Bellingham National 2023 Juried Art Exhibition and Awards @ Whatcom Museum: Acts of Healing and Repair     

Exhibition Dates: November 12, 2023 – February 25, 2024

Juror: Grace Kook-Anderson, the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art at the Portland Art Museum

Awards: 1st $2,500; 2nd $1,500; 3rd $1,000; Popular Award $500

The first prize winner will also be awarded a spotlight exhibition featuring a selection of their work in a forthcoming solo presentation at the Museum.

Eligibility: This call is open to any artist residing in the greater United States. The Whatcom Museum does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status.

Exhibition Title & Theme: Acts of Healing and Repair

The Whatcom Museum is seeking submissions by artists of all backgrounds who respond to the theme of healing in their work for this year’s Bellingham National Exhibition titled Acts of Healing and Repair.

This fourth biennial Juried Art Exhibition and Awards will take place at the Whatcom Museum’s Lightcatcher building, and will open to the public Sunday, November 12. The guest juror of this year’s “Bellingham National” is Grace Kook-Anderson, the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art at the Portland Art Museum.

Artists may submit up to three artworks for consideration for this exhibition. Only one artwork (with an option to add a detail shot of this artwork) can be submitted per application. Artists who wish to submit three artworks must submit three separate applications for consideration. Each artwork submission will be judged individually.  

Application fee of $35 is a one-time fee. If artists choose to submit more than one artwork/application, a code can be applied to waive the fee for second and third submissions. 

Waive Fee Code: BHAMNAT2023

Entries will be considered and chosen by the juror, Kook-Anderson, and accepted artists will be announced by September 25, 2023. Artists may submit works from a broad range of media and styles that respond to the topic of healing.

Timeline – 2023:

August 11: Deadline for Entries (Apply online at: https://www.callforentry.org/ and search for Bellingham National 2023)

September 25: Juror’s selection for the Bellingham National 2023 will be announced via email and the CaFÉ website.

October 23 – 28: Artwork received at Whatcom Museum via shipment or personal delivery

November 11: Exhibition Preview Reception

November 12: Exhibition open to the public

February 25, 2024: Exhibition closes and artwork is returned

Specifications: All two-dimensional artworks MUST BE READY FOR DISPLAY WITH HANGING DEVICES/HARDWARE ATTACHED or the Whatcom Museum reserves the right not to include in the exhibition. The weight limitation of each crated or packaged work must not exceed 50 lbs.

Entry Fee: $35. Secure credit card payments can be made through CaFÉ at https://www.callforentry.org. Personal checks or money orders will be accepted via mail payable to Whatcom Museum and mailed to: Whatcom Museum/Bellingham National 2023, 121 Prospect Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225. To guarantee that your images are sent to the juror, all entry fees sent by mail must be received by August 1, 2023.

Submitting Images for Jurying: All entries (images and information) will be accepted only through the CaFÉ website. Instructions on how to format images to CaFÉ specifications can be found at: https://artist.callforentry.org/image_prep.phtml

1) Each applicant may submit up to three artworks for consideration in three separate applications, covered by a one-time entry fee of $35. All art must be original, completed within the last two years, and available through the entire run of the exhibition.

2) Please also attach a current resume and provide an OPTIONAL artist's statement (no more than 1,000 characters in length).

Shipping: Artists will be responsible for all shipping costs both to and from the Whatcom Museum. The Museum will require prepayment of any shipping/insurance costs for the return of each artwork. Artists will need to include either a prepaid return shipping label or FED EX account number with the incoming shipment. All shipped work must be received between October 23-28, 2023.The Whatcom Museum accepts no liability for objects in transit. Detailed instructions will be sent to those artists whose works are accepted by the juror.

About the Whatcom Museum: The Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Wash., is an American Alliance of Museums (AAM) accredited museum and a Smithsonian Affiliate. Notable projects include the 2019 retrospective exhibition Ed Bereal: WANTED: For Disturbing the Peace, featured in The New York Times, the touring exhibition Katazome Today: Migrations of a Japanese Art, and the co-curated, nationally touring exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, which will be on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. in 2023. Many Wests received the Western Museum Association’s Charles Redd Exhibition Excellence Award for its showing at the Whatcom Museum in 2022.

Geographically situated between Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia, the Whatcom Museum presents exhibitions of regional, national, and international art to an expansive audience. Its multi-building campus is located in the heart of Bellingham's downtown Arts District. For more information about our exhibitions and admission visit www.whatcommuseum.org 

About the Juror: Grace Kook-Anderson was appointed The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art in 2017. At the Portland Art Museum she is responsible for the Northwest Art Collection and Galleries and the APEX exhibition series, which features solo exhibitions and projects of contemporary northwest artists. Prior to joining the museum, she was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art in the School of Art + Design at Portland State University while working as an independent curator and arts writer. From 2008-2015, Kook-Anderson was the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Laguna Art Museum. Kook-Anderson received a dual B.A. degree in art history and art practice from the University of California, Berkeley, and received her M.A. degree in Curatorial Practice from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She has held prior positions at the Asian Art Museum and the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco.

Legal Agreement: The Whatcom Museum assumes responsibility for works only while they are on the premises. We recommend that artists make arrangements to insure artworks during transit. Our professional art handlers will handle and install works with care. Fragile works will be displayed under a vitrine unless otherwise specified by the artist. The Whatcom Museum reserves the right to photograph artworks in the exhibition for publicity and educational purposes. The Bellingham National 2023 exhibition and events are ADA compliant.

Whatcom Museum

121 Prospect Street

Bellingham, WA 98225

www.whatcommuseum.org

Application Requirements

Submissions by artists of all backgrounds who respond to the theme of healing in their work will be considered. Artists may submit works from a broad range of media and styles. All art must be original, completed within the last two years, and available through the entire run of the exhibition.

Artists may submit up to three artworks for consideration for this exhibition. Only one artwork (with an option to add a detail shot of this artwork) can be submitted per application. Artists who wish to submit three artworks must submit three separate applications for consideration. Each artwork submission will be judged individually.  

Application fee of $35 is a one-time fee. If submitting more than one application, a code can be applied to waive the fee for second and third submissions. Waive Fee Code: BHAMNAT2023

All entries (images and information) will be accepted only through the CaFÉ website. Instructions on how to format images to CaFÉ specifications can be found at: https://artist.callforentry.org/image_prep.phtml

Eligibility Criteria

This call is open to any artist residing in the greater United States. The Whatcom Museum does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status.