PROSPECTUS ABSTRACT ART COLLECTIVE WILDLING SHOW, “NATURE ABSTRACTED”
ABSTRACT ART COLLECTIVE MEMBERS ONLY SHOW. YOU NEED TO BE JURIED IN TO THE COLLECTIVE BEFORE ENTERING THIS SHOW.
Sojourns in the Parallel World by Denise Levertov
We live our lives of human passions,
cruelties, dreams, concepts,
crimes and the exercise of virtue
in and beside a world devoid
of our preoccupations, free
from apprehension--though affected,
certainly, by our actions. A world
parallel to our own though overlapping.
We call it "Nature"; only reluctantly
admitting ourselves to be "Nature" too.
Whenever we lose track of our own obsessions,
our self-concerns, because we drift for a minute,
an hour even, of pure (almost pure)
response to that insouciant life:
cloud, bird, fox, the flow of light, the dancing
pilgrimage of water, vast stillness
of spellbound ephemerae on a lit windowpane,
animal voices, mineral hum, wind
conversing with rain, ocean with rock, stuttering
of fire to coal--then something tethered
in us, hobbled like a donkey on its patch
of gnawed grass and thistles, breaks free.
No one discovers
just where we've been, when we're caught up again
into our own sphere (where we must
return, indeed, to evolve our destinies)
--but we have changed, a little.
We hope for an exquisite and intimate show that can be enjoyed by all ages, and at many levels. Above all, we want to connect viewers to abstract art and nature. The Wildling will have a sister show, “Nature Imagined,” on at the same time, of more representational work. How can you help viewers engage and respond to your abstract work? If the poem above doesn’t work for you, try this one, by Josef Albers, the influential artist and teacher of many abstract artists:
easy - to know
that diamonds - are precious
good - to learn
that rubies - have depth
but more - to see
that pebbles - are miraculous
Josef Albers
Accepted Media Include:
– Paintings and drawings
– Printmaking (hand pulled prints)
– Photography
– Collage
– Assemblage
– Fiber Art
– Sculpture (only if safe and the artist provides the pedestal)
– Digital Prints: Digital art must exist as an original digital piece and is inclusive of both digitally manipulated photography and digitally manipulated hand-drawn art.
OUR DEFINITION OF ABSTRACT ART
We like Wikipedia’s definition. Abstract art uses a visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
For jurying-in new members and as a guideline for accepting artwork into exhibitions, the AAC allows submissions that range from nonobjective work to that in which some images are recognizable. Since the line between representational and abstract can be fuzzy, we reserve the right to reject work for “not being abstract enough.”
Entering Your Images
Please enter your images online at www.OnlineJuriedShows.com
Help in photographing your work and properly sizing your images can be found at: www.OnlineJuriedShows.com/help.aspx
For best results, make sure your image is 1920 pixels @72 dpi on the longest side. Images should be in JPEG format, sRGB color space.
If you need help entering your images or are unable to, please contact info@onlinejuriedshows.com or call 949-287-8645.
The artist statement should be written as a note to the viewer of no more than 110 words. You can edit your Artist Statement in the Artist Profile as ANY time.
Eligibility
Artists must be members in good standing of the Abstract Art Collective.
Fees
Fee for artists is $15 for the first entry, $5 for each additional entry
Jurors
A two-member panel of judges, Nathan Huff and Stacey Otte-Demangate, will select the work to be included and awards. All online acceptances online are provisional, pending review of the original work presented at the ingathering.
NATHAN HUFF produces paintings, drawings, and sculpture that create freewheeling narratives: personal stories of suspending gravity, traversing emotional vertigo, and sorting reservoirs of memories.
He earned an MFA in Drawing and Painting from California State University Long Beach, a BA in art education from Azusa Pacific University, and has also studied art in Italy, France, the UK, and Spain. Actively exhibiting in Los Angeles and abroad, Huff’s installations have been featured in solo exhibitions at UCR Culver and Sweeney Galleries (Riverside), Los Angeles at D.E.N. Contemporary (West Hollywood), Minthorne Gallery, (Oregon), Gallerie View (Salambo, Tunisa), group exhibitions at JK Gallery (Culver City), Lotus Land (Santa Barbara), Westmont Ridely Tree Museum of Art (Santa Barbara), Angels Gate Cultural Center (San Pedro, CA), and at Concrete Walls gallery in (Los Angeles). In 2011 he was invited by the state department as a guest Curator with Art in Embassies for the US Ambassador in New Zealand to curate an exhibition "Encountering Place." Nathan has taught classes with art students at CSU Long Beach, LA Southwest College, Biola University, and Azusa Pacific University as an adjunct lecturer. Currently he teaches as an assistant professor of art at Westmont College in Santa Barbara.
STACEY OTTE-DEMANGATE is the executive director of the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature. Stacey Otte-Demangate has been the executive director of the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature for the past 8 years, curating many of the exhibitions and has judged several competitions as well. She has an MA in Museum Studies from Cooperstown Graduate Program and a BA in Anthropology from Arizona State University. Before coming to the Santa Ynez Valley, she was the director of the Catalina Island Museum where she helped to grow their exhibitions, improve their collections management, helped them buy property for a future expansion and forged a strong relation with a local plein air painters group. While not an artist herself, she has always loved the arts and greatly enjoys working with artists and helping to promote their works in concert with supporting the mission of the Wildling Museum--to raise awareness of the need to preserve open spaces through programs and exhibitions featuring inspired art. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her husband, stepkids and five rescued pets and dabbles in gardening and a wide variety of crafts.
Artists are not allowed to contact judges and doing so will result in automatic dismissal from the show without refunding of fees. Space in this show is limited and smaller pieces may have a better chance of being accepted than larger pieces.
Exhibition Details
The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature is centrally located in the TriCounty region, easily accessible from Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties. Its mission is “to inspire our community and visitors to enjoy, value, and conserve wildlife and natural areas through art.”
In the Wildling tradition of lively events to go with exhibits, the Abstract Art Collective will present a number of activities along with “Abstract in Nature.” A reception is planned for Saturday, October 20, 3-5pm.The ABSTRACT ART COLLECTIVE plans to run a wine-tasting tour with transportation to and from the Wildling from the Santa Barbara area. Other special events are expected to include artist demos, an artist talk, children’s’ and adults abstract art projects and more. Solvang is centrally located within the Tri-County area, San Luis Obispo, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and Abstract Art Collective artists from the entire region are encouraged to enter.
Our goal is an exquisite and intimate exhibit, in the 3rd floor gallery, at the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature. Downstairs exhibit will be a sister exhibit, “Nature Imagined.” For “Nature Abstracted,” artists will write a short explanation of each work, designed to make it interesting and accessible, to connect art with the viewer, who might or might not be comfortable with abstraction.
If you are having trouble writing your statement, here are some suggestions: 1. Read the Levertov poem above. If that doesn’t help, perhaps the poem above by Joseph Albers will be inspiring. If you still need help, please visit the website designed to connect people to others who may be quite different from themselves:
https://santabarbaraproject.com/contact-1
Categories
Both 2D and 3D art are welcomed. Space is very limited, and 3D art must be pieces that can safely be installed on pedestals provided by the artist.
Sales
All work should be priced for sale. The Wildling Museum store will take payment for work sold and will pay taxes. The artist contribution of 30% to the museum will be taken from the sales price.
Awards
Awards will include 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes, Juror’s Choice and People’s Choice. There will be up to 3 honorable mentions, at the judge’s discretion.
Calendar
Timeline of events:
1. Entries Open July 1
2. Entries Close August 15 at midnight
3. Jurying team works August 16-26
4. Artists will be notified of provisional acceptances and rejections by September 1
5. Ingathering will be at the Wildling Museum,1511-B Mission Drive, Solvang, CA 93463, October 2 from 10-11 am.
6. All acceptances are provisional because final curatorial decision rests solely with the jurors reviewing the original work on October 2. Work may be rejected if it does not match the image submitted, if the work is not framed to museum standards, or if for any reason, it does not fit within the curator’s final vision of the show.
7. Framing requirements:
To create a cohesive show, smaller work is better than large, and it will be helpful if work is presented in matching black flat (not beveled) matte or satin, narrow frames, as close as you can get to a face width of ¾”, ready to hang with wire, not sawtooth, and papered over the back. For work to be covered with glass, as for works on paper, mats should be at least 4 ply. For oils and acrylics, floater frames should be as close as you can get to ¾”, and depth as narrow as possible, ideally as close as you can get to 1 ½.”
Distinctive Frames on State Street in Santa Barbara has generously offered AAC artists a 25% discount, or artists may frame work themselves, to the same standard. Floater frames should be as close as you can get to ¾”, and depth as narrow as possible, ideally as close as you can get to 1 ½.”
Work to be framed by Distinctive Frames must be brought there between September 1 and 10 to ensure that it is ready in time for the show. The Abstract Art Collective recognizes that artists may have a different individual preference for particular work. If a narrow black frame as described above is not to be used for an image, please indicate that in the image description section of your online application for each image. The curating judge will have access to the image, the statement and the framing plan.
8. An opening reception will be held at the museum October 20, from 3-5pm. Other events planned include an abstract art project for children and adults, an artist demonstration and artist and juror talk.