300 Plates

300 Plates is an annual fundraiser and exhibition that benefits the programs of Art Access. This popular art sale involves 200 Utah artists creating over 380 10"x11" panels. Held online again this year, we are grateful for all the artists and art lovers who continue to support us. Questions? Email 300plates@artaccessutah.org.

Thank you to all our amazing artists and plate purchasers for making 300 Plates work again this year online! We are really looking forward to having the party in person again in 2022.
The event brought in $69,000 and we sold 201 plates!

2021 Plate Pickup

If you still need to pick up the plates you bought or if you are an artist whose plate(s) didn't sell, our office hours are:

Tuesday & Thursday
9:00 am-3:00 pm

or email us at 300plates@artaccessutah.org to make an appointment.

Important Dates

Monday, April 26, 2021
Individual tickets go on sale for $25 each.

Monday, May 17, 2021 at 10:00 am
Online preview of all plates available to the public.

Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 10:00 am
Exclusive access to the online sale begins for sponsors and ticket holders.

Friday, May 21, 2021 at 10:00 am
Online sale will be free and open to the public.

Friday, June 11, 2021 at 5:00 pm
Online sale closes.

2021 Sponsors

There are two sponsorship opportunities this year. Sponsoring 300 Plates is the most impactful way to support our programs and help us to keep advocating for and supporting access to the arts in Utah.

Thank you to this year's sponsors!

David L. & Kerry Ellen Carlson
Janet & Dave Deisley
Susan Dillon & Joe Zeidner
Mary Ann Ellis
Robb & Sarah Farr
Jennifer Gee
Patrick Gibbons
Richard & Susan Lockwood
Art Swindle
Saul & Ericka Weissman
Zvonek & Co.

Thanks to these sponsors, we have metal plates again this year!

Why be a sponsor?

Dear Friends of Art Access,

What a year it has been. A global pandemic. An earthquake. Hurricane level winds. And that’s just in Utah. This year has been anything but ordinary and has been challenging for so many people. Times like these remind us what we are most grateful for. For us at Art Access, that is all of you. The artists that make 300 Plates possible and bring sunshine to our entire community. The artists with disabilities that give us the great honor of being a part of their journey. Our donors, sponsors, funders, supporters, and champions that help Art Access continue our work and grow. And all of our program participants, peers, friends, and patrons. We miss you.

This year, to help keep our community safe, we will once again be hosting 300 Plates online. But next year, we look forward to seeing you in person for our traditional 300 Plates Fundraiser and Exhibition event and the party that comes along with it. In addition, this year we are continuing our 50/50 split with our amazing artists, in recognition of the challenges that many artists are facing during this economic recession.

All that said, some things never change. We will have incredible art, in a variety of mediums and styles, from some of Utah’s famous artists and from some of our greatest up and coming artists. This year we will have close to 400 original pieces of art for sale created by over 200 brilliant, talented and generous artists.

We hope that you will join us again, or for the first time, as a 300 Plates Sponsor. By sponsoring this event you are making it possible for us to make community driven, accessible, and empowering programs. In the past year, Art Access created a $50,000 emergency relief fund for artists with disabilities and BIPOC artists, provided accessibility training and consultation to over 25 cultural organizations, supported 7 emerging artists with disabilities, and launched a new public workshop series focusing on disability justice and accessibility. Your support will help us to do even more in the year ahead.

Blue skies are ahead. Thank you for your support!

With Love,
Shandra Benito
Executive Director

300 Plates History

Joe Ostraff
Art Department Chair, BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications
Former Art Access board member

The story of the 300 Plates Fundraiser begins in Thailand in the summer of 1993. My family and I were the invited guests of a family living in Cha-am, Thailand. As part of our weekly activities, we would visit one of the many Buddhist Wat (monasteries) found in almost every community. On one such visit, a monk approached me and gave me a packet of photos of King Rama V. He blessed me and promised that if I incorporated the images in my art I would bring about good fortune. I held on to the images for many years, waiting for an appropriate time to use them.

In fall of 1998, I was driving home from a field trip with BYU art students. John Ohran was among the group. He and I got into a discussion about art ideas and he shared his interest in a project that Ed Kienholz (an internationally acclaimed installation artist) had completed, numbering prints one through one thousand and selling them for the corresponding number. It seemed to me a critical statement on the commodification of art, and John and I wondered if we could give the idea a positive twist.

During the conversation, I mentioned my Thai experience and one thing led to another. Hence, John and I had a two-person exhibition at Art Access in 1999 entitled Restoration of Good Fortune: One Through Three Hundred and Fifty, with the prices matching the numbered art. Images of King Rama V as king, military leader, and father found their way into all the mixed media paintings on aluminum plates, and the sale proceeds were divided between Art Access and the Sudanese Refugee Fund.

In 2002, Art Access was looking to diversify its funding base since the majority of the organization’s funds came from a single source. I was a board member at the time and suggested that we try a fundraiser using progressive pricing, and that we invite multiple artists to participate. It was very successful, and I feel that the Thai monk’s blessing continues to be realized each year through the 300 Plates fundraiser.

Interested in next year?

Are you an artist interested in participating in 300 Plates next year? Click below to get on the email list to stay updated. If you have participated in 300 Plates, you are already on this list.

Artist Email List

2021 Artists

We are so grateful for all the returning artists who support 300 Plates every year and for all the new artists (over 50!) who are joining us. This fundraiser would not be possible without them. And since times are still difficult for artists and nonprofits, we are splitting the proceeds from each plate sale with the artist 50/50.

Most artists' names are clickable if you want to check out their work before this year's plates are available for preview.