FOR MORE THAN 75 years the Mountain Artists Guild has been a cornerstone of Prescott’s creative community, helping shape the local arts scene while supporting generations of artists. This month that legacy continues with one of the city’s most beloved traditions, the Mother’s Day Fine Art and Wine Festival.
Held May 9 and 10 on the historic courthouse plaza and along Goodwin Street downtown, the festival blends fine art, wine-tasting, live entertainment and community celebration to what many consider the unofficial kickoff of Prescott’s spring festival season.
“This festival has been around since 1953,” says Stefanie Culver, executive director of the Mountain Artists Guild, an award-winning contemporary abstract artist and a third-generation Prescottonian whose life and work are deeply tied to the community she now helps lead. “The wine portion has only been part of it for the last six years, but the art festival itself has been a Mother’s Day tradition for generations.”
“We’ve always had a third-party organization handling the wine garden while we focused on the art side,” Culver explains. “This year we’re taking over everything ourselves, with the help of Cara Foster with Hot Dog Moon Productions and Kelly Kalen with Kalen Events. It’s a little daunting, but I’m excited because I want people to really see what the Guild can do.”
That means a larger, more immersive festival experience. Alongside the juried fine-art booths featuring artists from around the Southwest, guests will find food trucks, expanded wine and beer offerings, live music and a VIP-lounge experience.
“We’re excited about our entertainment, with performances planned throughout the weekend.” Culver says the goal is simple: to create an atmosphere that draws people not only to enjoy the wine and music, but to engage with the artists and invest in local creativity as well. Every wine or beer ticket sold is a way to support the arts and an amazing nonprofit.
“We do fine art,” she says. “We’re not a craft festival. This is sculpture, oil painting, acrylics, mixed media, serious artists who put their souls into their work.”
The new VIP experience adds another layer, offering guests a more curated setting where Guild members and exhibiting artists will show their work in a lounge atmosphere. Visitors can discover featured pieces, then seek out the artist’s full booth and collection on the festival grounds.
“It helps not only the Guild, but our vendors as well,” Culver says. “Someone may fall in love with one piece and then go find that artist to see more.”
For Culver, who has served as manager for nearly a year and is now stepping into the executive-director position, the festival represents more than an annual event. It reflects a larger mission to ensure the Mountain Artists Guild becomes more visible and more central to Prescott’s cultural identity.
A third-generation Prescottonian, Culver left Arizona in 2000 and spent years living in Los Angeles, Austin, San Diego, London and New York. Those years shaped both her artistic voice and her worldview, exposing her to creative communities across the country and abroad. In 2016 she returned to Prescott to care for her grandparents during their later years, a decision that deepened her relationship with both family and home town.
Her own work reflects that spirit of transformation. Culver’s contemporary abstract paintings explore themes of self-reflection and the human experience, often capturing the invisible but deeply felt energies shared between artist, subject and viewer.
Her work is vibrant, expressive, and rooted in storytelling. It embraces ambiguity and invites the viewer to bring their own life experiences into the narrative.
“At the heart of everything I do, whether through art, community leadership or counseling, is connection,” she says. “Creating spaces where people feel seen, supported and inspired.” That same philosophy shapes how she sees the Guild’s role in Prescott.
“When the art community is thriving, our economy is thriving,” she says. “Art is usually the first thing people stop buying when the economy drops. But art is culture. It shows where we are in that moment of time.”
For Prescott residents and visitors alike, the Mother’s Day Fine Art and Wine Festival offers more than a weekend outing. It is a reminder that the arts are not separate from community life, they are at the center of it.
Tickets for the Mother’s Day Fine Art and Wine Festival, including VIP packages, are available through the Mountain Artists Guild website (mountainartistsguild.org) under Festivals.
Paintings by Stefanie Culver
