Dear Fine Artists,

It is with great pleasure that I write to you today to invite you to participate in the 2024 Oxford Fine Arts Show. The Oxford Community Center’s three-day Fine Arts Show ushers in the summer art season. The juried exhibit draws a wide selection of collectors from the local areas as well as from the Baltimore-Washington, Philadelphia, Virginia and New York City regions and has been a highlight for art lovers for years.

2024 will be the 40th year for Oxford Fine Arts and will be held May 17th -19th . The event, as I stated previously, consistently attracts a wonderful group of people due in large part to the high quality of the exhibitor’s work. Because this is the 40th year we will be stepping up to make it an extra special show. We will focus on getting the word out through our promotional efforts which are placed in regional magazines, newspapers, and radio stations.

The schedule of events for the weekend begins with the Friday night Preview Party. It provides attendees the chance to “Meet the Artists,” view the exhibit and buy art. This has always been a fun evening where traditionally about 125 serious art buyers get to mingle with the artists and enjoy cocktails as well as partake of delicious hors d’oeuvres while getting first looks at the art collection. In the past two years we added another component to the evening’s festivities and that was the awarding of several prizes. We will again have a guest judge who will choose the recipients for the awards with the winning artists announced during the Preview Party. This has proven to be a popular addition to the evening festivities and made for lots of fun for the guests and artists! On Saturday and Sunday, the exhibit opens at 10 a.m. and runs until 4. At the end of the weekend, we will hold our raffle of beautiful artwork donated by the artists. Bubbly will be served!! The exhibit locations are inside of the OCC and we will offer lunch (for purchase) on both days, including the delicious strawberry shortcake. 

Please know that while COVID is slowly fading away, it is still very much around and many of you are still concerned about your health. We will continue to take the utmost safety to make sure that you feel safe during the weekend. Your artwork will also be safe as we do hire a security guard to watch over your prized possessions overnight! The wellbeing of both our artists and our guests remains paramount to us.

We are pleased to announce that our juror for this year’s exhibit is Barrie Barnett. Barrie is very excited to be a part of this year’s 40th celebration and her expertise as a juror for other shows, and her background as a very talented artist in her own right, is one of the reasons we are so happy she agreed to be the juror of this year’s Fine Arts Show. One can tell by talking to her that she loves art and the art world in general. She is truly a gem! Please find her bio attached.

The 2023 weekend was a major success. Once again there was a wide variety of high-quality artwork and we aim to reach for the same high standards in 2024. We are hopeful that Mother Nature will bless us with good weather this year especially given it is our 40th year. We will keep our fingers crossed for similar conditions!

The juried exhibit and sale has supported the Oxford Community Center (a non-profit 501(C-3), since the 1980’s to support OCC’s mission to provide the region with a year-round schedule of free or reduced educational, cultural and recreational programs and events. Your 30% of sales makes a meaningful difference.  

I thank you for your consideration.
Best wishes,

Karen Walbridge
Chair, Oxford Fine Arts