The festival features 200 fine art and contemporary craft exhibitors, each selected through a jury system for the originality and quality of their work. The event will not only be one of the premier art shows in the area in 2008, but also should become one of the top art festivals in the country; many of the artists who exhibit at such renowned events as the Sausalito Art Festival, the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami, and the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, are also exhibiting at this year's Santa Monica Arts Festival. Festival visitors have the rare opportunity to actually meet and talk with these talented artists and craftspeople who have come to Santa Monica from across the West and as far away as Rhode Island, Virginia and Texas.

Strolling through the festival, attendees will see a vast selection of extraordinary work. For example, in fine art painters, working in watercolors, oils, pastels, and acrylics, are offering traditional and modern, landscape and still life, animal and floral, portrait and abstract, whimsical and surrealistic, originals and limited-edition prints. And sculptors are exhibiting works ranging from bronzes that fit on the mantle to giant welded assemblages suitable for the yard. Also eight photographers are displaying works of natural and architectural landscapes, and American and international scenes, plus fascinating portraits of peoples around the world and wild and domestic animals, in dramatic color or striking black and white.

In contemporary crafts, ceramic artists are exhibiting their stoneware, porcelain or raku works, offering clay creations ranging from functional hand-thrown plates, cups, tea sets and vases, to whimsical sculptures and hand-carved tiles assembled into bas-relief clay paintings. Or consider wood. Twelve woodworkers, each specializing in the carving, turning or laminating of a variety of domestic or exotic woods, are offering everything from utilitarian wares such as salad bowls, cutting boards and jewelry boxes to exquisite furniture including chests of drawers, wine cabinets, chairs and lamps.

Attendees can also shop from a wondrous selection of handmade wearables and accessories or from an extensive assortment of functional and decorative glass. In fact, every category of fine art and contemporary craft—including drawings, printmaking, decorative fiber, leather, metal, stone, and two and three-dimensional mixed mediaâis thoroughly represented by a variety of exhibitors.

Shoppers will thus find spectacular works of art and craft in all price ranges for themselves, their homes, and as one-of-a-kind gifts.