Celebrating art and artists for the 9th year, the Annual Bayonet Farm Arts & Music Festival, 41 Middletown Road, Holmdel, NJ will be held on Sunday, September 23, 2012.  

The juried Art Exhibit and En Plein Air (Outdoor) Painters event and sale will also include live music, art demonstrations, children’s crafts and guided tours of the gracious Harding House. The bucolic estate has been preserved as a Holmdel park. Admission to the event is $5; children under 12 are free. Parking included.

Expanding on the success of the tri-state area plein air event, the festival committee is encouraging artists nationally to participate and offering an introduction to the beautiful destination setting of Bayonet Farm.   

Artists

The juried art exhibition is being held in the Red Barn Gallery and will include original paintings, photography, sculptures and day-of-festival En Plein Air paintings. Ribbons are awarded at 4 p.m.

En Plein Air Competition

"En plein air" painters work directly from nature to infuse their work with an open air feeling.  Bayonet Farm is the ideal location for this competition.  Artists cover the Festival grounds, capturing magnificent landscapes and charming architecture.  Visitors are welcomed to observe them between 11am - 3pm.  

Spotlight

New to the Festival this year is the “Spotlight” feature, in which a group of En Plein Air artists will be showcased. This year's group of featured artists will be the Plein Air Painters of Jersey Coast.

Jurors

Jurors are M. Stephen Doherty the editor of the print and digital editions of Plein Air and more; and James Yarosh, the owner of James Yarosh Associates Fine Art Gallery in Holmdel.

Music and Dance Performances

The Bayonet Farm Arts and Music Festival offers an excellent variety of dance and musical performances.  The 2011 festival included the ever-popular Colts Neck Swing Band; the Latin sound trio, Los Mas Valientes;  rock and roll groups, Late-4-Lunch and Elliot Fischer; and the Holmdel High School rock group, Our Fellow Savages (formerly known as: Definite No). 

Other entertainment included Greek and Chinese cultural groups: Goya Dance and Celadone Youth.  Many of these performers will be back again for 2012 festival.  This year we are also excited to announce the addition of The Swampgrass Jug Band, a blues/bluegrass ensemble popular with adults and children.

Children's Performances & Activities

The Young Artists Drawing Studio will facilitate illustration. Children can experience working with clay at the pottery wheel and create their own musical instruments at the crafts stations. The community mural will be available for young artists to express themselves. The festival also offers performances especially for children have been the always popular cartoon artist, Doodle Dude.

The event is sponsore by Law Office of Lawrence Luttrell, 
Monmouth County Arts Council, The Killian Firm, James Yarosh, and several local families. 

For more information, email  festival@bayonetfarmarts.org.