ELLARSLIE OPEN 39
CALL FOR ART through May 12, 2022

• Premier juried exhibition presented by Trenton City Museum
• Awards and Prizes in 10 Categories; $1000 Prize for Best In Show
• Exhibition on view and online from June 25 to October 2, 2022

ELIGIBILITY & GUIDELINES

• Open to all artists eighteen and older
• All media may be entered, with the exception of video/film
• Work must have been created in the last three years and not previously exhibited at the Trenton City Museum
• Hanging work must be properly and securely framed, professionally presented, wired and ready to hang; no sawtooth hangers accepted
• Work on paper must be under glass or Plexiglas
• Heavy sculpture must be on a dolly to facilitate movability
• 3-dimensional work must be movable by two people; artist may be asked to supply a suitable base
• No dimension of any piece may exceed 72”
• Multi-panel diptychs or triptychs will be judged as one piece

The Museum reserves the right to exclude an entry for any reason including, but not limited to, work that is inadequately matted or framed, is fragile, or imposes special handling

INSTRUCTIONS & TIMELINE

• Artists create a free account on CaFÉ.com and provide all requested information
• Artists submit up to 6 pieces online through May 12 (we will be available until noon Eastern time for last-minute questions, but urge you to reach out much earlier; do utilize CaFE's comprehensive help sections for artists)
• Enter up to six pieces total, IMPORTANT: LIMIT TWO PIECES PER CATEGORY
• First entry: $25 for Trenton Museum Society members with promo code/$30 nonmembers; TMS members: please email us at exhibits@ellarslie.org for the promo code
• Please note that entry fee(s) will go to CaFE (through Western States Arts Federation, which operates CaFE), then to Trenton Museum Society
• $20 each for up to 5 more entries; LIMIT TWO ENTRIES PER CATEGORY
• Upload one image for each of your up to six pieces entered

SCHEDULE
Submission of Artwork
April 4 – May 12: Call for art is open at callforentry.org (please contact the museum at 609-989-1191 or exhibitions@ellarslie.org should you need assistance)

Jurying
May 26: Juror completes first round(s) of jurying
May 27: Artists receive email notification for each artwork invited for the final round, which will take place in person at Trenton City Museum
June 5 & 6: Artists deliver artwork in person from 10 am to 3 pm for the final jurying round
June 9: The juror completes final jurying
June 10: Ellarslie Open 39 exhibiting artists are posted at ellarslie.org
June 11 & 12; June 17 & 18: Artists pick up any artwork not selected for exhibition (times to be announced)

Opening Weekend
June 25: Saturday VIP Reception 1 – 5 pm; Awards announced at 4 pm
June 26: Sunday Public Reception 1 – 4 pm

Gallery Talk with the Juror
To be announced. Award recipients will be invited to discuss their work.

Closing Day and Artwork Pick-Up:
October 2: Ellarslie Open 39 draws to a close; 4-6 p.m., artists may begin picking up their work (must present your receipt)
October 3 – 9: Artwork is picked up with receipt (times tba); artwork not been picked up by the final date will be subject to a fine of $5 per day

MEDIA
IMPORTANT: Limit of two entries in each main category, six entries total. Media not limited to the examples listed below.

• Digital Art 
• Drawing
  e.g., Graphite, Charcoal, Ink
• Fiber Art
• Mixed Media
• Painting (e.g., Oil, Acrylic)
• Watercolor
• Photography (Images created using a camera, including digitally manipulated photographic images)
• Printmaking (e.g., Wood Block, Etching, Monoprint, Collagraph)
• Sculpture (e.g., Wood, Metal, Ceramic)

Dates and details subject to change.

Walter Wickiser, Juror
Wickiser Gallery, New York City

The Walter Wickiser Gallery was established in 1992 in Soho, New York. As the son of American artist and art educator Ralph Wickiser, who chaired the graduate Fine Art program at Pratt Institute from 1962-1978, Walter Wickiser was born and raised in the American art world amongst internationally renowned modern artists including Barnett Newman, Phillip Guston, Jacob Lawrence, George McNeil, Stephen Pace and Phillip Pearlstein. Early friendships with the Milton Avery and Yasuo Kuniyoshi families provided a special mentoring and education which proved very beneficial to his career as an art dealer.

Wickiser's career as an art dealer formally began in 1990 in Soho, NY, when he became the first director of the first gallery to be established in the United States from mainland China. This led to establishing his primary direction as a gallery director to exhibit work by American and Asian-American painters, as well as artists from China, Japan and Korea. It has always been the focus of the Wickiser Gallery to create a visual dialogue between various cultures, and simultaneously reminds us of the ability of art to transcend cultural boundaries.

Since 1993 Wickiser Gallery has worked with the U.S. State Department and Art for Embassies Program. Wickiser’s artists have exhibited in U.S. Embassies in Seoul, Moscow, Manila, Qatar, Bucharest, and Cypress, to name a few. Since 2003 The Wickiser has exhibited at dozens of International Art Fairs including Art Aspen, Art Busan, Art Hamptons, Art Miami, Art on Paper, Art Toronto, Houston Fine Art Fair, LA Art Show, and the Seattle Art Fair.

The Wickiser Gallery has received numerous reviews in ArtNews, Art In America, Art and Antiques, the Washington Post, Tampa Bay Times and many other internationally recognized publications. The Wickiser has had many online reviews in publications such as the. Huffington Post. Work by many of the Wickiser’s artists have been exhibited at American museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the High Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the New Britain Museum of American Art.

About Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie
and the Ellarslie Open

Ellarslie, an Italianate villa, was built in 1848 as a summer residence for Henry McCall Sr. of Philadelphia, who named his mansion after a town in Scotland. The architect, John Notman, also designed our nation’s first Italianate building, in Burlington, NJ, the Athenaeum in Philadelphia, and the 1845 expansion of the New Jersey State House among many other notable structures.

In 1881 Henry McCall Jr. sold Ellarslie to George Farlee for $25,000. In 1888 the City of Trenton acquired, for $50,000, the building and its 80-acre property which would later become Cadwalader Park, the city’s first public park. The park’s designer was none other than Frederick Law Olmsted of Central Park fame.

The City of Trenton opened a first, short-lived museum Ellarslie in 1889. Across the decades that followed the gracious building has been not only a home but also a restaurant, an ice cream parlor, and even a monkey house as part of the city’s zoo. In 1971 Trenton City Council passed a resolution to create the Trenton City Museum. It finally opened in Ellarslie Mansion in 1978 with an exhibition from its renowned collection of Trenton cultural and industrial history. This time the museum stuck. Today this vital cultural resource welcomes all to celebrate and contribute to the art, history, and community of Trenton and its surroundings.

An important element in the museum’s evolution is the Ellarslie Open, which the Trenton Museum Society launched in 1982 to encourage and support local artists. Since then, it has developed into a premier annual juried exhibition for the New York, Pennsylvania, and New York region – and now beyond. Many of the more than 1,000 local and regional artists who have had exhibitions at the Trenton City Museum first became known to us through their work in the Ellarslie Open. Sidelined in 2020, the Open came back in 2021 with an online entry system that connected with longtime and new entrants alike.

Ellarslie Mansion, which houses the Trenton City Museum, is owned and maintained by the City of Trenton. Funding and volunteer support for Trenton City Museum operations and programming is provided by members and supporters of the Trenton Museum Society, the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission through funding from Mercer County and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment of the Arts, NJM Insurance Group, the Bunbury Fund and the Trenton Arts Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation, and the New Jersey Arts and Culture Recovery Fund. The Trenton Museum Society is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Prospectus

Details subject to change.

Application Requirements

ENTRY FEES

• $30.00 for first entry, $20.00 for each additional piece. (Maximum of six entries permitted.)
• Trenton Museum Society members receive $5 discount on first entry
• Payment by credit card or check (payable to the Trenton Museum Society) required at time of online submission on callforentry.org

REGISTRATION

• Create your free account on callforentry.org
• Provide: your bio or resume; artist statement; digital image for each entered artwork; name, medium, dimensions, and price or value for each entered artwork
• Enter up to six pieces (please note: you are limited to two submissions in any one category)
• Submit entry fee payment electronically within the callforentry.org platform to complete your submission (payment by check mailed to Trenton City Museum is permitted, though it will slow the completion of your submission)
• Contact us at exhibits@ellarslie.org or 609-989-1191 if you have questions or need assistance

INSURANCE AND DELIVERY

From the time your artwork is received to the time it is picked up, the Trenton City Museum will insure it for theft and damage caused by patrons or staff. The insured value is 60% of the sale price or value you assign to your artwork. Artists must provide their own insurance for work while they are transporting it to and from Ellarslie. It is the responsibility of the artist to deliver and pick up their work at the time designated. Artwork will not be insured beyond pick-up dates. Artwork that remains beyond the final pick-up date will incur a fee of $5 per day. Artwork remaining 30 days after the final pick-up date will become the property of the Trenton Museum Society. These rules will be strictly enforced.

RESULTS, RECEPTIONS, AWARDS, SALES

• Artwork to be exhibited in Ellarslie Open 39 will be posted on www.ellarslie.org by Friday, June 10
• The Trenton City Museum will host a VIP Reception Saturday, June 25, from 1-5 pm (awards announced at 4 pm).
• Public Reception Sunday, June 26; 1-4 pm (during our regular museum hours)
• Each exhibiting artist may pick up five invitations at the museum

Exhibiting artists receive 60% of retail price on all art sales during the exhibit. Keep this in mind when you assign a value to your work during the online submission process.

Eligibility Criteria

ELIGIBILITY & GUIDELINES

• Open to all artists eighteen and older
• All media may be entered, except for video/film
• Work must have been created in the last three years and not previously exhibited at the Trenton City Museum
• Hanging work must be properly and securely framed, professionally presented, wired and ready to hang; no sawtooth hangers accepted
• Work on paper must be under glass or Plexiglas
• Heavy sculpture must be on a dolly to facilitate movability
• 3-dimensional work must be movable by two people; artist may be asked to supply a suitable base
• No dimension of any piece may exceed 72”
• Multi-panel diptychs or triptychs will be judged as one piece