painter and co-founder of our gallery.

Plein Air Demos by Gallery Artists MaryLou Correia and Micaela Marsden from 1:00 – 3:00 PM.

Benicia Plein Air Gallery is a co-op gallery consisting of 12 local artists who show their paintings of Bay Area scenes centering on Benicia and the Carquinez Strait, and expanding throughout Northern California. When you visit the gallery you will recognize many beautiful places in the area.

Benicia Plein Air Gallery’s artworks capture the local scenes treasured by residents, and give insight to visitors of the local beauty that surrounds them. The artists may turn urban and industrial chaos into abstract expressions, full of color and shapes, or they may choose to paint more representational beauty focusing on our region’s spectacular waterways and coastal environments.

“Plein Air” is the art of painting outdoors, working quickly and boldly to capture a fleeting moment in time. Inspired by sunlight, vibrant color and luminous atmosphere, each artist expresses the spirit of the land with a unique voice.