Catalina'sPlein Air Legacy

Our Legacy

A Century of Painting Catalina

For more than a hundred years, Catalina Island has drawn painters to its coves, its light and its unmistakable architecture. This is the tradition we are working to carry forward.

  1. 1880s–1920s

    The Impressionist Roots

    Catalina began attracting California Impressionists in the late 1880s. Granville Redmond, William Wendt, Edgar Payne and other artists found inspiration in the island's rugged coastline, brilliant light and secluded coves.

    Cover of the book Enchanted Isle: A History of Plein Air Painting in Santa Catalina Island, showing an impressionist painting of Avalon hillside homes and palms
    Enchanted Isle: A History of Plein Air Painting in Santa Catalina Island.
  2. 50+ years

    Catalina Art Association Festival of Art

    In 1959, a group of artists and art lovers decided to hold an art exhibit on Catalina Island. It was small, but they had a mission to promote art, and their dedication carried the idea forward for more than fifty years. The Festival of Art grew into one of the largest annual events on the island, a fine-art and crafts tradition that helped establish Catalina as a gathering place for working artists.

    Open two-page magazine spread showing fifty years of Catalina Festival of Art program covers, 1961 to 2008
    The full “A Festival of Art in Print: 50 Years in the Making” spread from the 2009 program and magazine, covering 1961 to 2008.
    Magazine page titled A Festival of Art in Print: 50 Years in the Making, showing festival program covers from 1961 to 1983
    Festival programs from 1961 to 1983, from “A Festival of Art in Print” in the 2009 program and magazine.
    Magazine page thanking patrons, artists and supporters, showing festival program covers from 1984 to 2008
    Festival programs from 1984 to 2008, with thanks to the patrons, artists, volunteers and supporters who promoted art on Catalina.
    Cover of the 2009 Catalina Festival of Art 50 Year Retrospective collectors edition program, with a painting of the Avalon Casino under billowing clouds
    The 50 Year Retrospective collectors edition program for the 51st annual festival, September 18–20, 2009. Cover painting signed Sheldon.
    Program page with an aerial map of the 2009 festival along Crescent Avenue in Avalon and the activities and itinerary guide
    The 2009 festival map and itinerary. Booths ran along Crescent Avenue from the boat dock to Step Beach Plaza, with demonstrations and music on the Wrigley Stage.
    Magazine page of event photos from the 2008 Catalina Festival of Art, with artists holding ribbon-winning paintings
    Event photos from the 2008 Catalina Festival of Art, from the 2009 program and magazine. Photos courtesy Sheryle Brent Fipp and Drew Mauck.
  3. 1986–2003

    The Catalina Show

    A juried plein air paint-out founded by Denise Burns. In 1996 the volunteers who ran the show each year formalized as the Society for the Advancement of Plein Air Painting (SAPAP). Its legacy contributed to the growth of the Plein Air Painters of America and helped influence the modern plein air festival format.

    The Avalon Casino ballroom set with round dinner tables, ringed by easels displaying paintings
    The evening dinner and sale in the Casino ballroom, with paintings displayed on easels.
    Guests in evening wear viewing a long row of framed paintings on lit easels in the Casino ballroom
    Guests viewing the paintings at the evening event.
    Book page describing how Denise Burns formalized the Catalina Show volunteers into SAPAP in 1996, with its mission statement
    The founding of SAPAP in 1996 and its mission, from Enchanted Isle.
  4. Through 2025

    The Wild Side Art Show

    A conservation-focused plein air fundraiser presented for fifteen years, concluding in 2025. It connected art with the island's wild interior and natural stewardship.

  5. 2027

    The Next Chapter

    A proposed new Catalina Plein Air Festival designed to connect the island's artistic history with artists, collectors, residents, students, businesses and visitors.

From the archive

Painters past and present who have found their subject on Catalina.

Black and white photograph of Roger M. "Bud" Upton painting a eucalyptus landscape at his easel
Roger M. “Bud” Upton at work.
Painting of white stucco houses with red tile roofs beneath eucalyptus-covered hills in Avalon
Roger M. “Bud” Upton, Avalon street scene, c. 1940.
Plein air painting of sunbathers and swimmers along the Via Casino walkway in Avalon, with the arch and a pier building
Via Casino and the Avalon waterfront, by John Cosby.
Plein air painting of a woman in a straw hat seated on a sunlit wall near beach umbrellas and palms in Avalon
A summer afternoon on the Avalon beachfront, by John Cosby.
Painting of a plein air artist under a yellow umbrella working at an easel in front of red flowers
A plein air painter at the easel, by Kevin Macpherson.
Painting of golden Sugar Loaf rock and cliffs reflected in a calm cove on Catalina
Olive Brack (1890–1957), Sugar Loaf, Catalina, 1913. Courtesy of William A. Karges Fine Arts.
Painting of Avalon Bay from above, filled with moored boats beneath sunlit orange hills
Avalon Bay, by Kevin Macpherson.
Painting of sailboats in Avalon harbor glowing in late afternoon light below a red-orange hillside
Avalon harbor at golden hour, by Kevin Macpherson.
Painting of boats on shimmering silver water in Avalon harbor beneath a purple headland
Moored boats on a bright morning in Avalon harbor.
Realist painting of white yachts reflected in deep blue water in Avalon harbor, with green mountains and hillside homes behind
A New Day Avalon, by Ruth Mayer.
Painting of beachgoers in red folding chairs under a rainbow umbrella on an Avalon beach, with boats and the Green Pleasure Pier behind
Beach Bums, by Ruth Mayer.

Help us build the archive

This history is still being written. We are gathering archival images, captions, source notes and oral histories from Catalina residents and artists. If you have a photograph, a painting, or a memory to share, we would love to hear from you.

Share an oral history or archival image
Historical details are presented for educational purposes and continue to be researched and verified. Dates and attributions may be refined as the archive grows.