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Open Call - Missing Maine Landscapes

Open call for UMVA artists: Missing Maine Landscapes at the UMVA Gallery, Portland The Portland chapter of the Union of Maine Visual Artists invites UMVA member artists working in all media to submit work for a planned exhibition of landscape and landscape-related art at the UMVA’s Portland gallery in September, 2020. In the event that COVID-19 safety-related issues prevent a physical show at the gallery, work will be presented and promoted online.

The show is titled Missing Maine Landscapes. Much of the appeal of the most popular subjects for Maine landscapes is their visually unchanging nature. The coastline, forests, lakes, and rivers appear eternal. But the environments that surround these landscapes have been changed, and are changing still — often too rapidly to recognize. Many of these changes are the result of economic and cultural upheavals from capital and development (i.e., manufacturing and fisheries decline, loss of ancestral lands, forestry and agriculture, sprawl, gentrification and other in-migration).

The landscape can also change on a more intimate scale as a result of personal or community events or loss. And, of course, there can also be cause for joy or gratitude in changes we see on the land. Your work should be a response to places or things that have been removed, obscured, or replaced in the landscape Maine artists inhabit and may be concerned with place, history, narrative, grief, nostalgia,anger, joy, or relief, with all of these concerns — or none of them. It’s up to you. The only criterion willbe that your work be landscape or landscape related. Eligibility: UMVA member artists and others willing to become UMVA members may submit for consideration up to three two- or three-dimensional works in any medium that address the theme of Missing Maine Landscapes.

Member artists who have not previously exhibited in our Portland gallery are especially encouraged to submit. And non-members are invited to join at http://www.theumva.org/joindonate.  Every effort will be made to accept at least one piece from every participating artist, but if a physical show occurs, exhibit space is almost certain to be limited as we comply with COVID-19 restrictions.

If the show is limited to an online exhibition, all work submitted will be shown. Important dates:Deadline for receipt of submissions is August 15, 2020. Artists will be notified of accepted work as soon as possible after the submissions deadline.

Accepted work will be received from 10am-2pm on Sunday, August 30 at the UMVA Gallery at the Portland Media Center, 516 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04102. Work must be delivered to the gallery on this date so that volunteers can hang the show. If you are unable to deliver your work on that day, please arrange to have someone deliver it for you.

If possible, the show will open to the public starting Monday, August 31 with an opening reception 5:30-7pm during the Portland First Friday art walk on September 4th circumstances permitting. The show will come down Sunday, September 27, and all work must be picked up that day between 10am-4pm. If you cannot pick up your work that day, please arrange for someone else to pick it up for you. The gallery cannot safely store your work.

Submission requirements: All contributing artists must be current UMVA members. The UMVA is open to all Maine artists and offers low-cost membership options as well as a subscription to the Maine Arts Journal. For more information see https://www.theumva.org/joindonate

Submissions should include: Your name and contact information, including phone number, email, and link to any online presence you would like to make available.Good quality images of up to three 2D pieces in any medium as jpegs. Images must be 72 pixels per inch and no larger than 2100 pixels on the longest side. In the event of a non-physical exhibit, these submission images will represent your work online. The title, your name, medium, dimensions (including frame if applicable), year work was completed, and either your sale price or designated “NSF” (not for sale).

Save your images as below:
Artist_Title_medium_W”xH”_2019_$100.jpg or
Artist_Title_medium_W”xH”_2019_NFS.jpg

Artists submitting 3D works should submit as many images as needed to fairly represent the work, and all applicable measurements. Please see below for additional important information regarding 3D work. 

Email submissions to missingmainelandscapes@yahoo.com.  Submissions must be received by Wednesday, August 15.

Selection process: At least one piece from all who submit will be selected unless space becomes unavailable. Artists will be notified of final selections in mid-August. If the exhibit is online, all submissions will be shown. Other important information: The exhibition will be promoted through UMVA sites and social media, the Maine Arts Journal, Creative Portland, local and statewide media, academic arts departments, galleries, and other venues. If you are exhibiting in this show, be sure to invite friends and family.

The UMVA Gallery will take a 25% commission on all sales. Neither the UMVA nor the Portland Media Center are liable for damage or theft of artworks. Artists are invited to insure their own work if desired. Packing materials are the sole responsibility of the artist and may not be stored or disposed of at the gallery. All wall art must be ready-to-hang with wire hangers. Please do not deliver work with saw-tooth hangers. All pieces requiring special handling will be the sole responsibility of the artist or party acting on the artist’s behalf (although we will be happy to assist you if we can). Such work that is left to the gallery to handle may or may not be displayed at the sole discretion of the volunteers who give their time and labor to mount the exhibit. Plinths or other special display apparatus for sculpture or other 3D work will be the sole responsibility of the artist.

Please also note that we expect gallery space for this show to be limited per COVID-19 restrictions. Please bring a hard-copy 8.5”x11” bio/CV for inclusion in an exhibit binder in which gallery visitors will find contact and other information about the artists. Ideally, this document should also include an image of the work you will be showing. You may also bring an artist statement of up to 150 words pertinent to the work exhibited. Space permitting, this information will be posted adjacent to your work when displayed (whether in the gallery or online), but a statement is not required. We especially to encourage non-UMVA artists to join the organization and to submit. We look forward to seeing your work

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