Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL, announces a call for artists for Women’s Works 2020, a juried fine art exhibit celebrating women artists. Women’s Works provides an opportunity to showcase the creative artwork of women artists in North America and internationally. This year will mark the 33rd Anniversary of the show.
Click here for the application / registration
Deadline: 26 Jan 2020
Women’s Works 2020 is open to all women artists in all media. There is a $40 application fee, but no further fees if accepted.
This year’s show will be judged by fine art photographer, Helen Smith-Romer. Romer works with collaged color photography using a repetition of human features to create bright, surrealist portraits and settings contrasted against a dark background. Romer states that her current body of work, “investigates the paradoxical beauty and mysticism of assemblages and the process of doing imagery.” Her work can be found in various collections across the country, including the University of Minnesota and the Chicago Historical Society.
Women’s Works 2020 Artist Benefits
Women’s Works has been a showcase for women artists from around the world for decades. It enjoys excellent visibility in the greater Chicago area and is viewed by visitors from over the course of its 6 week run.
The gallery hosts over 30 exhibits a year, with new exhibits opening every 2-4 weeks. This ensures a steady flow of repeat visitors and buyers who visit the gallery to view each show.
Accepted artists will have their work judged by local noted artist Helen Romer-Smith. Artists will have a chance to meet with Helen at the gala reception which will be held on Saturday March 14th.
The show also awards prizes worth over $1500 in cash prizes: First prize: $500; 2nd Prize: $300; 3rd prize: $200. 3 Artistic Merits ($100 each) and a gallery award of $250.
About Old Courthouse Arts Center
The Old Courthouse Arts Center is housed in the historic old McHenry County courthouse dating back to the 1860s. With over 5000 square feet of gallery space, the gallery presents over 30 different exhibits each year in its 4 gallery spaces, with new exhibits opening every 2 weeks. The art center also offers weekly life drawing, art classes, and workshops.
2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the Old Courthouse Arts Center. It is one of the longest-lived institutions on the historic Woodstock Square. The Art Center – and it’s parent organization the Northwest Area Arts Council (which was founded in the mid 80s) – are also two of the older art organizations in the greater Chicago area.
For more information, contact womensworks2020@naac4art.org.
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J + K Isacson announces a call for artists for Curiosity, a five week national fine art exhibition focused on exploration of the unusual and the human need to discover. Art can be a journey of exploration into the unfamiliar, or unknown, and has the power to introduce us to the new and unusual.
Click here for the application / registration
Deadline: 20 Nov 2019
Artists are encouraged to submit work that explores their own personal curiosities about themselves and the world or artwork that is, itself, an unusual curiosity. All mediums are welcomed for submission. As an artist, what intrigues you? Is your artwork a journal for your new experiences and obsessions? Show us how you have explored new experiences or ideas through your artwork. Exhibition curated by J + K Isacson in partnership with the Old Courthouse Arts Center.
Curiosity Artist Benefits
Best in show & Honorable mention awards presented opening night. Artists/artwork from the exhibition will receive promotion online and via promotional videos sent to mailing lists and shared on social media. Artists from exhibitions that go on to a museum location are encouraged to be in invitational versions of the exhibition. Steady foot traffic throughout the week. There is good traffic flow during this exhibition due to Woodstock’s Groundhog Day festivities, which brings in tourism.
Social Equity
J + K Isacson intentionally curates for inclusion. Some themes expressly highlight artists whose voices have not been heard, including artists from different ethnicities, psychological disorders, religions, gender identity, and sexual orientation. They seek to give a platform to artists whose style of artwork or whose personal characteristics have provided them with limited opportunity to show in all our exhibitions.
About J + K Isacson
J + K Isacson works with emerging, mid-career, and museum-exhibiting artists. J + K Isacson are curators for the exhibition, working in partnership with the Northern Area Arts Council and the Old Courthouse Arts Center in Woodstock, IL. It overlooks historic Woodstock square, which you may recognize from the film Groundhog Day.
The Old Courthouse was constructed in 1857, a classic brick structure designed by one of the country’s most prominent architects, John Mills Van Osdel. The adjoining Sheriff’s House & Jail was built 30 years later. After 115 years as the focal point of McHenry County government, the county outgrew the buildings in 1972 and the complex was to be demolished for a parking lot. It was saved from the wrecker’s ball by Woodstock residents Cliff and Bev Ganschow. The Ganschows bought the buildings and began an extensive renovation program completed for American’s Bicentennial in 1976. Because of the buildings’ architectural and historical significance, both the Old Courthouse and Sheriff’s House & Jail are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
For more information, contact info@xculturearts.com.
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Quad City Arts invites artists residing within a 250-mile radius of the Quad Cities to submit a proposal for the Quad City Arts Exhibits 2020, a gallery exhibition in one of two gallery spaces during 2020-21 (Downtown Rock Island, IL and MLI airport in Moline, IL). Exhibitions will occur September 2020 through August 2021.
Click here for the application / registration
Deadline: 15 Sept 2019
Artists who have exhibited at one of Quad City Arts’ galleries within the past two years will be considered for exhibition in the alternate space. For example, if you were selected for a show at the airport during 2019-2020, you are eligible to exhibit at the Rock Island Gallery.
- All media will be considered
- There is no cost to enter
- Cohesive bodies of work are highly desirable
- You may apply as an individual or group
- Artists will be notified by 18 Oct 2019
Quad City Arts Exhibits 2020 Artist Benefits
Quad City Arts’ Rock Island Gallery is located in what was once a department store in 1908, with the original wood floors and a 14′ high, tin ceiling. The exhibition gallery has 1500 sq. feet of space and 106 running feet of wall space. There are floor-to-ceiling north facing windows looking out on the Mississippi River.
Art @ the Airport is in front of the main arrival/departure seating area in the Quad City International Airport. It houses 1,600 square feet of exhibition space in floor to ceiling glass cases. Over 2 million visitors pass through this space annually.
Exhibitions at our Rock Island gallery also include an opening reception on the first Friday of the exhibit.
About Quad City Arts
Quad City Arts Council, founded in 1970 as an arts advocacy organization that operated a visual arts gallery and re-granting program for local artists, launched Visiting Artists, Inc. in 1974 as an educational residency program presenting multi-disciplinary performing arts through residencies in schools and at community sites. Due to high demand for the residencies, Festival of Trees debuted in 1986 as a fund raiser for the program.
The organization’s dual role of presenting the arts and humanities, as well as serving as an arts resource, allows them to serve more than 350,000 people annually in the Arts Center in Rock Island and at over 200 rural and urban community sites.
For more information, contact dwmetallo@quadcityarts.com.
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Old Courthouse Arts Center announces a call for artists for Real People 2019, a national juried fine art exhibition celebrating the arts through faces and figures. Submitted work must depict the human form or face in some manner that is recognizable. Real People made its debut in 2000 at the Old Courthouse Arts Center in Woodstock, Illinois, located outside of Chicago, Illinois.
Click here for the application / registration
Deadline: 7 Jul 2019
The Real People exhibition has become a much-anticipated area event which enjoys excellent media coverage and exposure. Works previously shown at the Old Courthouse Arts Center are not eligible for entry.
Artists will be notified by Sunday July 14th. There is a $40 fee to apply. Artists may submit up to three images for consideration. There is a $10 discount available to artists who applied to either Real People 2018 or Women’s Works 2019. Email realpeople2019@naac4art.org to receive a discount code.
The Old Courthouse Arts Center is very excited to have Joyce Polance as the Judge for this year’s show. Joyce Polance is primarily known for her figurative oil paintings – both expressionistic portraits and large, painterly groups of nude women which explore emotion and relationships. Polance has exhibited internationally and is the recipient of multiple grants and awards including six Chicago CAAP grants, a George Sugarman Foundation grant, two Judith Dawn Memorial grants, and a Cliff Dwellers Artist in Residence award.
The exhibit will run from Wednesday, August 21st through Saturday, September 28th, including an artists’ reception gala on Saturday September 14.
Real People 2019 Awards
Cash prizes totaling $1,500.00 for the First, Second, Third Place, Gallery Award, and Three Artistic Merit Awards. In addition, the online artist management platform Biafarin, has donated 2 Gold one year memberships and 2 Blue one year memberships as awards.
About the Old Courthouse Arts Center
The Old Courthouse Arts Center was built in the 1860s. It is on the national registry of historic buildings. The entire second floor has been converted into an arts center, which houses four separate gallery spaces. The Old Courthouse Arts Center runs 30 shows each year in the space, with new shows opening on average every two weeks. This brings in a constant flow of repeat visitors from the area and a broader audience for gala openings. The Old Courthouse Arts Center has been operating for 29 years. It is run by the Northwest Area Arts Council which has been operating in the area for over 30 years.
For more information, contact realpeople2019@naac4art.org.