[Side Arts Certified Sponsored Listing] The Decatur Arts Alliance announces a call for artists working in all media for their 2025 Fine Arts Exhibition, Cat and Mouse.

Click here for the application / registration

Enter by: 14 March 2025

Cat and mouse is a playful way to illustrate a certain type of power struggle. This game of constant pursuit, capture, and escape is a trope of fables, fiction, movies, and cartoons. Will one win over the other, or are the combatants locked in a never-ending game where the upper hand is gained, but eventually lost?

After her enemies forced her to abdicate her throne on July 24, 1567, leading to unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, Queen Mary of Scotland fled to England, seeking the protection of her cousin, Elizabeth I. Perceiving Mary as a threat, Elizabeth confined her in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England.

Queen Mary was a skilled needlewoman and sewed many embroideries while she was under house arrest in England. An important means of expression for Mary, her amazing collection of embroideries featured fantastical beasts, Latin sayings, and hidden meanings.

One embroidery in particular, Mary’s embroidery of a cat, is imbued with hidden meaning. The cat depicted has red fur, a nod to Elizabeth I’s red, Tudor hair. The cat has its paw on the tail of a mouse, stopping it escaping. Is this a reference to the power struggle between these two female monarchs, or to Mary’s imprisonment, where the meek mouse, though under the cat’s foot, is bound to escape?

Cat and Mouse Artist Benefits

• Best of Show:  $1,000
• Gold Award:  $700
• Silver Award:  $500

Purchase awards totaling $2,500 are selected by the City of Decatur for inclusion in its public art collection. Local institutions and universities frequently purchase exhibiting artwork. Purchase awards will be publicly announced on the exhibition website.

The Decatur Arts Festival draws approximately 40,000 people to downtown Decatur for a celebration of the arts that includes a juried Artists Market, Children’s Festival, New Dance, Literary Arts, Performing Arts Stage, and a Concert on the Square, as well as the Fine Arts Exhibition. This large audience represents a broad spectrum of knowledge and appreciation of the arts, and the Fine Arts Exhibition addresses this spectrum with a diversity of styles and media. Works selected for the show reflect a wide range of artists’ experiences and viewpoints, with excellence as a common thread.

About Decatur Arts Alliance

Decatur Arts Alliance (DAA) connects residents, businesses, tourists, and artists to increase arts access and engagement in the city of Decatur, Georgia. Founded in 1989, the nonprofit produces the annual Decatur Arts Festival, numerous city-wide public art programs, community art and music events, and in 2024, launched the “Creative Village” project at Legacy Park that offers affordable artist studios and community workshops for all ages and skill levels.

The DAA provides a collaborative environment to coordinate the interests of artists, gallery owners, theater groups, dance groups, and performance venues within the city, helping to make Decatur home to a strong arts community. The Decatur Arts Alliance is supported by membership and sponsorship, along with proceeds from the Decatur Arts Festival and the Decatur Wine Festival.

For more information, contact amacon@decaturartsalliance.org