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Call for Entries: Virtual Juried Exhibit

PNWS has opened the application process for “Emergence,” our first national, juried, virtual exhibit. Our Juror is Richard Speer, art critic, author, and curator. Awards include: $500 Best of Show, $200 First Place, $100 Second Place plus several Honorable Mentions.

The theme, “Emergence” is intentionally vague to encourage a broad range of interpretations by artists in any physical 3-dimensional medium. The exhibit will be displayed on this website from September 1 through October 30, 2021. The dates coincide with several major art festivals and events in the Pacific Northwest.

Richard Speer, art critic, author, and curator

EXHIBIT DETAILS:

ENTRIES & FEES – General Entry Fee of $30 includes 3 pieces. PNWS Members may enter for $15 (with code emailed with our monthly Calls for Artist listings). Additional entries are $5 per piece. Maximum pieces per artist is 6. Submission and payment are made through CaFÉ via credit card. Fees are non-refundable. There is no guarantee of acceptance into the exhibit.

SALES – 100% of sale price goes to the artist – Prospective buyers may contact the artist directly through the link included with the entry. All sales will be handled directly between the artist and buyer. PNWS will not take a commission on any sale. Prices cannot be changed from those stated at submission. Sales tax, shipping and insurance shall be the responsibility of the artist. Any artwork without a sale price on the entry form will be considered “Not for Sale” (NFS).

THE VIRTUAL RECEPTION – Virtual receptions will be scheduled via Zoom. Participating artists may introduce themselves and discuss their art during the reception. Award winners will have the option to discuss their work. Details will follow show acceptance via e-mail.

PROMOTION OF THE EXHIBIT – Promotion will be handled by the PNWS. Artists are also encouraged to promote the event. A digital ad will be e-mailed to all participating artists. LOCATION – This virtual exhibit may be viewed 24/7 on the PNWSculptors.org. A link to the gallery page will be provided when entrants are notified of the juror’s decisions.

RELEASE OF LIABILITY
The artists indemnify the PNWS for any copyright violations in their work.

REPRODUCTION OF ARTWORK – Artwork may be reproduced for advertising, marketing, and promotional purposes by PNWS without consent from or notification to the artist or the artist’s agent. Appropriate attribution will be included with any artwork used for marketing purposes.

By submitting your entry/entries, you agree that you have carefully read ALL the information in this Call for Entries and agree to the terms. You also certify that you are 18 or older and that the artwork was completed within the last 3 years. Submitted photographs of artwork may be reproduced for educational and publicity purposes by PNWS, and published on our website and social media.

You certify that the artwork information in this entry is true to the best of your knowledge. Pacific Northwest Sculptors reserves the right to remove from the exhibition any work of art that has been misrepresented in the entry.
Prospective buyers may contact the artist directly through the link included with the artwork. All sales will be handled directly between the artist and buyer – 100% of sale price goes to the artist. PNWS will not take a commission on any sale. Prices cannot be changed from those stated at submission. Any artwork without a sale price on the entry form will be considered “Not for Sale” (NFS).
Sales tax, shipping and insurance shall be the responsibility of the artist.
By entering the contest, each artist agrees to these terms of use.

Posting to your Member Profile

Creating Posts on your Member Profile page.

Members familiar with the Member Profile page are likely aware of the tab that displays the posts created by that member. Until now, members needed to know how to access the WordPress dashboard, after logging in, to create a post. A skill only a few members have. The Website team has been actively working to make it easier for members to create their own posts and are excited to announce this new functionality.

Now, when you login and visit your Member Profile page, a new Create Post tab is available.

Creating a Post

When you click the Create Post tab the following instructions are presented:

When you select the Create New Post button the WordPress block editor will be presented. The block editor is quite different from text editor and word processor applications you may be familiar with so we highly recommend you check out our Writing Posts in WordPress tutorial page which contains links to several helpful video tutorials that will introduce you to the block editor.

When you select Edit Draft Post you will be presented with your list of posts similar to this:

Select the draft post you would like to edit to enter the block editor.

Publishing a Post

Once you are are satisfied with your post the next step is to submit your post for Review. Selecting the Publish button will present the following confirmation prompt:

Once you click the Submit for Review button your post will be available for review by our website editors. You will be notified once one of the editors have reviewed and published your post to the site. Our goal is to publish within 2 days.

Your published posts will appear on the Posts tab on your Member Profile page. If the website editor feels your post would be a good candidate for the PNWS Articles page or our monthly newsletter, they will contact you for permission to use the post.

Recognizing International Sculpture Day 2021

                by Andy Kennedy

In the tradition of York and Sacajawea, PNWS 2021 International Sculpture Day (IS Day) was a pioneering experience. A conceptual theme was chosen: Unrecognized. This word came up as a conjunction of different sculptural phenomena that were hidden, undervalued, uncompensated or intentionally made less important.

A portrait of York, an uncompensated American pioneer, was secretly installed on Mount Tabor last February, and became the central inspiration for the PNWS IS Day. Earlier in October 2020, protesters knocked an image of an anti-democratic, white publisher off the block-shaped pedestal that York is on today. They also sprayed the word DECOLONIZE on both sides that block shape. At least three trends of US history are being challenged here. A black man is being recognized for his pivotal role in the Corp of Discovery, an expedition that may not have succeeded without him. The white artists of this sculptural dedication to a black man choose to remain anonymous even with international attention on their artwork. And American colonization is no longer history, but a present-time action. As though we are colonists now, playing our parts in a kind of brutal conquest game. York and the artwork about York are both leading us in a different direction. Honoring his experience, fully recognizing his contribution and suffering, brings us to a new territory, an uncharted inclusiveness. Letting go of the old model of colonial conquest and ambition at the expense of our humanity, is not a loss. We gain the real scope of a truly representative human experience. York’s portrait in the middle of Portland gives a clear opportunity to place York at the center of a US history that has not been recognized.

In all history the colonization of the Americas is the single biggest movement of human cultures. Starting about five hundred years ago Europe, Asia and Africa came to the Americas, with a mix of ambition and denial. The patterns of conquest and projecting otherness continue from then until now in obvious and subtle ways. To decolonize means to stop this process, a plea to stop abuse, stop exploitation, stop objectifying life. This goes beyond politics or social agendas. It is primal in the way that putting down a tool, no longer needed, is a primal gesture. Time to stop the urge to control the land and every living being. It’s time release the tools at hand.

The Shape of Sculpture’s Future: 3D Imagery

After years working online, up to my eyeballs in technology, I really appreciate the tactile sensation of hands-on work. It’s the fundamental connection and eye/hand coordination that I find fulfilling. However, I have not lost my fascination with what technology can do. And, since my marketing communications genes are still alive and well, I cannot ignore the potential of what is happening in the digital 3D realm.

I was approached by a representative of Prefixa recently. She offered to convert one of my existing sculptures into a 3D model. Once I saw their example, I couldn’t resist exploring further.

Scan this QR code with you phone to see and interactive 3D sculpture.

This is still an emerging technology. It’s not perfect, but it does work and it is impressive. The AR version of this file can be placed in your environment using your phone. Put the sculpture in the middle of your dining room table and walk around it. Scale it. Zoom it. This is incredibly effective way to visualize sculpture in situ. If you would like to see the AR version, let me know. I’ll text you the file and you can drain your phone battery while you amaze friends.

In January 2019, I participated in a conference in NYC on NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The event was about creating and selling digital versions of art for cryptocurrency. It’s a bit out there, but there are artists actually earning real money and cryptocurrency for their art.

I met up with a couple of other participants from that conference last week. We talked about the future of digital art and commerce. Here’s is a short summary of possibilities that are in development or already in the market.

Virtual galleries exist, mostly for 2D art. Technology also exists to create a 3D gallery for viewing sculpture in the round. These galleries may deal in actual (not just virtual) dollars. Selling digital copies of a sculpture means you man create limited edition digital copies and set your price. That may also contribute to the value of the original.

Remember the Monopoly game? Check out Upland. You buy a space (think URL) that is mapped to a physical, real-world address. In this metaverse, you build it up with houses, hotels and other assets like music, video, paintings and sculpture. Turn the property into a gallery filled with 3D sculptures. It’s an immersive experience. If a visitor likes a sculpture, they can purchase a digital copy. Here’s how Upland describes the experience:

Join a brand new NFT metaverse that is mapped to the real world and quickly becoming the largest and most dynamic blockchain-based economy in existence. Buy, sell and trade virtual properties mapped to real addresses. Build your dream house, start a virtual business and earn UPX coins or U.S. dollars by selling your NFT properties in a free and open marketplace.

In Monopoly, commerce is conducted with blue, purple, yellow and green money. In the virtual world, it may be crypto or real currency. All of this is evolving quickly. I have not taken the step to actually sell my work through this platform. I’m still exploring and learning how it all works. I do believe that this is one version of the future of art marketing. Success will depend, as always, on the quality of work and getting it in front of the right potential buyers. As I have said before, you never know until you try. Then you know.

PNWS International Sculpture Day – Participant Bios

The live stream Zoom event will include observations by leadership from Helensview School, OSA and interviews with members of Pacific Northwest Sculptors and Community Members.

Maria Wickwire began showing her sculptures in Portland, OR; created a public art piece for the city of Lake Oswego, OR; and was featured on the Emmy Award
Winning show, Oregon Art Beat, before relocating to the Skagit Valley. Each piece represents a unique journey, after which Maria is ready to move on to the next discovery. The sculptures, too, are ready to move out into the world to stand on their own and share their stories with those who encounter them. She creates from a deep place inside and only hopes her work will touch others deeply as well.

Maria Wickwire Studio

Carole Murphy has been a generous contributor to our sculpture community, as former president of PNWS, former director of the Sculptor’s Gallery and an inclusive, collaborative sculptor and teacher. Murphy takes green medias such as recycled steel, recycled fiberclay, aerated cement and nature and creates her own elemental organic forms and ecologically sound, abstract interpretations. Murphy’s sculptures have been shown across the nation, from the Maryhill Art Museum and the Coos Bay Art Museum in Oregon, to the The Robert Paul Gallery in Burlington, Vermont, and can presently be seen in The Lawrence Gallery in McMinneville and Riversea Gallery in Astoria, Oregon.

https://carolemurphy.com/

Julian Voss-Andreae, a German sculptor based in Portland Oregon, is widely known for his striking large-scale public and private commissions often blending figurative sculpture with scientific insights into the nature of reality. His sculptures are frequently shown at international art fairs and galleries and can be found in major collections in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia. Voss-Andreae’s work has been featured in print and broadcast media worldwide and videos of his sculpture have gone viral with tens of millions of views. Prior to his art career, Julian Voss-Andreae studied quantum physics and philosophy at the Universities of Berlin and Edinburgh and did his graduate research participating in a seminal experiment in foundational quantum physics at one of the world’s most prestigious physics research labs at the University of Vienna. His expertise in diverse fields of science and a deep passion for the mysteries of quantum physics have been a continual source of inspiration for his work.

julianvossandreae.com

Zoom Details

This event is open to the public. All attendees will need to register in advance.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event.

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