I’m Not Crazy Update and Prospectus

The prospectus is done and posted on the SAQA website, so I can put it here too. You do have to be a SAQA member to enter. I’ve been a SAQA member for a few years this time around (I was a member, then I was very poor and newly divorced, so I wasn’t a member, and now I’m a member again). The website for SAQA is here. Membership is not particularly cheap at $60/year, but there are lots of opportunities for shows, if you’re interested in that. I have a local group that meets regularly too, there’s a quarterly journal, some opportunities to be published, a Yahoo list, and lots of online information via SAQA-U (a wiki). Two of the major exhibitions I’m in at the moment, Sightlines and Creative Force, are both SAQA exhibits. Their focus is the art quilt, which is why I joined in the first place. As a Professional Artist Member (PAM), I have opportunities to be published in the annual Portfolio and to be involved in the program that is allowing this exhibit to take place, the Curator-in-Training program. So for me, it’s been good.

(Anger Management)

My goal in doing this program is to get the experience I need to put on shows by myself, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. The juror for this exhibit is Sue Reno, an award-winning fiber artist who lives and works in Lancaster County, PA. Her work focuses on the natural world and historic architectural themes. She exhibits widely in art, fine craft, and quilt venues, and her work has been selected for the U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies program.  She has been a SAQA Professional Artist Member since 2009.  Sue has served as a juror for Sacred Threads in 2009 and 2011, and for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in 2011. Sue and I have been reading each other’s blogs and seeing each other’s art for years, and I know she will choose a wonderful show…but for her to do that, y’all need to enter.

(Blue Moon)

Theme:  Mental illness carries with it a stigma; many of us have experience with disorders, temporary or permanent, curable or not, that in the past and in some cultures even today would be labeled as crazy. That stigma can make it difficult to admit its effect on our loved ones or ourselves. Disorders as common as anxiety or depression, or less common, like schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder, can have a devastating effect on families and friends, and on ourselves. Negativity towards those who have these disorders often causes many people to keep the diagnosis hidden from friends and family.

• What does “crazy” look like?
• What does it feel like?
• How does the world look through the eyes of someone experiencing a panic attack or depression or other mental disorder?
• How does loving or caring for someone with a mental disorder look and feel?

We’re looking for work that covers these experiences: from the eyes of the caregiver, the friend, the family member, and, of course, those who have experienced any of these disorders themselves. Your work can reflect the disorder or the chaos it holds on our lives, it can be humorous, it can be sad, it can be crazy or incredibly calm.

(tradition fragment violate)

I use my art to work through stuff…sometimes it’s worldwide stuff, like tsunamis, homelessness, and climate change, but more often it’s personal stuff, like divorce, health issues, stress, and raising kids. Some people become depressed after childbirth or a divorce; some people carry genetic markers for a disease and deal with it their entire lives, not because of some single event that triggers a reaction, but because their genes change the way their brains work. Whether we experience the disease ourselves or through caring for a family member or a friend, it has an effect on us, one that we can express through our art.

The exhibit already has multiple venues, thanks to the Mancuso shows. Starting with:

• World Quilt Show –  New England X, August 16-19, 2012, Radisson Center of New Hampshire, Manchester, NH
• Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza XIX, September 13-16, 2012,Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, Philadelphia Area, PA
• Pacific International Quilt Festival XXI, October 11-14, 2012,Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA
• World Quilt Show – Florida IV, November 8-10, 2012, Palm Beach County Convention Ctr, West Palm Beach, FL
• Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XIX, February 21-24, 2013, Hampton Roads Convention Center, Hampton, VA
• The Quilt Fest of New Jersey IX, Feb 28-March 3, 2013, Garden State Exhibit Center, Somerset, NJ
• Denver National Quilt Festival VIII, May 2-5, 2013, Denver Merchandise Mart, Denver, CO

There is a possibility that there will be additional venues.

Eligibility and Guidelines:

• Entry is by digital images only (directions on the website…you do need to be a SAQA member to access this page).

• You may submit up to 3 entries.

• Quilts must be created after 2007 and not shown in a previous SAQA exhibition.

• Entries must be 20″ – 48″ width, and 65″ maximum in length

• 3-D, free-standing works will NOT be accepted.

• Artwork must meet the SAQA definition of an art quilt: a contemporary artwork exploring and expressing aesthetic concerns common to the whole range of visual arts: painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, assemblage and sculpture, which retains, through materials or technique, a clear relationship to the folk art quilt from which it descends.

• Artists are responsible for shipping and insurance to the SAQA Shipping Center in Ohio and for return shipping to their homes from the last venue.  SAQA will arrange to insure the artwork during the exhibitions and while it travels.

• Artwork MAY be for sale. SAQA will charge a 25% commission on all sales; exhibiting venues may also charge a commission, but total commission will never exceed 50%.

• Work MUST be available to travel for up to a year. Travel details to follow.

Calendar:

January 1, 2012                   Call for entry

May 1, 2012                          Online entry open

May 30, 2012                        Online Entry Deadline at 11:59 pm EST

June 1-20, 2012                   Selection Process

June 27, 2012                      Notification of acceptance (All notifications will be forwarded via email)

July 18, 2012                        Artwork to be RECEIVED in Ohio

August 1, 2012                     Quilts shipped to Manchester, NH

August 16, 2012                   Exhibit opening

May 5, 2013                          Exhibit closing

June 15, 2013                      Return of work to Artists unless more venues are scheduled.

I’m really excited about this exhibit and hope there are lots of entries. If you have questions, you can contact me through the contact page here or email me directly using the SAQA link for the Call for Entries.