CANVAS Outdoor Museum Show is an annual art event held during the second week of November in Downtown West Palm Beach, Florida. The show was created by West Palm Beach gallery owner Nicole McGraw of NM Fine Art and serves as a public platform for visual artists in the genres of contemporary art, mural art, street art, public art, video art, and site-specific installation art. Its most recent production also included the downtown of nearby Lake Worth, Florida.

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The show’s mission is to bring the works of international artists to public spaces for an outdoor museum experience where the artists are given the platform to create site-specific installations on public infrastructure. With successful museum shows in 2015, 2016, and 2017, downtown West Palm Beach has become an important tourist destination year-round as visitors from all over the world come to see the striking outdoor art museum that continues to grow each year.

 

 

ARTISTS

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Each show features 18 to 20 rising and established artists from around the world as well as a Local Showdown in which local artists complete to be in the next show’s lineup.

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The November 2015 inaugural show presented[3] a lineup of 20 artists that came from the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany and Puerto Rico, including: 2Alas,[4] Bik-Ismo, CASE Maclaim, Cheryl Maeder, Greg Mike, Herakut, Jean-Luc Moerman, Jeremy Penn, José Bedia Valdés, Kai, Katja Loher, Kobra, Pastel, Registered Artists, Michael Dweck, Ron English, Sean Yoro (aka HULA),[5] WRDSMTH, and ZEUS.

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Over 18 site-specific installations and large-scale murals were created around Downtown, West Palm Beach on select buildings and infrastructure in various locations, including the City Hall Courtyard, Royal Park Bridge, Fern Street, and The Whitney.

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The 2015 CANVAS Local Showdown was held in Northwood Village, where seven local artists competed to be on the 2016 CANVAS lineup. Artist Amanda Valdes won the competition by popular public vote on the CANVAS app.

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In 2016, the show expanded to include nearby Lake Worth, and the artists included Amanda Valdez, Astro, Case Maclaim, Greg Mike, Griffin Loop, HEC One Love, Hoxxoh, HULA, Hybycozo, Laura Kimpton, Lonac, Lori Pratico, Pichiavo, Pipsqueak Was Here!!!, Sipros, WRDSMTH, and ZEUS. The nations represented were the UK, the US, Brazil, The Netherlands, Spain, Croatia, Germany, and France.

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The 2017 show also included both West Palm Beach and Lake Worth, and several of the artists’ work in previous shows was so highly regarded they were invited back. Newcomers include Cyrcle, D*Face, Jennifer Chaparro (winner of the Local Showdown), Kobra, and Okuda.

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CHARITY

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In August 2015, a board of directors was formed to establish CANVAS Art Charities, an official not-for-profit 501(c)(3). The charity funds and curates year-round programming and events to support art in public spaces. Artist Dean Zeus Coleman won the artist residency where he will create an installation in Downtown Abacoa in Jupiter, Florida.