CALL for ENTRIES: Wide Open 10

Posted on January 24, 2019January 24, 2019 by R.L. Gibson

a-PEELING

My mother doesn’t own a vegetable peeler. Well, didn’t. While I have the benefit of a knife skills class in culinary school, I am not great a peeling vegetables. I can tourne a potato, but if I peel potatoes for mash, you’d better hope I have a vegetable peeler… or a LOT of potatoes. When my mother requested vegetable soup over the holidays, I refused unless she let me buy a peeler. She agreed with disdain, and I spent $3 on the most generic “Domestix” variety available at the local grocer. CHANGED MY LIFE, well, my cooking anyway. With one swoop across a potato, I realized how dull my home peeler was. I put the gadget on my holiday list, and it showed up under the tree. Suddenly I have zucchini ribbons in salad & shaved carrots in my coleslaw. The possibilities are wide open, ha.

I’ve done the same with paint recently. I had access to some more highly pigmented tube watercolors recently, and it affected my approach to the work I did with them. My nature is to “make do” with what I have. It is taught as a virtue in the South. Don’t get me started on all the evils of making do. It is a mindset meant to make children grateful for what they have, but it often squashes ambition and self-value in adults. That mindset combined with all the guilt I have associated with spending money, has kept me “making do” with some watercolors that are not working for me. Now when I finish a tube that doesn’t behave in a way that serves my work, I re-order that hue or something similar from a different maker. I am exploring variations & dispersal patterns & saturation unknown. The adventure has left me open to the possibilities. Vegetable peeler & watercolors. Variations on a theme.

This next Call is also looking for variations on the theme of “Wide Open”. BWAC is one of my favorite venues, known for great jurors, reliable curatorial vision, a non-profit format & even artist run. Interested? Then check out this Call for Entries from BWAC (Brooklyn, NY) for Wide Open 10. There is a distinct discount for early entry, so don’t delay. Take a look…

CALL for ENTRIES: Wide Open 10

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ELIGIBILITY: Open to U.S. artists 18+

MEDIA: Open to all media

THEME: Wide Open “encompasses all the possibilities of knowledge and freedom & love – wide open spaces…arms wide open…eyes wide open ‐ but as with all things, there is the inevitable opposite ‐ wide open to attack…corruption…failure. What kind of fantasy is this? What does it really indicate? This juried show looks to explore the idea of “wide open” in all the hidden niches of our collective psyche.” –bwac.org

ENTRY FEE: $50 up to 3, $6 ea add’l (early) or $70 up to 3, $6 ea add’l after Jan. 19th

DEADLINE: February 4, 2019 (early bird) or February 24, 2019 (final)

NOTIFICATION: March 15, 2019

JUROR: Ylinka Barotto is an Assistant Curator at the Guggenheim Museum and has assisted on such large-scale modern and postwar retrospective exhibitions as Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting (2015); Moholy-Nagy: Future Present (2016); Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim, which showcased masterworks from the Guggenheim’s modern collection (2017); and Mystical Symbolism; The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892-1897 (2017, for which she contributed to the catalog with entries on many of the show’s artists. Barotto is also one of the organizing curators for the museum’s Young Collectors Council, which acquires the work of emerging artists for the museum’s permanent collection. Barotto received an MA in curatorial and museum studies at Accademia de Belle Arti di Brera in Milan and is currently working toward an MA in art history at Hunter College of the City University of New York with a focus on postwar and contemporary feminism.

AWARDS: Best of Show Gold $1000, Best of Show Silver $500, People’s Choice $250, Curator’s Choice $250 & ten (10) $100 (ea.) Certificates of Recognition.

SALES: BWAC will retain a 30% commission on all exhibition sales.

For full details, Read the Full Call!

CALL for ENTRIES: Small Works 2019

Posted on January 22, 2019January 20, 2019 by R.L. Gibson

villainous FRUIT

I blew my grocery budget this week. I ran out of vanilla, almonds, pecans & walnuts all at one time. I may or may not have fallen prey to a Pinterest recipe that called for what seems like all the avocados in California, ha. Avocado toast is the villain once again. I see a lot of rice and beans for the end of the month. Do you rule your budget or does your budget rule you?

One of the most common stumbling blocks to productivity that I hear from artists is budget. Some media are incredibly expensive, some are not. We don’t always choose our media; sometimes it chooses us. So what do you do when you can’t afford 16 new tubes of oil? I have a friend that has become a master of mixing and regularly stocks only 6 colors. Early on, he did only monochromatic work that allowed him to stock only 3 tubes. I’m not suggesting this is your answer; I don’t have the answers. But I know that I must create, so I must find a way.

For years, I only did work that was under 12″ x 12″. Because I worked on gallery wrapped canvas or cradled wood I could ship anything I made via USPS Priority Mail for $8 or less. Now that I’m working on paper, I am torn between framing affordably small pieces or adding huge chunks of museum-quality matting to increase the negative space. That means you’re average 8″ x 10″ piece is 16″ x 20″ framed and 18″ x 24 “x 4″ by the time it is wrapped & packed & shipped. That doesn’t go anywhere in the continental U.S. for less than $36 bucks, and $50+ internationally, each way. This next show is for work 10″ x 10″, so if I work the math backwards, I would have to do 4″x4”. Hmmm, challenge accepted.

So, how about you? Do you normally work small or is this a challenge for you? Entry is cheap & the size means shipping is cheap. Check out this Call for Entries from The Studios of Key West & Lemonade Stand Gallery (Key West, FL) for 2019 Small Works Exhibit at the Sanger Gallery. $14 Entry & 50% commission. This show has a multi-year history for you to research. Is this right for you?

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CALL for ENTRIES:
2019 Small Works Exhibit from
the Lemonade Stand Gallery

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ELIGIBILITY: Open to all artists 18+

MEDIA: Open to all media. Finished work, must be 10″ or less including the frame.

DEADLINE: March 1, 2019

ENTRY FEE: $14 per piece entered

SUBMISSION NOTE: “When applying, please send the most clear image of your work. This year we would also like to have an on-line reception, giving the accepted art an even better chance to sell. The better your photos that we receive via this entry process, the more of a chance we will put it on-line. White backgrounds are preferred for this, but not required.”

SALES: The gallery will retain 50% commission on sold work. All artwork must be for sale, and artists will be paid by May 31, 2019.

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

CALL for ENTRIES: 47th Int’l Show

Posted on January 21, 2019January 19, 2019 by R.L. Gibson

focused and FARE

I cheated on my husband with shrimp tacos. He’s contact allergic to shellfish, and on the rare occasion I eat a meal without him, my radar is firmly set on shrimp. I feel guilty while eating them, like I’ve cheated, and then have to go through a hazmat-style sterilization process afterward. But, shrimp.

I had that shrimp-y luncheon with my a friend, an accomplished realist painter. We spent time talking about our plans for the next weeks and months. She paints prolifically and noted, “I haven’t even been looking at Calls because I can’t do anything until Fall”. Between work for galleries that represent her, a couple of invitational shows and a museum solo show that comes down this week, she can’t lose focus. Realizing that kind of focus has been my goal for months, and I am beginning to see results, but it requires tuning out the things that don’t serve my focused goal.

Are museum shows a part of your current plan? If yes, check out this Call for Entries from Brownsville Museum of Fine Art (Brownsville, TX) for 47th International Art Show. $45 entry & 30% commission, plus $3300 in cash awards. Both jurors’ work is well documented, so do your homework!

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CALL for ENTRIES:
47th Int’l Art Show
from Brownsville Museum of Fine Art

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ELIGIBILITY: Open to all artists 18+

MEDIA: Open to painting, drawing, water media, mixed media, printmaking, 3D sculpture, photography & digital media.

DEADLINE: February 20, 2019 (midnight CENTRAL time)

NOTIFICATION: February 26, 2019

ENTRY FEE: $45 up to 3, $5 ea. addl

JURORS: Joe Harjo, visual artist, MFA from the University of Texas San Antonio, and Professor of Photography at Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, TX. Mauricio Saenz, visual artist and filmmaker, MA in Artistic Production from Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.

AWARD: Best of Show $1000; Clara Ely Award $250 (limited to oil & acrylic), and Octavia Arneson Award $250 (limited to water media), Mayor’s Award: Commemorative Plate, First Place (in each of 8 categories) $150, 2nd Place (in each of 8 categories) $50, 3rd Place (in each of 8 categories) $25 and Honorable Mentions receive ribbons.

SALES: All art must be for sale and the BMFA will require 30% commission for any sale that was a direct result of the exhibition.

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

CALL for ENTRIES: Persistence

Posted on January 20, 2019January 19, 2019 by R.L. Gibson

the need for CHEESE

I had emergency ravioli last weekend. Well, I had emergency oral surgery. It was every bit as awful as that sounds, but necessary. Since my husband & son both have Celiac disease, so true Italian pasta deliciousness is an uncommon sight in my house. But after all the soup and oatmeal I could stand, I was craving comfort food that wouldn’t make me hate life later. I tried everything in my house, one after the other, foods were too hot, too cold, to crunchy, too crispy, too bland, too sticky. And then there was delivery cheese ravioli. It was like the clouds parted. Divine.

If only all such persistence paid dividends, right? Sometime persistence in art leads to over-working. I’ve put a lot of holes in a lot of paper, and even a few canvases, over the years. The outcome of political persistence has varied over the years from victory parties to concession speeches, rallies to protests, elections to resignation. What drives your artist persistence? What is the benchmark you trying to pass or surpass? Is it a resume qualifier? Is it a sales or publication goal? Is it a signature body of work or finding your voice? It is all of those things for me, but somewhere tied up in all of those things is belief in my own legitimacy as an artist. Again, what drives your artist persistence?

Today’s Call celebrates the persistence of women by celebrating female artists. Take a look to see if this one is right for you. This Call for Entries from the d’Art Center (Norlfolk, VA) for Persistence: A National Exhibition Celebrating Women’s Empowerment. I’m happy to publish a Call that welcomes both fine art & fine craft. Do you have work for this Call?

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CALL for ENTRIES:
Persistence
from the d’Art Center

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ELIGIBILITY: Open to all female artists residing in the U.S.

MEDIA: Open to functional, non-functional, 2D, 3D, fine art & fine craft in all mediums.

DEADLINE: February 7, 2019

NOTIFICATION: February 19, 2019

ENTRY FEE: $35 up to 3

JUROR: Lori Pratico is the founder of the Girl Noticed Community Mural Project. For Lori, her artwork is not only her passion but also her voice. She is driven to inspire people to recognize that no matter what, there is always something about them extraordinary and worth noticing. Girl Noticed reminds us to pause, acknowledge and appreciate others and ourselves. Aside from Girl Noticed, Lori serves on the Broward County Public Art and Design Committee.

AWARD: 1st Place $500, 2nd Place $300 and 3rd Place $150.

SALES: The d’Art Center retains a 40% commission, not including awards.

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

CALL for ENTRIES: Go Fish

Posted on January 17, 2019January 16, 2019 by R.L. Gibson

here FISHY FISHY FISHY

Ten years ago, I just quit eating tuna salad. I don’t know why. It has never been my favorite, but for some reason it just mysteriously disappeared from my menu-of-habit. I still eat chicken & egg salad. I even enjoy salmon patties on regular occasion. Hell, I even eat tuna fillets at dinner when I find a good deal, but mentioning tuna salad for lunch gets an immediate “no thanks.” Sometimes things just seem fishy.

In the art world, we’ve all become suspicious that someone has an alternative motive . I am leery of every call, every competition. If you read it here, it has passed a fairly thorough “seems fishy” investigation. The vanity galleries and fees-are-more-than-any-possible-reward scams are the easiest to see through. But what about the the newer spaces? The unconventional places? We want to support new endeavors from those whose passion is to serve artists and the development of best practices, but when is your “gut” enough to make it safe to gamble? When does is cease being fishy?

The landlord for my new studio space has me on high alert. It is 200 sq. ft. with power included for $50 per week. A steal right? But he is also willing to sink thousands of dollars into its renovation to make a 12-month studio space for me. Assuming the utilities are $50 a month, it will take him more than a year to recoup the cost for the renovation. Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to leave it as a storage space? Very fishy. Maybe he’s just trying to support the arts by breaking even on an unused asset. The verdict is still out. I’ll keep you updated.

This next Call is highly fishy, in a literal sense. Do you have work that is inspired by fish, fishing or aquatic fauna? Here’s your chance to trade in your suspicion for show time. Check out this Call for Entries from the Cloyde Snook Gallery at Adams State University Art Department (Alamosa, CO) for Go Fish. $35 entry & no commission for this academic show. This is a beautiful venue…

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CALL for ENTRIES:
Go Fish
the Cloyde Snook Gallery
at Adams State Univ. Art Dept

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ELIGIBILITY: Open to all artists 18+

MEDIA: Open to all media –contemporary interpretations that conceptually and/or literally are inspired by Fish, Fishing or Aquatic Fauna.

DEADLINE: Feb 1, 2019

NOTIFICATION: February 5, 2019

ENTRY FEE: $35 up to 3

AWARD: “Best in Show” will be offered a future solo exhibition at the Cloyde Snook Gallery.

SALES: The gallery will take no commission on sales but does encourage donations of 10 to 20%.

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

CALL for ENTRIES: Arte Natura 2019

Posted on January 16, 2019January 15, 2019 by R.L. Gibson

lost in TRANSLATION

What you do if your grocery option were cut by 90%? I recently read an article about the single largest threat to independent or regional grocers being small-box discount stores like Dollar General, Family Dollar & Dollar Tree. If you groceries could only come from one of these sources, can you imagine never eating fresh meat or vegetables again? Virtually every food you would consume would be pre-processed, significantly so. Nothing you ate would be as it exists in nature or even one step removed. My mind is really blown by that idea. It scares me. It that scenario, I would have to put my own health into the hands of the food processing industry. How does that sit with you? Yeah, me neither.

I live less than 5 miles from a regional grocer and another 10-15 miles from large-box retailers like Kroger, Publix, Walmart & Aldi. As much as I would like to buy local, my local grocer doesn’t make stock decision or employ pricing policies that allow me to make the best menu or the best financial decisions. Currently, Aldi gets the bulk of my formal grocery dollars. I want to make foods based on fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood & diary –as close as I can find to their natural form as possible. If I eat poorly, I want it to be by my choice.

A similar desire prompted by media change. I wanted to work using supplies and/or products that I could find easily, or make myself if necessary. At the time, I was contemplating significant rural travel that would have made art supply deliveries less convenient. I’ve always been a closet painter, but always acrylics. Acrylics led me down the path to acrylic mediums, and then my supply load quadrupled. I slowly made my way to watercolor. Purchased paints last long periods & arrive in compact containers. I can make both paints & paper with very few supplies if necessary. Finished work can be stored flat, pressed. Small amounts of water can be found anywhere. It took me a long time to commit, but I’m here and I’m in love, naturally.

This next Call in interested in seeing your nature-oriented work. What do you have to show in this well-established gallery? Take your time, research the history of this show & venue and the curatorial choices that have shaped this space. Could this be a good fit for you? Check out this Call for Entries from Slow Art Productions for Arte Natura 2019 at the Limner Gallery (Hudson, NY). $35 entry open to all media and all artists. Take a look…

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CALL for ENTRIES:
Arte Natura 2019
at the Limner Gallery

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This exhibition will focus on art inspired by the natural world and will be held at the Limner Gallery from May 9 – June 1, 2019.

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ELIGIBILITY: Open to all artists 18+

MEDIA: Open to all media forms of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, graphics, digital and installation art, video, etc.

DEADLINE: February 28, 2019

NOTIFICATION: March 31, 2019

ENTRY FEE: $35 for up to 4, $5 ea. add’l

SALES: SlowArt Productions will retain 35% commission on sales. Prices set by the artist.

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

CALL for ENTRIES: Shame

Posted on January 14, 2019January 13, 2019 by R.L. Gibson

parking lot PICNIC

Shame eaters raise your hands, or avert your eyes, whichever is most comfortable. I shame eat junk food while I am running errands. I could go inside and order and eat my less-than-healthy food and eat with the rest of the herd, but instead, I convince myself that I’m in a hurry, so I’d better get it to go. Then, I end up taking the same amount of time to eat sitting in the parking lot inhaling my $1.69 chicken nuggets with buffalo sauce and an occasional milkshake. In theory shame could be a healthy preventative for discouraged behavior. But I really just find ways to limit the exposure of my shame to others, hence the parking lot shame eating.

Shame is far more often an unhealthy tool of abuse, or self-abuse, taking the shine off a source of pride or casting shadow over behavior considered ordinary in other circumstances. For example, I had oral surgery recently, and as part of the get-to-know-you-before-I-cut-you-open session, the doc asked “so, what do you do for a living?” I replied, “I’m an artist” while quickly diverting my eyes in expectation of some version of the “what’s your real job” follow up question. But, I self-shamed myself into that expectation. He, instead, asked about my media, asked additional follow up questions, and shared the media of a couple of his other patients. In this particular case, my expectation of being treated as illegitimate led to my behaving as illegitimate. How many of you avoid describing yourself as an artist to non-creatives? We have to stop. There’s always something new to work on. This next Call is all about shame in all of its many manifestations. What would your shame work look like?

Check out this Call for Entries from Hera Gallery (Wakefield, RI) for Shame. $35 entry. 30% commission. This is a great juror & the venue has an exciting history. Take a look…

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CALL for ENTRIES:
Shame
from Hera Gallery

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ELIGIBILITY: Open to all artists 18+

MEDIA: Open to all media

THEME: Shame. “The exhibition SHAME attempts to lift the veils of submission and silence by exploring shame in its many dimensions . . . . To feel shame is an act of self-erasure. To be shamed is a means of controlling others. To act shamelessly is a misguided path of self-empowerment. Shame has different cultural connotations yet is understood universally.”

DEADLINE: February 10, 2019

NOTIFICATION: February 27, 2019

ENTRY FEE: $35 up to 3

JUROR: Anna Dempsey is a Professor of Art History at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, USA. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from Columbia University where she was the recipient of a Presidential Scholarship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from M.I.T. Her research interests center on the intersection of public culture with a focus on urban street art, as well as museum spaces and gender politics in modern and contemporary installation art, painting, animation and film. Currently, she is working on a book titled Working Women Artists and the Construction of American Modernism, based on research she did at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, where she was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship.

SALES: Hera Gallery retains a 30% sales commission.

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

CALL for ENTRIES: Recycle 2019

Posted on January 13, 2019January 12, 2019 by R.L. Gibson

BA-NANA–nana-nana

How many bananas do you throw out every week? Back after the wildfire in 2016, I had to clean out my refrigerator after 9 days without power. When I opened the freezer door, the smell of bananas almost knocked me out. I’ve always bought bananas, used fewer than I bought, then tossed the remainder in the freezer for banana bread that never materializes. That ended the day I had to clean banana slime out of my freezer–until last month. Now I buy 7 or 8 fresh bananas each week; we eat 2 or 3 fresh bananas each week. With out newly re-discovered love for smoothies, I know throw my extra bananas into the freezer and re-purpose them later for smoothie. If I lose power again for an extended period of time, I may revisit the banana ban. We’ll see.

The idea of recycling and re-purposing materials and locations has been on my mind. My family downsized a year and a half ago; then six months ago, an extra family member moved into our tiny home. So, the dual use dining room / studio isn’t functioning so well with its view of the couch / bed of my 19 year old. I’ve turned to my Instagram & Pinterest feeds for inspiration. I am loving all the reading rooms with garden views and walk out basements with darkrooms, but that isn’t what I have. My husband found an 10’x20′ abandoned storage shed with a Queen Anne roof line that had once been the workshop of a Native American woodcarver. He passed away, and his family has declined the option to clean out his belongings. The building owner is willing to foot the bill for the renovation for the tiniest of rents. But in the back of my head, I am haunted by images of the big industrial studio spaces of movie and magazine spreads. This is a running theme, right? That we all fit in the same box, on the same path. Where did I leave my smock & beret?

So, 2019 is the year I try to cut that out. Join me? I will repurpose the places & things in my life to suit my needs. I will stop reshaping myself to fit the spaces in which I do not belong. This next show is all about repurposed, recycled, or reused materials, and feels like a good place to start. I like this venue, and as I mentioned last week, I am trying to spend the few dollars I have supporting the places & people & businesses that support artists. This is one.

Check out this Call for Entries from BWAC (Brooklyn, NY) for Recycle 2019. Take advantage of a discount for early entry, a distinguished juror & significant cash awards. Take a look…

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CALL for ENTRIES:
Recycle 2019
from BWAC

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“Recycle, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition’s national juried show of art crafted from cast-off, discarded & re-purposed materials, will be a celebration of ingenuity and imagination.” –from bwac.org

ELIGIBILITY: Open to U.S. artists 18+

MEDIA: Open to all media that incorporate at least 50 percent of repurposed, recycled, or reused materials.

ENTRY FEE: $50 up to 3, $6 ea. add’l (early bird) or $70 up to 3, $6 ea add’l after Feb 4

DEADLINE: February 4, 2019 (early bird) or February 24, 2019 (final)

NOTIFICATION: March 18, 2018

JUROR: John Cloud Kaiser is the Director of Education at Materials for the Arts, one of the largest reuse centers in the U.S and a program of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Through art shows he curates at MFTA Gallery and his work with his art group Free Style Arts Association, he has been championing reuse‐themed art in the museums, streets, and schools of New York City since 2000. These works have appeared broadly, from The Metropolitan Museum, to the NYC Parks Dept., to The New York Times. Kaiser graduated from New York University and is currently working on a series of temporary sculptures for Storm King Sculpture Center and Socrates Sculpture Park.

AWARDS: Best of Show Gold $1000, Most Innovative Use of Materials $500, People’s Choice $250, Curator’s Choice $250 & ten $100 Certificates of Recognition.

SALES: BWAC will retain a 30% commission on all exhibition sales.

Category: February 2019

a-PEELING

CALL for ENTRIES: Wide Open 10

For full details, Read the Full Call!

villainous FRUIT

CALL for ENTRIES: 2019 Small Works Exhibit from the Lemonade Stand Gallery

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

focused and FARE

CALL for ENTRIES: 47th Int’l Art Show from Brownsville Museum of Fine Art

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

the need for CHEESE

CALL for ENTRIES: Persistence from the d’Art Center

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

here FISHY FISHY FISHY

CALL for ENTRIES: Go Fish the Cloyde Snook Gallery at Adams State Univ. Art Dept

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

lost in TRANSLATION

CALL for ENTRIES: Arte Natura 2019 at the Limner Gallery

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

parking lot PICNIC

CALL for ENTRIES: Shame from Hera Gallery

For complete details, Read the Full Call!

BA-NANA–nana-nana

CALL for ENTRIES: Recycle 2019 from BWAC

For full details, Read the Full Call!

CALL for ENTRIES:
2019 Small Works Exhibit from
the Lemonade Stand Gallery

CALL for ENTRIES:
47th Int’l Art Show
from Brownsville Museum of Fine Art

CALL for ENTRIES:
Persistence
from the d’Art Center

CALL for ENTRIES:
Go Fish
the Cloyde Snook Gallery
at Adams State Univ. Art Dept

CALL for ENTRIES:
Arte Natura 2019
at the Limner Gallery

CALL for ENTRIES:
Shame
from Hera Gallery

CALL for ENTRIES:
Recycle 2019
from BWAC