Connections
FUSEDChicago is immediately seeking artists’ submissions for their upcoming juried exhibition CONNECTIONS, opening on November 23, 2023, and running through December 18, 2023, at the ARC Gallery in Chicago. Artists are encouraged to submit artwork that portrays connections between humans and nature that includes the encaustic medium.
ALL ARTWORK MUST INCLUDE THE ENCAUSTIC MEDIUM
CONNECTIONS
The artwork will address contemporary relationships to nature. The connection between humans and nature is a fascinating one. Nature is both all around us and deep within us. We exist in layers that range in depth and complexity and it is often difficult yet necessary to look beyond the surface.
Entry to the exhibition is free with FUSEDChicago Membership. Artists must be 18 or older and be a member of FUSEDChicago. Artists who are not currently members of FUSEDChicago are invited to join to submit to this call. The fee to join FUSEDChicago for this opportunity will be $25. (Membership is renewed annually at $50 on January 1, with new members receiving a 50% reduction in dues if joining after July 1.) FUSEDChicago membership is necessary to submit to this call but does not guarantee inclusion in this juried exhibition.
Join FUSEDChicago here.
PLEASE NOTE
Membership in FUSEDChicago will allow participation in other FUSEDChicago exhibitions, programs, workshops, and activities. See FUSEDChicago Website and Facebook and Instagram pages to learn more.
Dates and Deadlines
September 10, 2023, 11:59 pm Submission Deadline
October 2, 2023 Selections Announced
By November 17, 2023, 4 pm Delivery of works to the ARC Gallery
December 1, 2023, 5-8 pm Artists’ Reception and Juror’s Remarks and Announcement of Commendations
November 23 – December 18, 2023 Exhibition
December 18, 2023, noon-4 pm Artwork pick-up
About the Juror…Barbara O’Brien
FUSEDChicago is very pleased that nationally known art curator and critic Barbara O’Brien accepted our invitation to jury our first national encaustic art show.
Barbara O’Brien is an independent curator and critic based in Milwaukee. She was Executive Director of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, from 2012 to 2017 after serving as chief curator and director of exhibitions since 2009. O’Brien has a longstanding interest in and commitment to the community of artists who incorporate encaustic into their practice. She was the Keynote Speaker at the International Encaustic Conference in both 2008 and 2013. “I am delighted,” O’Brien recently shared, “to have been invited to select works of art for “Connections,” which I anticipate will be both an opportunity for revelation and an occasion for celebration. I hope that artists will explore the encaustic medium - and wax in all its many iterations - to address both the poetic and prosaic implications of the theme chosen by FUSEDChicago.”
O’Brien’s recent projects include serving as curator and catalog essayist for June Ahrens: Reflecting Time (2022), and Close to the Line: Mari Rantanen and Kirsten Reynolds (2019), both at the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, CT. In 2022, O’Brien served as a curatorial consultant and catalog essayist for solo exhibitions at The Painting Center, NYC; Chris Nau: I’m Not Your Animal and Gerri Rachins: Almost Everything is Going Well.
DETAILS
Eligibility
Entry to the exhibition is free with FUSEDChicago Membership. Artists must be 18 or older and be a member of FUSEDChicago. Artists who are not currently members of FUSEDChicago are invited to join to submit to this call. FUSEDChicago membership is necessary to submit to this call but does not guarantee inclusion in this juried exhibition.
Media
All submitted work MUST include the encaustic medium. Artworks must be original, professionally presented, and ready for installation. Works must be framed or otherwise ready for hanging. Artwork must be wired, no sawtooth hangers. 2D and 3D work will be accepted. Works should not exceed 60” inches in any dimension or weigh more than 50 pounds.
Sales
Unless works are noted as not-for-sale, sales are encouraged, and ARC Gallery DOES NOT take a commission on works sold.
Insurance
ARC Gallery/Educational Foundation will not be held responsible for any loss or damage to exhibited work due to, but not limited to, water, fire, theft, vandalism, or mutilation. Artists are encouraged to consider insuring artwork to protect against possible loss or damage.
Submission & Selection
There is a maximum of three entries per artist. Images must be submitted as JPG files, no fewer than 480 pixels in the smaller dimension, at 300 dpi. Artists with 3D work should submit 2 views of each entry, e.g., front, and back, or full view and a significant detail. A work will be disqualified if the digital image(s) misrepresent the work in quality or form.
Files should be named as follows: LastNameFirstInitial_WorkTitle.jpg. Untitled works should use descriptions of the work in place of the title in the file name. Two examples of image file submissions are SmithJ_Weightless.jpg or RamirezE_UntitledPortrait.jpg.
All submission must be made through Entry Thingy.
Please attach your name and title to the back of accepted works.
Delivery & Pickup
Artwork selected for the exhibition must be delivered to the ARC Gallery by Friday November 17, 2023. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday 2-6 pm, Saturday-Sunday noon-4 pm. Works shipped by common carriers (FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc.) must be shipped prepaid; you must also include a prepaid return shipping label for use at the end of the exhibition. Do not use the United States Postal Service to ship work to ARC Gallery.
General Terms & Conditions
Entry of any work to the exhibition is an agreement by the artist to the conditions of this prospectus. No accepted work may be withdrawn by the artist before the close of the exhibition.
About FUSEDChicago
FUSEDChicago is an organization of artists based in the Midwest who share an interest in encaustic, a method of making art using pigmented wax fused to a surface by heat. Our mission is to advance public awareness of encaustic medium through workshops and thematic exhibitions of member work and to create professional opportunities for networking and learning exchanges for our members. All artist members of FUSEDChicago create art partly or entirely from encaustic. Our members are represented in art galleries locally and nationally, have been included in world-class expositions including EXPO Chicago and SOFA (Sculpture Objects Functional Art and Design) and have work in collections throughout the world. Website: fusedchicago.com
About Encaustic
Encaustic consists of natural beeswax and dammar resin (crystallized tree sap). The medium can be used alone for its transparency or pigment can be added. The medium is applied to an absorbent surface and each layer of paint is heated to fuse it to the previous layer. The word ‘encaustic’ comes from the Greek word enkaiein, meaning to burn in, referring to the process of fusing the paint. The now famous Fayum portraits, painted on mummy casings by the Egyptians during the Roman period, epitomize an early notable use of encaustic. After revivals of the medium during the 18th and 19th centuries, Jasper Johns’ paintings in the 1950s brought encaustic to the forefront of modern art. Contemporary artists are drawn to this ancient medium for its dimensional quality and luminous color. The nature of encaustic paint allows artists to manipulate the surface by building texture, carving into the beeswax, embedding various items or maintaining a glass-like finish.
About ARC Gallery
ARC Gallery and Educational Foundation is located at 1463 W. Chicago Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It is a not-for-profit gallery and foundation whose mission is to bring innovative, emerging, and/or experimental visual art to a wide range of viewers, and to provide a nurturing atmosphere for the continued development of artistic potential and dialogue. As a non-profit cooperative operated by a collective of feminist artists since 1973, ARC works to empower women by providing professional and mentoring opportunities in the visual arts. ARC serves to raise public awareness on various community-based issues by presenting exhibits, workshops, discussion groups and programs by, and for, underserved populations. Website: arcgallery.org
