The Fourth Annual Festival of Fine Art, an event that is one of the high-points on the Anthem-area event calendar, is right around the corner. The event will take place on Saturday and Sunday, January 12 and 13, 2008.

The Festival of Fine Art is a unique event that presents fabulous artwork and artists in beautiful gallery-like space. It is a vibrant showcase of Arizona artists and includes painting, sculpture, jewelry, gourds, wood, ceramics, and glass.

This year the Festival is even more accessible to the public, as it will be held in two suites at the Outlets at Anthem, which is easily accessible from I-17 in North Phoenix , has plenty of free parking, a food court, and many other amenities.

"We encourage people to come early, to visit with the artists who are on hand and eager to discuss their work," says Willine Evans, festival chair. "It is a great opportunity to find out what inspires your favorite artist, why they chose their medium, and how they've honed their techniques over the years to translate their inspiration into their art. The quality and diversity of the art is excellent and art collectors will appreciate purchasing directly from the artist."

There will be two outstanding musical groups performing: Pete Pancrazi Trio, and Meadowlark. Pete Pancrazi was named recently by Downbeat Magazine as "one to watch" and a guitar player "deserving greater attention," which comes as no surprise to the audiences who have hear him perform. He was named "Jazz Guitar Player of the Year" in a 2000 Readers' Poll in an industry magazine. The Trio will be performing both days at the festival.

It has been said that Meadowlark's music is "magical and enchanting" and "unsuited to any conventional definition." Guitarist Rick Cyge explains "Our music is a hybrid, deriving its unique personality from a plethora of sources. It's the Meadowlark sound! We've been called 'New Age', 'Folk', 'Contemporary Acoustic', 'Celtic' (heavy Celtic influences do weave throughout our music'. On the other hand, it is truly contemporary American music written here and now (music of the New World .)" One thing is for sure, no matter what label the music is given, it is something to look forward to.

There will also be a teen art exhibit at the two day festival. Collaborating with the art teachers at five area high school, top student artwork is selected for the Second Annual Arts Council of the North Valley (ACNV) Regional Teen Art Exhibit and Competition. The work is exhibited at the festival and a jury selects the best art work for awards, which are presented at a ceremony on Sunday at 5 p.m. by Program Chair, Liz Haag. Creative Corners, this year's sponsor of the program, will display the Best of Show at their Anthem location.

ACNV.org; 623-516-2268, ext. 2; suites 300 and 410, northwest corner of Outlets at Anthem; 10 am to 6 pm

There is a by invitation Artist Celebration Reception on Friday evening. Contact 623-516-2268 for details.

Kent Camerata concert is the kick-off event for the Festival.. At Fellowship Church , 8:00 pm.

The following are the highlighted artists of this year's festival:

• Clay
  Greg Wenz: Beautiful functional glazed pottery, sculptures, vessels and figurative wall tiles.
• Drawing
  Dick Mueller: Expressive g raphite and or colored pencil drawings.
• Glass
  • Karen Ledin: Unique functional fused glass tableware, featuring an edgy, fun and contemporary styling inspired from every aspect of life.
  • Terry Armstrong Hamra: Nationally recognized glass artist creates exquisite decorative plates and fused glass jewelry.
• Gourd Art
  • Betty & Ken Blakeley: Engraved and embellished gourds
  • Jane Boggs: One of a kind spirit gourds - pyro engraved, leather dyed, embellished with gems, feathers, leather, etc.
  • Ceil Goslin: One of a kind gourd vessels and gourd purses embellished with pine needle coiling, beading and decoupage leather crafting
• Jewelry
  • Patricia Carberry: Unique jewelry designs featuring handmade lampworked beads glass beads and jewelry-sculptural beadwork. Some include swarovski crystals, silver from Bali and freshwater pearls.
  • Lynda Orescanin: Homemade Italian glass bead jewelry.
  • Nicky Rycroft: One of a kind jewelry featuring semi-precious stones set in gold and or silver.
• Metal/Copper
  Kathy Bechamp - Cramer: Fine metal art furnishings with semi-prescious and precious stone inlays. Mirrors, wall pieces, sculptures, tables and accent pieces.
• Mixed Media
  Traci Loss: Jazz infused free standing art sculptures and outdoor décor using exotic and domestic woods and a variety of metals.
• Painting - Acrylic
  • Keith Adams: The unique Keith Adams style draws the past into the present in an unusual blend of realism and spiritualism in his original western wildlife acrylic paintings.
  • Donna Levine: Richly colored acrylic expressionistic paintings of landscapes.
  • Bob Quick: Nationally acclaimed self-taught artist painting desert wildlife, floral, cactus landscapes.
• Painting: Mixed Media
  • Beth Lee: Computer generated art printed on watercolor, high gloss graphic photo paper and rice paper.
  • Betsy Montoya: Mixed media collages on canvas.
  • Kathleen Rogalla: Vividly colored still life paintings using layers of acrylic, watercolor or metallic paint to create textures for crisply outlined images.
• Painting - Oil
  • Linda Budge: Nationally known animal artist paints expression, be it wildlife or domestic animals such as cats and dogs.
  • Marless Fellows: Impressionistic realism done in oil.
  • Thomas Gallob: Oil paintings of landscapes, seascapes and still life.
  • Douglas Miley: Nationally award winning oil paintings featuring the Southwest, Sedona and Grand Canyon landscapes.
  • Lilly Miley: Impressionistic still lifes, cactus flowers, missions and landscapes using the palette knife & brush method.
  • Renee Palmer- Jones : Large oil canvasses reflecting the mood and the moment during the artist's travels both abstract and realistic.
  • Renee Turturica: Large oil canvasses of figurative, abstract, and realistic imagery.
  • Painting - Pastel
  • Dodie Rufner Ballantine: Award-winning pastel portrait artist does commission work and will offer a few originals and reproductions.
• Painting - Watercolor
  Steve Stento: Realistic watercolor landscapes of Mediterranean inspiration.
• Photography
  • Linda & Don Asakawa: Photographs from around the globe offered in limited editions, framed exhibition style with black moulding.
  • Cheryl Stapleton: Location and landscape photography, color and B/W printed on canvas and gallery wrapped presentation.
  • Sculpture: Bronze
  • Dennis Gallagher: Western bronze sculpture depicting cowboys, cowgirls and horses.
  • Sal LaRocca: Photographs of southwestern images that transport the viewer to the location to share the excitement and moment the way nature delivered.
  • Alan & Penny Lowy: Award winning hand colored photographs of fine art figure studies, photojournalism, nature and creative images.
  • Ron Watkins: Original underwater photographs from around the world; prints and framed art.
• Sculpture: Mixed Media
  Mike Greenfield: Carved stone statues complimented with sculpted bronze.
• Stained Glass
  Margaret Allsup: Unique, original stained glass objects for the home or office.
• Wood
  • Burt Heikens: Original and superb, one of a kind burl wood turnings of bowls, vessels, lamp bases, decorative trays and wood sculptures.
  • Joel Wolfson: 3-D quality photography featuring slices of life, abstract, landscapes of international locales.