Carmel celebrates creative expression with a four-day festival of art.

Carmel is a community founded by artists and writers, and keeping true to tradition the village by the sea will play host to the Carmel Art Festival 2000, May 18-21. The festival is presented by the nonprofit Carmel Gallery Alliance to honor Carmel''s heritage as an art-centric community and to raise funding for community youth art education programs.

During the four-day festival a variety of events, including artist demonstrations, special exhibits and artist receptions, will take place in over 35 galleries throughout Carmel. The highlight of this seventh annual festival will be the Plein Air Painting Competition, exhibit and silent auction. Attracting both local and nationally known painters, this event is a showcase for artistic spontaneity as artists create on the spot, using the local scenery as inspiration. The artists will be painting all day Thursday and Friday, but according to Cyndra Bradford, of Carmel''s Gallery Plein Air, "to work in the best light, the artists will probably work between three and four hours on any one painting, since the light tends to go in the middle of the day."

"The artists are all probably used to being watched as they work," says Bradford. "People usually gather when they see an artist working out in public." But don''t expect meaningful conversation from an artist with brush in hand, especially during the competition.

Art collectors will have a chance to bid on the pieces during a silent auctions on Saturday and Sunday at the Hanson Gallery, on Ocean and San Carlos. Following the competition is an awards ceremony at 2pm Sunday afternoon. Proceeds from the auction will go to benefit area youth programs.

The prize total for the competition is $20,000, divided into various categories. First prize is $5,000; second prize is $2,500, and third prize is $1,500. Other categories affording cash awards are Best Local Artist, Best On Paper, Best Canvas on Board, Artists'' Choice, and People''s Choice. The artists involved with the competition will choose the winner for the Artists'' Choice category, and the community will be able to vote in the People''s Choice category.

Local youth will have the opportunity to showcase their talent as proud parents and friends gather at the Carmel Youth Center to view the festival''s Youth Art Show. Works collected from schools within the Carmel Unified School District will be on display Friday through Sunday from noon to 3pm, with an opening reception at the Youth Center at 4th and Torres, behind the Carmel Police Department Building. All students from Carmel schools were eligible to enter the competition, with artwork submitted by their teachers. Children as young as 5 years old have the opportunity to enter a competition, have their artwork professionally framed and receive recognition of their talent at an awards ceremony.

Also on the menu of artistic delicacies is an event at Carmel''s Devendorf Park. From noon on Friday through Sunday afternoon, Sculpture in the Park entitles those interested to view large outdoor sculptures presented through a cooperative effort by several local galleries.

Those up for an artistic stroll through Carmel can tag along with former Carmel Mayor Ken White, when he hosts the Mayor''s Choice event on Friday. At the conclusion of this walking tour of CGA member galleries, the mayor will present a ribbon to a selected work of art.