This year’s Charbonneau Art Festival will begin with a champagne reception & silent auction on Friday evening, November 2, beginning at 6:00. Our artists’ gallery will exhibit works by local artists—including many from Charbonneau, along with our featured artist—Holly Kroening.
Because this is a fund-raiser for their programs, there will also be a large exhibit of student art from Canby and Wilsonville high schools. The students provide demonstrations as well as serve as docents for this part of the festival.
Tickets are $15 at the door or $10 in advance. Advance tickets are available at the Windermere office in Charbonneau, Cutsforth’s Market in Canby, and online at www.charbonneauarts.org.
In addition to having a chance to chat with all the artists, the event will feature a silent auction, live music by Marilyn Anderson, and hors d’oeuvres donated by Wilsonville Catering and Cutsforth’s Market. This gala is always a lively event for everyone.
The Charbonneau Art Association is a non-profit, tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization, and proceeds from the Charbonneau Art Festival go directly to local public art education programs and the impact is significant, touching a wide range of students.
Between the two high schools, teachers report that they serve over 1,000 students each semester.
Canby High School Art Programs
According to Jennifer Dorsey, the lead art teacher for Canby High School, examples of the impact that Charbonneau’s donations have had on art education are numerous:
- Field trips to museums and art galleries.
- Transportation for the Oregon Ballet Photo/Art Encounter, a project in Adv. Photography.
- Purchased digital cameras and class set of drawing boards.
- Purchased two throwing wheels, slab roller, and tools for Ceramics.
- Purchased easels, class set of wet palettes, and brushes for Painting.
- Purchased new projectors for the department for demonstrations and classroom instruction.
- Contributed to the Canby Visual Arts Scholarship for a graduating CHS student who is majoring in Visual Art in college.
Jennifer summarizes the impact this way: “All of our students are positively impacted by the additional funds either by using the equipment, traveling to the Portland Art Museum, or participating in Oregon Ballet Photo/Art Encounter. None of these activities and large equipment purchases would be possible without the generous donations over the years from the Charbonneau Arts Association.”
Wilsonville High School Art Programs
When asked How the donations from the Charbonneau Art Association have been used, Christopher Shotola-Hardt explains, “We have designated a special account to help cover entry fees and tuitions for competitions and workshops for our students, opportunities for young artists outside the normal classroom routines and in-house exhibitions.”
As the lead teacher for art programs for Wilsonville High School, Christopher credits donations from our association for increasing participation in the National Scholastic Art Awards program. He explains, “We have experienced record-breaking submission rates and also the number of awards received.”
As for future plans, he adds that in addition to supporting the Scholastic Art Awards, they want to be able to bring in presenters and guest artists whose skills differ from the teachers and complement their instruction.

Teachers from Canby & Wilsonville High accept donation checks from Charbonneau Arts Association at the end of Festival 2017.
Source: Eric Hoem, President, Charbonneau Art Association