Call For Artists -- Finding The Right Prospectus

“CALL FOR ENTRY”

I am gathering information to write about "Call For Entry” for visual artists. If you know of any contests, competitions or open calls with a deadline this summer or fall, send me the information. I am looking for museums, universities and brick and mortar galleries. Please no online galleries because MYARTSPACE has its own gallery devoted to selling works at NYAXE.
After doing some research, I am hoping to add some information to my blog and update it monthly.
I have had quite a bit of experience submitting my work to galleries and museums back when I was actively working in that direction. I know how frustrating it is to sift through all the crap out there. “How do we know what type of gallery is calling for entry?”
I used to look through Art Week for the latest call for entry; but they have gone by the wayside as of February 2010. Now, with the ubiquitous internet there are more and more scams. I will work very diligently to get some viable information very soon. In the mean time, I do know that some places are better than others in regard to visibility.

First of all, ask yourself why you want to show your work? Is it only to sell your work, or craving recognition, or just to get your art out there; "as we say in the art world?" Well, where is out there? If you look on the internet there are plenty of sites devoted to "call for entry" but most of them charge a yearly subscription. They aren’t too expensive but which one or two are the best?

I had friend of mine go through all the trouble in the submission process just to get into a tiny gallery way out in the middle of a wheat field in Nebraska. Not that there is anything wrong with Nebraska; but getting your art into show, after all the hard work put into making the art, preparing it to show and shipping it off, it seems like you would want to show in a place where plenty of people will see your art work.

Now, if you put in all that effort in making the art, getting it in order on CDs and DVDs, labeled, size/medium and all the other requests on the detailed prospectus, where are you going to show your work? It is always best to start close to home. If you are an emerging artist there are plenty of shows for artists who have just earned their MFA or have a limited number of shows under their belt. But for the people who have hit a ceiling and passed the emerging artist status, it becomes harder and harder to find quality places to submit work.

I know a woman who made up almost 300 portfolios and took them around to galleries in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Europe. She only got into one show and that was in Pacifica, California. Her work was great but no one cared to even look at it. She heard people laugh at her as she left a few of the galleries. I really felt bad for her. I don’t know what happened to her after she moved to New York but I hope she got off the ground.
I know there are many ways to get work shown but I will stick to “Open Calls For Entry” and “Artist’s Call For Entry.” Some of the “calls for art” may state their desire to look at an artist’s work for an upcoming show.

They may be looking for a certain theme or they want any genre of fresh art for an open call. Sometimes this work is shelved for future shows. They may be named, “call for entry” “call for art” “call for artist” but they all are requesting artist’s to send in examples of there work to their jury or selection committee. I am sure most of you already know this but I am just answering some of the questions from readers about this topic.
I will start with the competitions I know myself, do a bit more research and hopefully I will get plenty of information from "out there."

Of course I have to let you know about what MYARTSPACE has to offer in terms of competitions. The Scholarship competition is very successful for students and a few different competitions are coming up. I will keep you posted.

Let me know what you are interested in and what you would like to find out about art competitions.

I want to let you know about a “Call For Entry” in San Francisco where years ago a colleague of mind won and was almost sued for slander. I will just leave that information at that and move on. Look over the prospectus and see if your art would fit in the category.


Call For Artists: 2010/2011 Art on Market Street Kiosk Poster Series
2010/2011 Art on Market Street Kiosk Poster Series
CALL FOR ARTISTS: prospectus may be viewed at:

http://www.sfartscommission.org/pubartcollection/calls-for-artists/2010/05/10/call-for-artists-20102011-art-on-market-street-kiosk-poster-series/

APPLICATION DEADLINE: MONDAY, JUNE 7, 2010, 5:00 p.m.

Remember the deadline and follow the prospectus. After you read all the details you will see how much you have to do to “GET OUT THERE”
Feel Free to email me @

jennykterry@gmail.com

best,

Jenny Harris
Senior Editor
MYARTSPACE.com

Universitys' Master’s Thesis Shows

Monica Lundy 2010

gouache on paper, 2010

May is a busy time for Universities. In the art world, the Master’s Thesis Fine Art Exhibitions is one of the most pivotal moments in an artist life. Millions of art collectors, patrons of the arts, curators, critics, other artists and friends descend on campuses to view the art of students just about to enter the competitive art market. Because these students have been studying innovative ideas, collaboration, style and refinement of their work for the last two or three years, their art may be on the cutting edge waiting to be to be scooped up by collectors. Students will use this work to contact galleries and competitions to start, or extend their art career.

I looked up MFA Thesis shows and found a few in the Bay Area. The three I picked are not a reflection of the best art work in this area; but they are the shows I had time to visit, read about or view online. I did notice most of the artists did not have their own web page -- to easily access through their University’s MFA show web site. Or could I find them on any social web site. I believe having a place to share their art would be an important tool for student to learn in this age of social networking.

It is a well know fact, if you want to start collecting art -- go to MFA Thesis Shows. Student artists are very interested in selling their art, at no commission to a gallery, for great prices.

Don’t be surprised if you run into artist egos because these students are coming off a high where they were on top of their world.

Mills College MFA Exhibition 2010

Exhibition Dates: May 2−30, 2010

My first adventure was to Mills College in Oakland. The name of their Thesis Show is Between You and Me. The exhibition is curated by Stephanie Hanor, Director of the Mills College Art Museum.Between You and Me features work by:

Nic Buron, Joey Castor, Chris Fraser, Dana Hemenway, Kija Lucas, Bobby Lukas, Monica Lundy, Kate Stirr, Adam Vermeire and Doug Williams.

Monica Lundy 2010

271, gouache on paper, 2010

Monica Lundy's investigations of historical California criminals manifest, of women who were in prison, in a series of paintings and sculpture that explore identity perception in relation to systems of social classification.

This body of work was inspired by prison archival photographs from the California State Archives in Sacramento.

These oil and gouache portraits of female inmates and the application of wet clay to the gallery wall diluted paint that pools, bleeds, and separates as it dries, creates an effect of staining or erosion; or wet clay on the wall that leaves as evidence only a trace of what was there before. “Working in this way conjures mental parallels to the corrosive nature of time on material things,” Lundy said.

Lundy has already had numerous exhibitions and has studied in painting in Florence, Italy. She received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. You can view more of her work at www.monicalundy.com.

This work and the other 2010 MFA student’s work can be seen through the end of this month.

Mills College 5000 MacArthur Blvd
Oakland, CA 94613 Museum Hours:

Tuesday-Sunday 11-4 pm

Wednesday 11-7:30 pm

www.mills.edu/museum

San Francisco Art Institute MFA Exhibition 2010

Runs through: 15–22 May 2010

If you can only make it to one show and really want to see a cross section of what’s happening in the contemporary art world you can’t miss the “San Francisco Art Institute MFA Graduate Exhibition, Vernissage. This show will feature work by nearly 100 artists graduating from the SF Art Institute this year.

Artists include: Maia L. Anderson, Luca Nino Antonucci, Alexis Arnold, David Bayus, Pete Belkin, Pamela Belknap, Tyler Borenstein, Percy Cannon, Reece Camp Carter, Richard Bluecloud Castaneda, Carlos Castro Arias, Alma Chaney, Kim Cook, Christina Corfield, Liz Corman, Ian Coyle, Taylor Crawley, Nicole Crescenzi, Donald Daedalus, Xiao-long Dai, Tyrone Davies, Kate Dipietro, Emily Dippo, Stephanie Dodes, Mercedes Dorame, Jason Driskill, Sara Eliassen, Carrie Elzey, Rashin Fahandej, Catherine Anne Fairbanks, Laura Boles Faw, Michael Robinson Fleming, Ferdinanda Florence, Aryk Gardea, Lindsay Gardner, Brynda Glazier, Jono Goodman, David Marc Grant, Casey Gray, Robin Griswold, Ashley Harris, Lauren Hartman, Melkorka Helgadóttir, Michael Hilt, Chris Hood, Tsen-Chu Bamboo Hsu, Neil Jernstrom, Lindsay Jordan, Hyunsun (Yuri) Jung, Amelia Layton, Jack Leamy, Ko Woon Lee, Hava Liberman, Cathy Chih Lu, Christine Lund, Julie Mallozzi, Romy Leanides Mariano, Susan Alta Martin, Margaux McAllister, Christopher Walton McLean, Carling McManus, Sonja Meller, Nicholas Conrad Miller, Mimi Moncier, Amy Morgenstern, Robert Moya, Muistardeaux Collective, Crystal Am Nelson, Karl Nelson, Jennifer Odell, Ian Alan Paul, Eric Petitti, Scott Polach, Carissa Potter, Ernest Eugene Regua, Lina María Rincón, Eric A. Roman, Lisa Mitchell-Schmaltz, Jesse Eric Schmidt, Gretchen Adelia Schneider, Stephen R. Shearer, Daniel R. Small, Marta Spurgeon, Magda Stanová, Mary Jakse Strebinger, Jen Susman, Amy R. Sweeney, Michael Ten Pas, Angela Thornton, Krissie Tosi, Paulina Velázquez Solís, Kheng-li Wee, Cascade Wilhelm, Megan Wynne, Michele Wysocki, Rochelle You, Amber Jean Young, Daniel Yovino, and Eric Zeigler.

Paulina Velázquez Solís

Solis was born in Puebla, México but moved to Costa Rica, where she obtained her BFA in Visual Arts at the National University (UNA) in printmaking with teachers such as Adrián Arguedas and Rudy Espinoza.

Her work is focused at the moment in the symbolism behind games and playful actions, using techniques such as printmaking, as well as video, animation and three-dimensional objects. In her thesis work she found discarded objects on the sidewalks in a couple of San Francisco neighborhoods. She copied the objects and printed them out on paper or on currency.

She plans to go back to Costa Rica and find job that gives her time to do her art. She also wants to open a workshop-studio-art coop.

She has also shown her work in such places as Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba, the Costa Rican National Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MADC) in San José and the SUNY Gallery in New Paltz, New York.

The Thesis Show for the Art Institute will be at Fort Mason.

Vernissage

Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason

(Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street)

San Francisco, CA

Gallery hours: daily from 12:00 to 6:00p.m.

http://sfai.edu

San Francisco State University 2010 Thesis Show

Through May 14

Seven emerging, prolific artists present new work in textiles, sculpture, painting, conceptual and information arts, photography and printmaking. Showcasing the creativity and diversity in the SF State Art Department’s rigorous, competitive three-year M.F.A. program, these artists all exhibit their works actively throughout Northern California.

Bren Ahearn, Luke Damiani, Aaron Granich, Matt Kennedy, Taryn McCabe, Jeff Ray, and Holly Williams.

Luke Damiani 2010

Luke Damiani’s wood and metal sculpture presents as a statement on industrialism’s crude beginnings. These machines would have little use with today’s rapid farming practices. Along any highway in California old broken-down tractors, plows and carts can been seen rusting away. This work reminds me of a representation of the once thriving agrarian culture.

Damiani say, "Machinery in the modern age augments human activities, making tasks easier to perform, or freeing up labor altogether. Prior to the materialization of machinery though, people imagined mythical machines that aided them in navigating the supernatural. Both realized and imagined machinery are indicative of man’s desire to invent forms that could provide freedom from the constraints of time and place."

Damiani received his BFA from the California College of Arts & Crafts, Oakland before attending to San Francisco State University. He has worked as a gallery assistant during his time at college and will continue to show his work.

Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Through May 14th

Closed Sunday through Tuesday.
1600 Holloway Avenue

San Francisco

Fine Arts Building Room 238

http://art.sfsu.edu/

More On Thesis Shows:

After all the research I did through the internet I found it difficult to find accessible images of students’ work at University MFA Programs. The Master Thesis Shows' Art should be easy to find and the artists work displayed. I didn’t have all that much luck in the Bay Area finding good web sites. But I did find two from other states -- that go right to the MFA students’ thesis show. Why do most colleges neglect to have students work easily available to view on the internet? Shouldn't learning how to display their art on the internet be on the curriculum? There are too many unorganized, ugly, non-productive sites around that do more harm than good for the visibility of fresh art from the energetic group of recent graduates.

Go to these sites to see if they are easy to look through.

Emerging and established artist need to understand how to show their work through the World Wide Web.

University of Houston

http://www.class.uh.edu/blaffer/exhibit_2010_thesis.html

Massachusetts College of Art and Design

http://www.massart.edu/Galleries/Featured_Exhibitions/MFA_Thesis_10.html

Jenny Harris

Senior Editor

MYARTSPACE.com

Appropriating Shepard Fairey's Art

The “HOPE” CAPER

Appropriating Art For Fun

Someone has stolen Speperd Frairy iconic art, “HOPE.” But I don't think he can do anything about it. A web site is already dedicated to allowing people to add their image to the “HOPE” design to render an image similar to Frairy’s work.

I was so excited I looked up who is using it and found an interesting mix of people joining in on the fun. It is sort of like doing graffiti art on the internet.

So go to http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/ and get started on your own piece of history. You will be immortalized.

Some of the design templates reflect the “HOPE” poster closely and others just give it a hint of Frairy's work. The more I looked around the more I found uses of his work as a money making operation. An appropriation via an iconic piece of artwork. If you would like to see some more information on what you can do to get a copy of an artists work and mess with it, like painting a mustache on the “Mono Lisa,” see what Paste Magazine has to offer.

Paste Magazine says in a short explanation of what the site did after appropriating Fairey's work:
"Paste Magazine launched Obamicon shortly before President Obama's inauguration in January. The site allowed users to make images of them in the style of Shepard Fairey's iconic "Hope" poster. The site received over a million visitors in its first month, with over 1.25 million webicons created to date. Iranicon is the third official webicon, following "Luvicon" and Obamicon. Paste has also produced webicons for Green for All and the Atlanta Hawks." I wonder what Fairey thinks about this? This magazine is raking in the bucks from advertizing because of the interest in this little project.

Over a million webicons created. Now we have a new word for the dictionary webicons?

HOW I FOUND THE OBAMICON

Someone sent me an attachment of this band that has exploded the Internet with their music. The neo-punk-rap-rave-band Die Atwood (The Answer) has no respect. They not only took on the adoption of Frairy's work they use it for advertising for their music. However, Die Antwoord says they have no respect for anything political or commercial. Like punk and rap music, Die Antwoord spews its share of profanity at the audiences and airwaves. Some of the portrayals are sort of corny for me like their use of the Ninja. It is funny and goofy but some how it works. Their message is clear there language is not.

I spray painted over a word on the poster to the left because it is one of the seven dirty words a journalist is forbidden to use (thanks George Carlin). Although it is not the same spelling as in our culture it translates the same. If you haven't guessed what that word is I can give you the first letter, f. It would give me a lot of joy to have left the word as it was, but heck just Google it. Some people are very offended by these words so we must obey the law or should I say perceived law.

A bit of information on this band -- the members grew up in the same trailer park in South Africa and their music is about poverty, culture, hate and racism. Their use of English is difficult for me to understand. But I am sure I can guess what most of the words say. What I have seen is a group of people mimicking anything they can to get a response.

Let me get back to the art work the band evokes. What is interesting, besides the uses of Frairy's “HOPE” poster, was their visual art in their videos, posters, and mostly from their fans. Their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/DieAntwoord is set up for fans to comment, share photos and to display some of their own art work. It looks nothing like my family's Facebook page, by the way. Some of this work is very good but you have to sift through a lot of band photos to get to pieces like the one below of Yolandi.

The artist is a fan and admirer from South Africa. It looks nothing like my family's Facebook page, by the way. Some of this work is very good but you have to sift through a lot of band photos to get to pieces like the one below of Yolandi. The artist is a fan and admirer from South Africa.

Just because the art is coming from the influence of music and it may be appropriated by armature artist. It could be classified into a genre of art much like Frairy’s graffiti art. The groups parody of contemporary genres of art and music. It funny and fresh. I can't say I am going to follow their current popularity on the "inter-web" Internet, but I do have a lot of questions about why they decided to use Frairy's work to portray their image. Maybe it just crossed the minds of the band members. Almost every aspect of this band is an appropriation. I am sure they would just say “F--- it.

It is very important to note sometimes the truth is better told by artists. The issues of racism in South Africa runs deep. We in America my think we are century’s away from institutionalized racism; but are we?

“As South Africa's democracy has matured the race issue has intensified, deepened, and become more problematic. It can still be expressed in the crudest possible manner, as happened last week when a white farmer in the Free State province dragged a black man - with a wire tied to his ankle - for five kilometers behind his pick-up truck. The black man died, yet another victim of all-too-frequent race murders in a liberated South Africa.” Justice Malala, London correspondent for the South African Sunday Times.

I hope you have time to take a peek at Paste Magazine and do yourself up into a piece of artwork. Send me your images as you do them and I will collect and post them to this blog.

Thanks to Speaperd Frairy we all have hope.

My Facebook friend Steve took advantage of the Paste Magazine Obomicon me web site and did a nice job on his self portrait.

If you like to email me or send me your Obomicon me images send it to:

jennykterry@gmail.com

Jenny Harris

Senior Editor

MYARTSPACE.com not con.