Bluff Park Art Show returns after year off

After being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Bluff Park Art Show is back this year, once again on the first Saturday in October — Oct. 2.

This year’s show is scheduled to feature 130 artists from eight states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia, said Heather Skaggs, a board member and spokeswoman for the Bluff Park Art Association.

The artists will showcase numerous mediums, including painting, woodworking, pottery, jewelry, leather, textiles, metal, glass, photography and mixed media, she said.

Regarding the pandemic, organizers “are proceeding on with caution, but we do not expect the show to be canceled this year,” Skaggs said.

The Bluff Park Art Show is a juried show and one of the longest-running art shows in Alabama.

The Bluff Park Art Association usually gives out about a dozen awards, ranging in from $300 for the popular vote award to $3,500 for the association’s Permanent Collection Purchase Award.

2021 Bluff Park Art Show

WHERE: Park at Shades Cliff, 517 Cloudland Drive (parking off site with shuttles)

WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 2

COST: Free admission

WEB: bluffparkartassociation.org

This year’s judge is Cynthia Malinick, director and chief curator for Auburn University’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.

The Bluff Park Art Show will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the park at 517 Cloudland Drive, next to the Shades Cliff Pool, but people park off site and take shuttles.

Parking areas include Bluff Park United Methodist Church, Shades Crest Baptist Church and Shades Mountain Community Church.

The event is expected to include live entertainment and food trucks, Skaggs said.

For details, including opportunities to volunteer at the event or sponsor an award, go to bluffparkartassociation.org.