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)
In-person entry registration Office Hours 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays between June 10th and July 16th.
In-person entry registration will be in the General Entry & Fine Arts office in the Northeast corner of the Palace of Agriculture (where it has been in prior years).
If your artwork is on the list above, it was juried into the show and will be on display during the 2025 Colorado State Fair. Congratulations!
If you submitted your work to be judged from images and it was accepted into the show, you must bring your work to the Gallery by August 8th, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. Any artwork on the ‘Accepted’ list that is not received by this date and time will not be accepted into the show.
Gallery hours are 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. August 4th-8th, 2025.
You may drop off your artwork that was accepted and submitted digitally during this window. Artwork that was not accepted may also be picked up in this timeframe. We will not accept artwork or release artwork outside of this timeframe. Any artwork not accepted and not picked up by 2:00 p.m. on August 8th will then be held until the set pick up times, after the fair, listed below.
2025 Fine Arts Important Dates
| June 9 | Entry Registration Opens |
| July 16 at 4:00 pm | Entry Form & Fee Deadline |
| July 26, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm | Entry Drop-off, Fine Arts Building |
| August 1 at 5:00 pm | Accepted/Not Accepted Posted Online |
| August 8 at 2:00 pm | Accepted Electronically-Submitted Artwork Drop-off Deadline |
| August 21, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm | Public Reception |
| August 25 at 5:00 pm | Full Judging Results Posted Online |
| September 3, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm and September 6, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm | Entry Pick-up |
Important Information
2025 Colorado State Fair - Fine Arts Competition Judges
Leigh Cabell
Leigh Cabell’s
Artist Statement
I am an environmental Artist.
My Medium is Trash!
Surprised?
I did not start out to be an environmental artist/activist even though I have felt strongly about it most of my life. From seeing a duck with a six-pack ring around his neck when I was ten to walking a rack line in college. Trash is EVERYWHERE, part of our everyday lives. The most impactful thing I could think to do was to show you beauty using our unwanted/discarded items.
Which is why I cut up pieces of everyday items, e.g. chip bags, coffee bags, frozen food bags and reassemble those pieces to create nature scenes. Or turn 1000 plastic milk cartons into a full-sized kimono.
I happened into it but it feels right to me to be using trash to speak about the environment. So I deliberately call it trash and not some other pretty name because I want you to be uncomfortable. I want you to get outside of your comfort zone. Think about the world and how you interact with it.
This applies to people too! We all feel marginalized, unloved, unwelcome, of less worth than others but everyone has something they can teach us if we just look at them differently. (ask questions, be less judgmental). We are all in this together, from the environment to Black Lives Matter. We are more alike than we are different. Think outside of yourself, be interested….be interesting. To me everything/one has value, even a piece of trash. It is all perspective.
I hope my work challenges you to think about the environment and how what each of us does affects the whole.
Edie Winograde
Edie Winograde is a photographic artist based in Denver, Colorado. Her work explores how history and cultural stories shape the way we experience landscapes, inviting viewers to reflect on the layered meanings held within place. She began making photographs as a teenager growing up in rural northern California and continued developing her artistic practice while earning a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, before completing an MFA in Photography and Related Media at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Her photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries across the country, including the International Center of Photography in New York, MCA Denver, the Torrance Art Museum, and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Her work is included in institutional and private collections, and she is represented by Robischon Gallery in Denver.
