Barnstorm 2023 (Thorp, WA) – Call For Artists
[Side Arts Certified Sponsored Listing] PUNCH Projects announces a call for artists for Barnstorm, a series of pop-up exhibitions activating rural spaces in unexpected ways with visual art, site-specific installations, and music. This fourth iteration transforms what was the original Thorp fire station into an exhibition space, highlighting works in all media in the form of projections and digital prints gathered from international artists and juried by Joanna Garner, Senior Story Creative Director at Meow Wolf.
Click here for the application / registration
Enter by: 6 August 2023
There is no theme to the Barnstorm call; however, the gallery encourages submissions that consider how artwork speaks to the dialogue between urban and rural sensibilities, as well as images and videos that operate in a non-traditional exhibition space of this sort. Forms of images considered include photo-based works, photos of 2-d artwork, photos of installation, new media, sculpture, 3-d work, photo stills from video works, video clips, full-length video works, and audio works.
The exhibition will consist of printed and framed images, video monitors, and projections. Instead of original pieces of art, selected artists will be given instructions to provide a high-resolution digital image file or video file of the chosen work(s). Images will be printed and framed 12”x12” by PUNCH Projects for the exhibition. Video works will be displayed via monitors. Projections (supplied by PUNCH) will be shown directly onto the interior and exterior walls of the building. PUNCH Projects will pay the cost of shipping unsold prints to the artists after the exhibition closes.
Barnstorm Exhibition Dates: Saturdays 12-4pm, September 2-30, 2023
Barnstorm Awards
- $500 Juror’s Choice Award
- $500 Punch Choice Award
- $500 People’s Choice Award
About PUNCH Projects
From its 10-year history as a gallery in Seattle to its current initiative as a rural arts collective, PUNCH has worked to promote visual dialogue between urban and rural art communities. In an ongoing effort to promote artwork that is thoughtful, fresh, and contemporary coupled with a desire to further bridge urban rural connections, PUNCH Projects seeks to support the cultural vibrancy of rural art scenes by spurring creative awareness, cross-cultural engagement, and economic vitality.
PUNCH was founded in March 2006, when a group of artists from rural central Washington sought to participate in the dynamic cultural exchange resulting from the emergence of artist-run galleries two hours west in Seattle. Seeking to exhibit work that was honest, thoughtful, vocal, fearless, and fresh, as well as applauding individual expression, the gallery’s primary mission was to provide support and encouragement for artists to create and exhibit their work in an atmosphere free from the constraints of commercialism.
PUNCH mounted over 110 exhibitions at its gallery space in the Tashiro Kaplan building at the edge of Seattle’s Pioneer Square. The gallery helped advance the careers of several regional artists, gained the attention of the critics, and won impressive awards. They exhibited the work of artist members at art fairs. The gallery introduced Seattle to countless artists via periodic juried and group exhibitions. They had exhibitions reviewed both regionally and nationally. In owning up to their original mission, they constantly strove to be an active and vital part of the Northwest art scene, built a tightknit community of more than 35 artist members, and exhibited the work of countless others without being dependent on sales, commissions, or outside influence.
In July 2016, after calling Pioneer Square and the Tashiro Kaplin building home for ten years, PUNCH transitioned to a project-based collective, consisting of four of the five founding members, and turned its focus to underrepresented communities in rural areas. Based in central Washington under the new moniker, PUNCH Projects, the organization seeks to support the cultural vibrancy of rural art scenes through site-specific exhibitions, creative development, cultural events, and micro-manufacturing. Additionally, they strive to support rural vitality while building bridges between the urban cultural centers of the Northwest and the smaller communities among the fertile landscape from which PUNCH originated.
For more information, contact art@punchgallery.org.
