The 27th Annual National Juried Exhibition “2023 For Pastels Only on Cape Cod” celebrates the pastel art form and features works by contemporary artists from across the country—and indeed the world. It provides pastel artists a distinguished opportunity to showcase and sell their work.

Pastel is fabricated from finely ground pigments,

a pulverized inert white filler such as ground calcium carbonate or kaolin, and a minuscule amount of binder such as gum tragacanth. The powdered ingredients are combined and rolled into sticks of colored powder. Pastel is usually drawn on paper, which must have a slight texture or “tooth” to grab and hold the medium on its surface.

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The optical vibrancy of a work in pastel results both from the absence of yellowing resins in its composition and the reflection of light from the innumerable facets of the finely ground powder.

It is an opaque medium and does not depend upon the underlying brightness of the paper to impart luminosity.

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