Art Quilts XV: Needleplay

Hello all,
Here is the call for the next edition of Art Quilts in Chandler, Arizona. We have some key changes this year, so please read carefully. I look forward to seeing your entries, and more to seeing them up in our downtown Chandler venues -- that's right venues! This year we have one show in two different galleries.

-- Diane

ART QUILTS XV: NEEDLEPLAY
Chandler Center for the Arts & Vision Gallery
Chandler, AZ
November 5, 2010, through January 15, 2011

Entry Deadline: Friday, September 3, 2010Art Quilts XV: Needleplay will create a retrospective of today’s art-quilt world in all its diversity. This year’s theme encourages you to enter works at the top of your artistic game. Have you made a study of the games people play? Have you conquered unusual color combinations? Do your stitches skip across the surface of your piece? Does your entry compel us to stop and look, to challenge how we think about winning and losing? Submit your best original pieces to this juried competition for the opportunity to be part of our annual Art Quilts exhibition.

Art Quilts has grown from a local and regional quilt show to a respected vehicle for contemporary works. The exhibition draws entries from around the world and allows thousands of visitors each year to experience quilting as an art form. This
year, the exhibition is once again expected to be one of the finest collections of art quilts in the Southwest. The Chandler Arts Commission will review the exhibition for a potential purchase of artworks for inclusion in the City of Chandler's Public Art Collection.

The exhibition is presented by the Chandler Cultural Foundation. It will be displayed at both the Chandler Center for the Arts and nearby in Vision Gallery’s new home, the community’s new City Hall facility. The exhibition is overseen and installed by the City of Chandler's visual arts staff, housed at Vision Gallery. It is juried by Diane Howell.

ELIGIBILITY
Quilt artists who want to share their art with a broad based arts audience are invited to enter. Two or more people may have worked on the pieces. The works must not have been previously displayed at the Chandler Center for the Arts or other downtown Chandler venue. Works should have been completed within the last three years. Works must be original designs, not created from patterns or in a workshop where the work product is heavily influenced by the teacher’s patterns or style. Wearable art and works less than 10" wide will not be accepted. Also, the number of accepted works in excess of 48” in width will be limited this year.

JURY FEE There is a non-refundable fee of $25 to enter up to 3 works. No entries will be considered without payment of this fee. Make checks payable to Vision Gallery or contact the gallery with credit card information. Accepted images will be retained for the archives and possible use in future promotions or catalog production. Slides and CDs will be returned if accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope with correct postage.

SHIPPING/DELIVERY
All delivery and shipping costs are the responsibility of the artist. To ensure your shipping and insurance needs are met when we ship your quilt(s) back to you, we ask you to include a FILLED OUT return-shipping form with pieces sent to Arizona for installation. This does not mean you must pay for shipping in advance. We are requesting you include a form with your shipping account number on it (this is NOT your credit card) so we can efficiently process shipping at the end of the show. A completed label saves us LOTS of time.

If you are new to shipping, the easiest way to do this is to go online and open a free account with FedEx. Postage stamps will NOT be accepted as payment for shipping. More detailed shipping info will be included in communication to accepted artists. Please remember we cannot predict what shipping–company franchisees across the country will state as “rules” for return shipping. The bottom line is: Do not prepay outrageously high fees to get a return form/label from a shipping company. If someone tries to charge you several times what you are paying to ship to Arizona, we’ll find another way to get your quilt back to you.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
The above rules are for U.S. artists. While shipping costs remain the responsibility of the artist, accepted international entries are handled on an individual basis to assure efficient and cost-effective return delivery.

INSURANCE
Works are insured while on display at the Chandler Center for the Arts and Vision Gallery, but not before or after. Please insure your works through other means for these time periods.

ENTRY RULES
For each $25 fee, you may submit up to 3 artworks on slides, a CD or via email. There is NO form, but entries MUST be accompanied by the following information:

1. Your name, email address (included with your other contact info), physical mailing address and day and evening phone numbers.
2. For each submitted work, include a full and detail view. You may submit images on 35mm slides or as digital jpeg images. Digital images should have a minimum 300 dpi resolution for an approximate picture size of 3 x 4 inches. The digital images can be either on a CD or submitted via email to vision.gallery@chandleraz.gov
3. With each image, the name of the artist(s) and title of the quilt must be included. Title digital files so that this guideline is followed; you may abbreviate information so that it fits. Example: leaf1detqartist.jpg would indicate “Leaf 1” detail view by Quilt Artist. In the case of slides, write artist name and title, and indicate TOP on the slide frame.

4. A separate list, or document file, describing the images needs to provided, to include: artist(s) name(s), quilt title(s), dimensions (width x height), types of fabrics/materials used and a short statement about the piece(s).

5. Statement declaring whether or not photos may be used and/or taken to promote current and future shows, including on a promotional postcard, on the Internet, in brochures and a possible catalog. One image will be chosen for use on a promotional postcard. If you give permission for these uses, you also give full permission to use image(s) of your work(s) and your artist’s statement(s) without payment or royalties. During the exhibition, the Chandler Center for the Arts and Vision Gallery limit photography to the Center staff, juror, select media and artists taking photos of their own work(s).

6. Statement declaring insurance value(s) and, if you want to sell your work(s), sale price(s). A 50 percent gallery commission will be charged on all sales, so remember to state sale prices that include that percentage.

DEADLINES Entries (not the quilts) are due by 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3, 2010, either by email at vision.gallery@chandleraz.gov or by delivery to Vision Gallery, 80 S. San Marcos, Chandler, AZ 85225. A list of accepted artists will be posted on www.visiongallery.org, www.chandlercenter.org and sweeteasyfeeling.blogspot.com by midnight on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010. Correspondence to accepted artists will follow.

Completed quilts accepted into the exhibition must be delivered by Friday, Oct. 15, 2010. The delivery address will be given to accepted artists. For ease of installation, quilts must have top and bottom sleeves appropriate to their sizes. These sleeves should be at least large enough for 2-inch slats. If your piece has a hanging system other than a sleeve, please contact Vision Gallery prior to entering to ensure it will be compatible with the gallery’s hanging requirements. Please provide slats unless they will not fit in your shipping box.

Quilts from local artists MUST be picked up at the Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 North Arizona Avenue, Chandler, AZ on the day the exhibit is taken down, unless other arrangements have been made. Accepted artists will be notified of take-down date. Nonlocal works will be shipped; see Shipping/Delivery subhead for details.

GALLERY HOURS
Vision Gallery hours are Monday – Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Chandler Center for the Arts hours are Monday – Friday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturdays noon – 4 p.m. In addition, Chandler Center for the Arts patrons enjoy the artworks before shows and during intermissions. Vision Gallery patrons will view the works in the evenings that special events are scheduled at the facility. Call 480.917.6859 for holiday hours at either gallery space.

QUESTIONS
Contact Eric Faulhaber at 480-917-6859, eric.faulhaber@chandleraz.gov

Or Diane Howell, sdihowell@aol.com