BELLEVUE, WA.- A staple of the craft community for over 60 years, the Bellevue Arts Museum artsfair sponsored by Microsoft Corporation is the largest and most prestigious juried arts festival in the Pacific Northwest. Spanning three days, from July 24 - 26, 2009, the BAM artsfair is a multi-faceted, free family event showcasing over 300 unique artists from the Pacific Northwest and across the nation plus live performances, artist demonstrations and kidsfair. Represented media include ceramics, textiles, glass, jewelry, painting, photography, sculpture and more.

Highlights of the 2009 BAM artsfair include:

325 juried exhibitors offering unique, handmade arts & crafts that are hard to find anywhere else.

kidsfair featuring over 8,000 square feet of fun, hands-on art activities for children ages 4 - 12, including all-time favorites Bubbles the Clown and Zany Worms.

Chalk It Up! sponsored by Comcast is a free outdoor chalk activity for children big and small in front of the Museum on 6th Street.

Admission to the BAM artsfair as well as Bellevue Arts Museum is FREE throughout all three days of the festival.

Arts in Action Demonstrations Stage sponsored by Mulvanny G2 Architecture features woodturning, stone carving, glassblowing and other art demonstrations.

Brian Major chalk painting: Celebrated chalk artist Brian Major will once again recreate a famous masterpiece in chalk.

Delicious concessions featuring non-profit partners such as Bellevue Rotary, Eastside Shrine Club, GE Volunteers, Bellevue Kiwanis and Greater Bellevue Lions Club.

This year, over 1,000 artists from across the country applied to participate in the 2009 BAM artsfair. 320 were selected by a jury of art professionals, consisting of Ben Mitchell, Senior Curator of Art, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (Spokane, WA); Bruce Pepich, Executive Director and Curator of Collections, Racine Art Museum (Racine, WI); and Patricia Watkinson, Former Executive Director, Pilchuck Glass School (Stanwood, WA).

Among the selected artists are Seattle-based Erica Gordon who creates modern, sophisticated home and fashion accessories from a variety of new and reclaimed metals; self-taught, California-based jeweler Eric Silva whose hand-carved jewelry employs fossil ivory and precious metals; and Mathew Allison, also from Seattle, known for his wheel-thrown and hand-built stoneware and porcelain vessels. Over 90 artists in this year’s fair are participating for the first time.

Now in its 63nd year, the BAM artsfair is held annually during the last weekend of July and is hosted by Bellevue Arts Museum. Bellevue Arts Museum’s Annual Fundraiser, Artful Evening (previously known as the Patron Party), will be celebrated on Wednesday, July 22. The event features a lively reception and silent and live auctions highlighting works from many BAM artsfair artists.