Call For Art--Fine Arts Exhibition 2014, Decatur Arts Festival

May 20-June 8, 2014

Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College
Dana Fine Arts Building
141 E. College Ave., Decatur, Georgia 30030 (map)

About the Exhibition

The Decatur Arts Alliance invites artists working in all media to participate in the Fine Arts Exhibition at the 26th Annual Decatur Arts Festival. The exhibition is a juried multimedia presentation that contributes a fresh and unique perspective to the festival every year.

The Decatur Arts Festival draws approximately 60,000 people to downtown Decatur for a celebration of the arts that includes a juried Artists Market, Children’s Festival, New Dance, Literary Arts, Performing Arts Stage, and a Concert on the Square, as well as the Fine Arts Exhibition. This large audience represents a broad spectrum of knowledge and appreciation of the arts, and the Fine Arts Exhibition addresses this spectrum with a diversity of styles and media. Works selected for the show reflect a wide range of artists’ experiences and viewpoints, with excellence as a common thread.

Eligibility

Artists are invited to participate in a juried exhibition of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works. Artwork will be chosen from submitted entries by a panel of three jurors on the basis of creative excellence and quality of execution. All works must be original and completed within the last two years. The sponsors are the final authority on eligibility. Works to be hung must be ready for hanging with any necessary hardware in place. Artwork must fit through a standard door.

Opening Reception and Last Call

The opening reception of the Fine Arts Exhibition is Tuesday, May 20, from 5 until 7 pm, in conjunction with the Decatur Business Association monthly meeting. The exhibition closes with the Last Call party on Sunday, June 8, from 4 until 6 pm, which will include selected artists’ talks. We encourage exhibiting artists to attend both of these functions.

Awards

Best of Show: $1,000
Gold Award: $700
Silver Award: $500

Purchase awards totaling $2,500 are selected by the City of Decatur, Decatur Business Association, and Decatur Downtown Development Authority for the City of Decatur’s public art collection. Additional purchase awards are being solicited.

Sale of Art

Sales are encouraged. The Decatur Arts Alliance handles all sales and collects a 25% commission on all artwork sold as a result of this exhibition. All artwork for sale must be priced by the artist and so stated in the entry. Please be sure to include the 25% commission for the Decatur Arts Alliance in your price. The 7% Georgia sales tax will be added at the point of sale.

An online catalogue is anticipated. Sales from the Fine Art Exhibition have increased each year and works from the exhibition have been added to private, corporate, and non-profit collections.

Jurors

Cynthia Farnell is a visual arts professional who brings her broad experience as gallery director, curator, arts writer, teacher, and artist to her diverse projects in visual arts and arts administration. Educated at the Rhode Island School of Design, The International Center of Photography, and Auburn University, she has curated numerous exhibitions from a variety of time periods and cultures and has taught art and humanities courses at the college level. Farnell’s dynamic projects are guided by her recognition of the vital cultural and economic roles of the visual arts in our global communities. She is the gallery director at the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at Georgia State University.

Cinqué Hicks is an art critic based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is senior contributing editor of theInternational Review of African American Art, and during 2012 he served as the interim editor-in-chief of Art Papers. In 2011, he was the founding creative director of Atlanta Art Now and was co-author of its first volume, Noplaceness: Art in a Post-Urban Landscape. From 2008 to 2012, Hicks was an art critic, arts writer, and columnist for Creative Loafing, and he continues to write for a variety of national and international publications including Public Art Review, Art in America, Artforum.com, and Artvoices.

Nick Madden is a visual artist living and working in Decatur, Georgia. He holds a BFA in Drawing and Painting from the University of Georgia and a bachelor’s degree in Art Education from Kennesaw State University. He currently teaches art at Glennwood Elementary in Decatur. Madden’s artwork has been exhibited at Portal Gallery, WonderRoot Art Center, and MINT Gallery in Atlanta. He is a recent recipient of The Creatives Project Artist in Residency program at the Goat Farm in Atlanta, and will be an artist in residence at the Hambidge Center in Spring 2014.

Submission Process

Agreement

Submitting an entry form to this exhibition through Call for Entries (www.callforentry.org) constitutes an agreement on the part of the artist with all conditions set forth in this prospectus.No work accepted for the exhibition may be withdrawn before the close of the exhibition. After acceptance, the artist cannot substitute another work for the accepted one or change the sales price.

The Decatur Arts Alliance reserves the right to refuse to install any work that, upon arrival at the Dalton Gallery, differs markedly from the images submitted or that does not, for any reason, meet the exhibitions standards of excellence.

By submitting images of your work, you give permission to the Decatur Arts Alliance to use the images for publicity in the organization’s website, digital publications, press releases, Decatur Arts Festival publications (both print and electronic), and online catalogue of the exhibition.

Liability

All reasonable precautions will be taken to ensure protection of submitted work upon receipt. Work will be insured for the duration of the exhibition. No liability can be assumed by the Decatur Arts Alliance during storage or by sponsors or personnel connected to the exhibition for damage incurred or loss of work while in transit. Artists are advised to arrange their own shipping insurance.

How to Enter: CaFÉ

All entries are to be submitted digitally through www.callforentry.org (CaFÉ). Please retain a copy of the information you provide on the entry form. See Exceptions Below.

If you have not registered previously with CaFÉ, setting up your portfolio is free. There is a $30 charge for entering up to three items in this exhibition, with up to three images per item. After completing the entry information, a credit card number will be required to confirm the entry process.

Please note: a credit card number is required for the first entry. If entering more than one work, artists should follow the instructions during the entry process for additional entries charged to the first payment.

CaFÉ requires that all images conform to a specific format. The Decatur Arts Alliance encourages all entrants to review the instructions and tutorials for formatting images and entering before beginning the actual entry process.

Entries will be active on the CaFÉ website from January 6 through February 21, 2014, and all entries must be completed by midnight MST on February 21.

For technical assistance with your entry, please see www.callforentry.org/cafehelp.phtml, or contact cafe@westaf.org. For questions about exhibition guidelines, please contactadmin@decaturartsalliance.org.

Participants may enter up to three pieces for one fee. Submissions will include the following:

• Contact information including mailing address, telephone number, email address, and website address (if applicable)
• Title of each work submitted
• Brief statement about the work. This may include descriptive material. Limited to 75 words.
• Up to three images of each work submitted for jurying. If the work is a 2-D work, an overall view and at least one detail are recommended. If the work is a 3-D work, two alternate overall views and one detail are recommended. All submitted images must be formatted to the specifications outlined on the CaFÉ website. (www.callforentry.org/image_prep.phtml).By submitting images of your work, you give permission to the Decatur Arts Alliance to use the images for publicity in the organization’s websites, digital publications, press releases, Decatur Arts Festival publications (both print and electronic), and online catalogue of the exhibition.
• Image list numbered to correspond to the portfolio images submitted. Please include full photography credits as well as title, dimensions, and description of each work.
• Presentation/installation requirements for the work submitted including any special fixtures required

How to Enter: CD

Alternately, artists may submit up to three entries on one CD for $45.

• The CD should be labeled with the artist’s name and the title of each work.
• Up to three images of each of three works may be submitted for jurying. If the work is a 2-D work, an overall view and at least one detail are recommended. If the work is a 3-D work, two alternate overall views and one detail are recommended. By submitting images of your work, you give permission to the Decatur Arts Alliance to use the images for publicity in the organizations’ websites, digital publications, press releases, Decatur Arts Festival publications (both print and electronic), and an online catalogue of the exhibition.
• Images should be high resolution in jpeg format and of print quality (up to 300 dpi, no more than 6” on the longest side).

The CD should be accompanied by an MS Word document or a PDF that provides the information listed below.

• Contact information including mailing address, telephone number, email address, and website address (if applicable)
• Title of each work submitted
• Brief statement about the work. This may include descriptive material. Limit to 75 words.
• Presentation/installation requirements for the work submitted, including any special fixtures required

The CD must be accompanied by a check for $45, payable to the Decatur Arts Alliance. Checks post-dated or returned unpaid by the bank will result in immediate disqualification. No exceptions!

CD entries must be postmarked no later than February 21, 2014, and mailed to Decatur Arts Alliance, P.O. Box 401, Decatur, GA 30031.

Notification and Return of Entries

Notification of acceptance will be by email only, no later than April 1, 2014. Instructions for shipment and retrieval of artwork will follow. Applicants not chosen will also be notified. No phone calls, please.

Images of accepted work will be retained by the Decatur Arts Alliance for archival purposes. The exhibition will hang from May 20 through June 8, 2014, in the Dalton Gallery in the Dana Fine Arts Building on the campus of Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia.