Special Programs

Daily, Saturday, September 21 – Monday, September 23, 2024 (7:30 am – whenever you like!)

If you are new to the festival and looking to meet up with fellow artists, or you just enjoy painting with others, then please join Deb Harwick on her daily excursions. You will be traveling together as a group to each destination in your own, capable vehicles (although car-pooling is encouraged where possible). Location of set up at each destination and length and of stay will be decided by each individual artist.

Excursion sign-up sheets will be available at Sign-in/Stamp-in.

 

Saturday, September 21st – Devil’s Garden – so worth it!

Drive time: 30-40 minutes on a washboard road

Subject: Hoodoos and Vistas

Shade: Hard to come by

Amenities: Bathrooms and Picnic Tables

 

Sunday, September 22nd – Spencer Flat/Escalante River – vistas and water!

Drive time: 20-30 minutes – Spencer Flat requires a high clearance car
The Escalante River will be an alternative to Spencer Flat and has plenty of parking

Subject: Amazing vistas at Spencer Flat. Trees, water and foliage at the Escalante River

Shade: Limited on the flats and plenty at the river

No amenities at either location but the river is below Kiva Koffee House

Monday, September 23rd – Burr Trail / Long Canyon (spoiler – a very nice slot!)

Drive time: 40-45 minutes on a paved road

Subject: Slot Canyon, High walls, and a variety of Rock Formations

Shade: Shade can be found but can be lost or found due to high canyon walls

Amenities: Bathrooms at Deer Creek Campground

 

Deb has been flying out from Philadelphia and participating in the festival since the second year of commencement. In the past 2 decades she has painted and hiked from Capital Reef to Zion. She has won multiple awards at the Festival and has also sold much of her artwork at the festival.

Deb has fallen in love with Escalante and considers it a family reunion each year. She looks forward to meeting with artists each year who want to join the Festival Family.

We love her too!

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Before There Were Roads: Dave Rust’s Canyon Country Adventures

The spectacular topography of the Colorado Plateau has drawn adventurous travelers to southern Utah for more than a century, but in the early days it was no simple matter to find one’s way through this contorted land. Many sought the help of an experienced guide, and in Dave Rust they found one of the best.  He not only made trail and cooked meals, but more significantly, he interpreted the landscape with a native’s long experience. From 1909 to 1941 Rust, an educator by profession, conducted a kind of roving outdoor classroom among the rocks and rivers of this fascinating region. From the fabulous viewpoints of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, to the wilderness maze of the Escalante canyons, to the sublime reaches of Glen Canyon, Rust’s approach to travel emphasized understanding the geological and human stories behind the landscape. Dave Rust’s “unusual campout excursions,” as he called his month-long guided outings and Colorado River voyages, broadened his clients’ perspective in places both daunting and entrancing.

 

Frederick Swanson is the author of four books on western U.S. history, focusing on the exploration and conservation of public lands during the twentieth century. His book Dave Rust: A Life in the Canyons received the Utah Book Award for nonfiction, and he is the recipient of the Wallace Stegner Prize in Environmental Humanities. His most recent book is Wonders of Sand and Stone: A History of Utah’s National Parks and Monuments, published by the University of Utah Press. Fred and his wife Bessann, a watercolor artist, enjoy hiking, backpacking, and canoeing throughout Utah’s canyon country.

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