The 2009 Bellevue Arts Museum artsfair is celebrating its 63rd year with a bang. The three-day artsfair is scheduled for July 24 to July 26 and will encompass artist exhibitions, demonstrations, hands-on art projects, kids activities, and more.

The Microsoft Corporation-sponsored event is the largest and most prestigious juried arts festival in the Pacific Northwest. Spanning three days, the BAM artsfair is a multi-faceted, free family event showcasing over 300 artists from the Pacific Northwest and across the nation plus live performances, artist demonstrations and kidsfair. The artsfair also will include ceramics, textiles, glass, jewelry, painting, photography, sculpture and more.

This year, over 1,000 artists from across the country applied to participate in the 2009 BAM artsfair and only 325 artists offering handmade arts & crafts were selected by a jury of art professionals to show their work. 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.

More than 90 artists in this year’s fair are participating for the first time.

Admission to the artsfair is free and will include a kidsfair featuring over 8,000 square feet of fun, hands-on art activities for children ages 4 – 12, including Bubbles the Clown and Zany Worms. A free outdoor chalk activity called, Chalk It Up!, will be sponsored by Comcast in front of the museum on Sixth Street.

Celebrated chalk artist Brian Major will once again recreate a famous masterpiece in chalk during the three-day artsfair and the Arts in Action Demonstrations Stage sponsored by Mulvanny G2 Architecture will feature woodturning, stone carving, glassblowing and other art demonstrations.

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 reception and silent and live auctions highlighting works from many BAM artsfair artists.

For more information, visit www.bellevuearts.org.