Mothers

Mothers seeks work by women that addresses the culturally ubiquitous role of motherhood, historically under-represented in visual art. Mothers encourages multivalent understandings of this rich topic. Submissions might speak to personal experiences (as a mother or as related to a mother), social constructions of motherhood, the balance of home and work, the politicization of mothers, pregnancy, breastfeeding, childbirth, bodily transformation, miscarriage, loss, fertility/infertility, or other points of entry. Open to all forms of art that investigate the theme of Mothers. Please include an artist statement in relation to your submitted work, and a $30 non-refundable entry fee.

Entry Due Date†: August 11, 2010
Notifications Sent: September 8, 2010
Hand-deliver Work: October 27-29 / noon-7pm
Shipped Work to Arrive: October 27-29 / noon-7pm
Exhibition Dates: November 5 - December 23, 2010
Opening Reception: November 5 / 6-9pm
Pick Up Work: December 29 / noon-7pm
UPS Pick Up Date‡: January 5, 2011

Juror(s): Rachel Epp Buller
Rachel Epp Buller, Ph.D., is a feminist-art historian-printmaker-mama of three whose art and scholarship investigate this balancing act. Her prints have been exhibited in solo and group and shows in Kansas City, Chicago, New York City, and elsewhere and she lectures and publishes widely on issues of motherhood and the maternal body in contemporary art. Her art writing and criticism appears in journals such as Review, Woman’s Art Journal, German Studies Review, and the Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering, in essay collections such as Mothering in the Third Wave (2008), and the forthcoming Mothers Creating / Writings Lives: Motherhood Memoirs, and Being and Thinking as an Academic Mother, and in her own forthcoming book, Reconciling Art and Motherhood. She has worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Spencer Museum of Art, and currently teaches at Bethel College in Kansas.

Girl, Please!

"We are all born naked, the rest is just drag" -Rupaul
Gender is a performance, an act that is perpetuated and maintained by societal norms and expectations, but how, and to what extent does it define us? "Girl, Please!" seeks to push and transcend the definition of gender while also exploring its relation to individual character amongst collective expectations. Bearing in mind Rupaul's statement, drag in this case is not disco, but rather an illustration of feminity and masculinity in shades of grey.
Open to all gender! Artwork in all media may not exceed 72” horizontally, frame included. Please include an artist statement in relation to your submitted work, and a $30 non-refundable entry fee.

Entry Due Date†: August 20, 2010 (Final Extension)
Notifications Sent: September 8, 2010
Hand-deliver Work: October 27-29 / noon-7pm
Shipped Work to Arrive: October 27-29 / noon-7pm
Exhibition Dates: November 5 - December 23, 2010
Opening Reception: November 5, 2010 / 6-9pm
Pick Up Work: December 29 / noon-7pm
UPS Pick Up Date‡: January 5, 2011

Juror(s): Kristen Carter and Emanuel Aguilar
Kristen Carter, WMG's former Gallery Coordinator is currently pursuing her PhD in Art History at the University of British Columbia. She is a graduate from DePaul University, with a BA in History of Art and Architecture and a minor in Studio Art. She is a member of the Keeper Team for ArtSlant Chicago where she writes monthly reviews about art exhibitions in Chicago. She also writes for the online art magazine, Jettison.
Emanuel Aguilar is assisting Woman Made Gallery with its exhibition programs. In addition he volunteers his marketing skills to the organization. He is a Fine Arts Major at Columbia College with concentration in Identity Politics and a Minor in Marketing, and he studied in Florence, Italy at the Lorenzo De Medici University. Aguilar works for Chicago’s Jean Albano Gallery and A & D Gallery, has curated several exhibitions, and helped found the online arts magazine, Jettison.

The American Dream: A Juxtaposition

It has been since the Founding Fathers declared in 1776 that, “all men are created equal,” and we were granted the privilege of, “certain unalienable rights” such as, “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” that we began to search for the abstract notion of The American Dream. It is a philosophy that has grown out of the perspective of the people living it and has become as individual as those who still seek to pursue it and understand it.

'The American Dream: a Juxtaposition' seeks to define our current interpretation of 'The American Dream' while acknowledging what this dream exposes our minds, bodies, and environment to. This exhibition is open to all media that address the hopes, promises, and prosperity of 'The American Dream' as well as the inconsistencies and consequences of 'The American Dream'.

Artwork in all media may not exceed 72” horizontally, frame included. Please include an artist statement in relation to your submitted work, and a $30 non-refundable entry fee.

Entry Due Date†: October 20, 2010
Notifications Sent: November 10, 2010
Hand-deliver Work: Jan. 12–14, 2011 / 12–7pm
Shipped Work to Arrive: Jan. 12–14, 2011 / 12–7pm
Exhibition Dates: January 21 - February 24, 2011
Opening Reception: Jan. 21, 2011 / 6–9pm
Pick Up Work: Feb. 25 / noon–7pm
UPS Pick Up Date‡: March 2, 2011

Juror(s): Catherine Blackwell Peña
Catherine Blackwell Peña (BFA/MFA) is a working artist and educator. Her artwork blends photography, installation, public art, and sculptural elements in works that challenge the viewer to reposition their perspective physically and mentally. Reoccurring themes in her work are humans altered relationship with nature and the boundaries and limits of our built environment.
Peña’s work has been exhibited in-group shows in Seattle, New York, Chicago, Memphis, St. Louis, Boulder, Las Vegas, and Kansas City.
Outside of her studio practice, Peña is dedicated to teaching, and exploring Public Art and Social Practices not only through educational settings but also in collaborations with nonprofits and community organizations.
Peña currently teaches at Memphis College of Art and Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN and also acts as a Public Art Workshop Coordinator for Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. For more information, visit www.catherineblackwellpena.com.

14th International Open

Invitation to all women artists worldwide to submit artwork in all media for this open exhibition. All themes, styles, and media will be considered.

Awards: 1st Prize: Solo Show in 2012 at WMG; 2nd prize: $500; 3rd prize: $250; 4th prize: Honorable Mention.

Artwork in all media may not exceed 72” horizontally, frame included. Please include an artist statement in relation to your submitted work, and a $30 non-refundable entry fee.

Entry Due Date†: November 10, 2010
Notifications Sent: December 10, 2010
Hand-deliver Work: Feb. 23-25, 2011 / 12-7pm
Shipped Work to Arrive: Feb. 23-25, 2011 / 12-7pm
Exhibition Dates: March 4 - April 28, 2011
Opening Reception: March 4, 2011 / 6-9pm
Pick Up Work: April 29 / noon-7pm
UPS Pick Up Date‡: May 4, 2011

Juror(s): Laura Anderson Barbata
Born in Mexico City, Laura Anderson Barbata has exhibited internationally since 1986. She currently lives and works in New York City, Venezuela, and Mexico City, where she is Professor at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes—Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado la Esmeralda.
Her work is included in various private and public collections, among them the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Germany.
Anderson Barbata has received several awards from the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes for her drawings, photographs, and children's rehabilitation toys. In 1999 she was the recipient of a six-year artist grant from the Fund for Culture and Arts of Mexico.
Since 1992 Anderson Barbata has worked primarily in the social realm, initiating projects in Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Norway, and the U.S.. Among these projects is her collaboration with Moko Jumbies stilt walkers. This project has been presented at various museums and schools, among them the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; The Museum of Modern Art, New York City; on 24th Street in Chelsea, Brooklyn, New York; and in Oaxaca, Mexico. For more information, visit www.lauraandersonbarbata.com.

True Poetry: Abstractions

Open to two- and three-dimensional semi-abstract, non-objective to pure abstract works in all media by women artists from the international community.

Entry Due Date†: February 9, 2011
Notifications Sent: March 12, 2011
Hand-deliver Work: April 27-29, 2011 / 12-7pm
Shipped Work to Arrive: April 27-29, 2011 / 12-7pm
Exhibition Dates: May 6 - June 30, 2011
Opening Reception: May 6, 2011 / 6-9pm
Pick Up Work: July 1 / noon-7pm
UPS Pick Up Date‡: July 6, 2011

Juror(s): Sandra Perlow
Sandra Perlow is a prolific artist interested in abstraction and pictorial space. She earned her BA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MA from the Illinois Institute of Design. Perlow has shown her work internationally, including at Linda Warren Gallery, Harper College, Jean Albano Gallery, and the Rockford Art Museum. She is an active contributor to WMG and serves on its Advisory Board. For more information visit www.sandraperlow.net.