The Fine Arts Exhibition is one of the longest-running and finest traditions of the Colorado State Fair. The Fine Arts Exhibition provides an unmatched opportunity for both Emerging Artists and Professional Artists from around the state to participate in a quality exhibition. We strive to meet our mission of “Quality, Quantity, and Diversity.” The Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition serves to offer the arts community a special, annual show that is a direct result of the passion and hard work of many loving employees, students, and volunteers. Thank you! We hope your experience with us is a memorable one.
“And there should be no lagging or hanging back by anybody who has anything worth exhibiting” Pueblo Chieftain, Sept. 15, 1887 (in regard to entering the CSF Fine Arts Exhibition)
2024 Fine Arts Important Dates
| June 10 | Entry Registration Opens |
| July 17 at 4:00 pm | Entry Form & Fee Deadline |
| July 27, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm | Entry Drop-Off (Receiving) Fine Arts Building |
| August 2 at 5:00 pm | Accepted/Not Accepted Posted Online |
| August 9 at 4:00 pm | Accepted Electronically Submitted Artwork Drop-off Deadline |
| August 22, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm | Public Reception |
| August 26 at 5:00 pm | Judging Results Posted Online |
| September 4, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm and September 7, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm | Entry Pick Up (Release) |
Important Information
2024 Colorado State Fair - Fine Arts Competition Judges
Mettje Swift
Born a Coloradan, and raised in Golden, I opened my first banner art studio in Mancos, CO in the early 1980s. The studio moved to Durango, CO in 1989 and in 1995, I acquired a large downtown building in Del Norte CO that gave me the space to complete large-scale fabric art projects for clients throughout the North American continent as well as Europe.
I became a seamstress at 12 years old making clothing for myself and friends throughout my youth and as a revenue stream throughout my university years. I studied the Theater Arts at Drake University, including stage arts, and began working with professional artist Janet Behrens Seibert, UCLA, in 1978. I received a BA in Art from Fort Lewis College and enrolled in Masters studies at Adams State College from 2012-2014. For the most part, I am self-taught.
I design and create patterns for unique mobile installations in interior atriums. I think of my work as adornment for public spaces. Though my production team fabricates my designs for outdoor city streets and festivals, we work mostly with suspended mobile art made of stainless steel tubing frames covered in light translucent tapestry. My inspiration comes from the outdoor dynamic of sun and wind sculpting flags in flight.
Jill Starkey
I am the third generation of artistically talented women in my family and I have produced two more, my daughter and granddaughter.
The act of creating art has saved me from myself more times than I can tell. I started with oil paints in 1961 when my mother gave me her old paints, brushes, paint box, and some canvases.
I have pursued art as my life career since then. I have driven buses, trucks, and tractors. Been an outfitter cook, a baker, a bed and breakfast cook, and a restaurant cook in order to not work full time so my studio could have priority.
I started with oil paint decades ago and had to leave them due to health issues in 1996 and then in 2000 I moved to pastels and then added acrylics about a decade ago.
I have been teaching art privately since 1981 and still offer classes weekly in my home studio.
