Brafa, Europe’s longest-running art fair, is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Its halls will feature approximately 130 galleries from across Europe offering works ranging from African art, Old Master paintings, and contemporary to antique and design furniture, metalwork, carpets, books, and jewelry. Free tours will be conducted in English regularly.

Belgium’s Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage will host a space inside the fair where, twice each day, its conservators will demonstrate their scientific techniques and findings during interactive workshops.

Details:
Brafa Art Fair
Brussels, Belgium
January 26–February 2, 2025
www.brafa.art/en

Visit Scottsdale, Arizona now through March 13 to check out the state’s longest-running art show and an annual juried art show and sale highlighting artworks by top students and alumni.

Celebration of Fine Art

Through March 30, 2025

Now entering its 35th year, Celebration of Fine Art is Arizona’s longest-running art show. It brings together 100 artists from across America, all invited to spend 10 weeks creating pieces in front of visitors. Their works range widely in both aesthetics and media, from realist to abstract, Western to modern, and everything in between.

Guests are invited to ask questions as the artists work, and these encounters are complemented by Art Discovery discussions every Friday during which visitors learn about the processes, adventures, and techniques that shape the art. Everyone is welcome to explore the one-acre sculpture garden, which features nearly 100 pieces, and to enjoy meals and wine in the cafe on site.

In 1991, inspired by California’s Laguna Beach Festival of Arts, Tom and Ann Mor-row collaborated with Scottsdale officials and the community to open CFA’s “big white tents” for the first time. Now encompassing 40,000 square feet of covered space, the event is carried on by Tom’s daughter Susan Morrow Potje and her husband, Jake Potje. She notes that, since last year’s show, CFA has moved just 200 yards south of its previous location, though the entrance and layout remain the same. She is particularly excited about a few welcome updates inside and in the sculpture garden.

Scottsdale Artists’ School: “Best & Brightest”

February 8 – March 13, 2025

Now in its 41st year, the Scottsdale Artists’ School is set to present “Best & Brightest,” the annual juried art show and sale highlighting artworks created by its top students and alumni living around the world. All artists who have taken a workshop, program, or online class through the school since 2019 were invited to submit their works for consideration.

The official reception and awards announcement ceremony is set for February 13. First and second place awards will be presented in each of six categories: drawing, oil painting, pastel, water media, sculpture, and small work.

The school’s executive director, Trudy Hays, is quick to praise the “professional quality of Scottsdale Artists’ School students” and laughs that she does “not envy the team assembled to jury the pieces, because they have a difficult assignment.”

Happening Now: Watercolor Live – Art Auction and Online Conference

For artists, art lovers, and collectors: Watch and interact with world-renowned artists as they demonstrate their skills at Watercolor Live now through Friday. Included is an exclusive faculty art auction (live January 20-26).

On the popular Essential Techniques Day earlier this week, Publisher Eric Rhoads and Editor-in-Chief Kelly Kane welcomed us with encouragement and everything we needed to know to have a great week at Watercolor Live.

Artists from all over the world are together online through January 26th to learn, grow, be inspired, make friends, network, and – dare we say it – have fun!

The silent auction and sale takes place through January 26, 2025. View the artworks here.

Watch and interact with watercolor teachers such as Thomas Schaller, Alvaro Castagnet, Bjorn Bernstrom, Xi Guo, David Stickel, Kelly Eddington, Shelley Prior, and many more, hosted by Publisher Eric Rhoads and PleinAir Magazine and American Watercolor Weekly Editor-in-Chief Kelly Kane.

It’s not too late to join us at WatercolorLive.com now, and replays of the event are available. See you there!

Artists: We want to help you grow, become a better artist, learn new ideas and techniques, and give you some world-class painting instruction from master artists — all while introducing you to a community that will support you!

View more fine art auctions and sales here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

The current Swann Galleries auction is dedicated to the Artists of the WPA. Works in photography, cartography, printmaking, posters, and painting are all represented in this reflection on how the early twentieth century changed American culture.⁠

More from the organizers:

The economic hardships of the 1930s, as well as the drought across the North American prairie, were of great concern to lawmakers in Washington, DC. The agencies that formed as part of the New Deal, an “alphabet soup” that included the Works Progress Administration, the Farm Security Administration, and the Federal Art Project, put artists to work. These artists expressed empathy for the American farmer, as seen in Thomas Hart Benton’s romanticized vision of farm life in Missouri Farmyard, and Dorothea Lange’s tender documentation of the plight of families experiencing the Dust Bowl era.

The sale is a timed online auction that will begin closing on Thursday, January 30, 2025 at 12 PM EST. Bidding is available on the Swann Galleries App and on live.swanngalleries.com. Exhibition hours are 12 pm to 5 pm on Saturday, January 25, and Monday, January 27 through Wednesday, January 29.

Paintings and original works are represented by Philip Howard Evergood’s oil-on-panel Great Neck Landscape, circa 1935 ($1,200-1,800); August Mosca’s Portrait of Joseph Stella, oil on canvas, 1944 ($1,000-1,500); Cecil Crosley Bell’s Horse Auction, New York, gouache on paper, 1937 ($1,500-2,500); Doris Emrick Lee’s Early Spring Landscape, oil on canvas ($3,000-5,000); and Paul Raphael Meltsner’s R.F.D. 36, oil on canvas ($4,000-6,000).

Prints featured in the sale include Thomas Hart Benton’s Missouri Farmyard, lithograph, 1936 ($2,000-3,000); Louis Schanker’s Jai-Alai, color woodcut, 1939 ($1,000-1,500); Peggy Brook Bacon’s The Artist, (Alexander Brook), charcoal, circa 1925 ($1,000-1,500); and Katherine Milhous’s Visit Pennsylvania / Pre-Revolutionary Costumes, lithograph poster, circa 1936 ($1,000-1,500).

Attention Art Collectors!
May 20-22, 2025: Visit the Plein Air Convention & Expo’s robust pop-up art gallery at the Nugget Casino Resort in Reno, Nevada, where hundreds of artists, including our master faculty, will have studio and plein air works on display and ready to purchase. Register for the full event at PleinAirConvention.com now.

The Winter Show in NYC, a benefit for East Side House, announces its highlights, including over 70 exhibitors of rare and exceptional art and antiques, taking place January 24 through February 2, 2025.

More from the organizers:

With dealers from across the Americas and Europe, the 2025 edition of The Winter Show will once again showcase the finest museum-quality works to an international audience of collectors, connoisseurs, and enthusiasts, alongside an acclaimed program of talks, panels, and events with leading experts in art, antiques, and design.

All ticket proceeds from the fair and its benefit events, including the Opening Night Party on January 23, sponsored by Bank of America, and Young Collectors Night on January 30, directly fund East Side House Settlement. Chubb returns as The Winter Show’s presenting sponsor, celebrating 29 years of partnership and support.

Executive Director Helen Allen said, “With every edition of The Winter Show, we look forward to sharing the world-class works our dealers bring to the fair. This year, we are particularly pleased with the exciting range of works across periods, styles, cultures, and makers. We are proud to uphold our extremely high standards of excellence among our exhibitors, ensuring a selection of truly unique and remarkable works for collectors and fairgoers of every variety. As always, the experience will be enhanced by complementary programming featuring panels and lectures by experts across the fields of art and design.”

For more details about The Winter Show benefit for East Side House, please visit www.thewintershow.org.