Yuma is like a lovely Mexican slice of life film. Each year quietly adds on to the next. Catching up with old friends while making new ones. A connection with our artist family, then a sweet good by until next year. We get older. Young artists arrive. And in the end we say a long goodbye and remember them over a Bloody Mary at the Bird Cage.
Deborah Lozier
Transportation & Accommodations
Transportation
Yuma is serviced by American Airlines via Phoenix and Dallas.
DIRECTIONS: From the Airport go north on Pacific approximately 3 miles (you will pass the Yuma Palms Shopping Center). Continue North to the stop sign. Turn left on Giss Parkway and continue to Maiden Lane. Turn right and go 2 blocks and park in the lot behind Lute’s Casino for Thursday registration.
To get to the Coronado Hotel and the Regal Lodge stay on the Giss Parkway and turn right at the light on 4th Avenue for the Coronado and left for the Regal. Both hotels will be in sight.
Transportation drive times:
- Phoenix 2hr 50min
- San Diego 2hr 39min
Accommodations
- Within walking distance:
- Historic Coronado Motor Hotel (877) 234-5567
- Hilton Garden Inn Yuma Pivot Point (928) 783-1500-(Discount code YAS24)
- Rega Lodge Motel (928) 782-4571
Within driving distance: All near the I-8 interchange and one exit from Giss Parkway.
- Yuma Best Western 928-783-8341
- The Shilo Inn 928 782-9511
- Inn Suites 928 783-8341
- Hampton Inn & Suites 928 329-5600
- La Fuente Inn 928 329-1814
- Days Inn 928 329-7790
Registration & Pin Swap
Registration
Please register online and bring your confirmation email with you to check-in at Lute’s Casino, 221 S. Main Street from 3:30 to 6:30pm on Thursday February 22, 2024. You will receive a name badge and symposium packet including a full schedule of events during check-in.
Pin Swap
For more than 40 years participants have made pins, usually in their preferred media, ranging from the goofy to the sublime. The best access to and selection of pins will be at registration on Thursday. However, pins are traded and sold throughout the symposium.
Exhibition
The Presenter exhibition is hosted by the City of Yuma at the Yuma Art Center Galleries. The exhibition is open to the public, and the opening night reception runs concurrently with the symposium.
The Friday night reception is one of the highlights of the Yuma Art Symposium with several hundred people in attendance. This event presents a great opportunity for symposium participants and the public to meet the Presenters and discuss the work.
Auction
Invited artists exhibit handmade small works of art that are auctioned (silently) during the opening of the exhibition on Friday evening. This is a great opportunity to add to your contemporary art collection. Many of the top artists in the country donate to the auction. Proceeds benefit the Friends of the Yuma Art Symposium.
Student Resources
Work Study Program
The Yuma Art Symposium Advisory Board would again like to offer a limited number of work-study positions to students to attend this years annual symposium. We invite educators to nominate students for a FREE REGISTRATION
If you’re interested in attending the symposium for FREE and have the energy and drive to help out, ask your instructor/teacher to nominate you for a work study position. Check out all the details to see if you qualify – Work Study Program
Student Show
This one night flash show is a fantastic opportunity for students to display artwork during the symposium. Start planning now! You must preregister your work before you arrive at the symposium.
Students attending the symposium are encouraged to bring a single “installation-ready” work for inclusion in the student exhibition, which is displayed concurrently with the presenter exhibition Friday evening. Although every effort will be taken to ensure the safety and security of the work, submission is at the student’s own risk.
Submissions MUST be registered online before midnight February 18, 2024
Registered artwork should be delivered to the Student Exhibition table at the opening night registration and social gathering Thursday Feb 22, 2024 from 3:30 – 6:30pm at Lute’s Casino 221 S Main St
Show your Stuff
Show Your Stuff is an event that turns the symposium attendee into the symposium presenter. Participants have the opportunity to present a 5 minute presentation of their artwork on Friday night of the symposium. It is a wonderful way to get your work out in public, practice your public speaking, or, if desired, ask the audience for their constructive feedback.
How to Present:
We operate on a first come first serve basis of which the cut off will be 20 presenters. Please limit all presentations to 5 minutes or less.
Interested presenters should prepare a PowerPoint of their work and then email it to Autumn Brown at YumaSYS@gmail.com before the beginning of the symposium. If you need help or have any questions at all, please contact Autumn at the email address above.
Saw File and Solder Sprints
Three person teams, usually but not necessarily skilled in metals work, convert the making of a simple ring into an exciting sports event. Put a team together and challenge the champs!
Dinner & Dance
Dress up or dress down, this is an Anything Goes Event. So toss on your best wig and some gold lame or a big shiny buckle and your best cowboy boots, because the Saturday night dinner & dance is the symposiums blowout bash!
YAS @ Arizona Western College
Thursday Feb 22nd
Arizona Western College, in conjunction with the Yuma Art Symposium, hosts the “Pre-Symposium Day at AWC” on Thursday morning and early afternoon in the Art Building room 103. Four symposium Presenters will give previews of their presentations free to the public.
- 9:00-10:15am – Andy Cooperman
- 10:30-11:45am – Patti Warashina
- 1:30-2:45pm – Paula Kovarik
- 3:00-4:15pm – Cedra Wood
Directions to Arizona Western College:
On I-8, take the Araby Rd. exit at mile post 7. Turn left (North). At 24th Street turn right (east). At the AWC main entrance turn left. Park in P7. The Pre-Symposium is held in the Art Building room 103.