Blue Sky, Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, is now accepting submissions for the 2025 Pacific Northwest Drawers

Photographic artists based in Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington are welcome to apply. There is no application fee to enter. 

Since 2007, with the establishment of the Pacific Northwest Drawers (PNW Drawers) program, Blue Sky has been showcasing the diverse photography coming out of the region. Annually, photographers from the Pacific Northwest are selected by an outside jury to exhibit 10 prints in accessible drawers for a full year. The role of the juror(s) is to determine from the submissions the strongest and the most evocative work representing a wide range of styles, subject matter, themes, and photographic processes. 

The PNW Drawers exhibition is the rare opportunity where visitors are encouraged to “handle the art." The PNW Drawers work attracts the attention of students, curators, collectors, and daily visitors eager to view a selection of regional photographers. Blue Sky also features all images of each PNW Drawers Artist on our website, along with a statement and bio for each artist. Gallery events throughout the year also support and celebrate our PNW Drawers Artists. 

About 2025 Juror Julia Dolan

Julia Dolan has curated, co-curated, or hosted more than 50 photography exhibitions since joining the Portland Art Museum in 2010. She also oversees research of and acquisitions for the permanent collection, which currently numbers over 10,000 photographs. She is a member of the Museum’s Equity Team, and is a co-founder of the FOCUS group, a North American network of emerging photography curators, historians, and nonprofit professionals.

Dr. Dolan’s exhibitions at the Museum include Perspectives (2020), Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal… (with Sara Krajewski, 2019-20), Toughened to Wind and Sun: Women Photographing the Landscape (2019-20), In the Beginning: Minor White’s Oregon Photographs (2017-2018), Representing: Vernacular Photographs of, by, and for African Americans (2017), Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy: Zig Jackson, Wendy Red Star, Will Wilson (with Dr. Deana Dartt, 2016), and Blue Sky: The Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts at 40 (2014). She has published essays in multiple publications including Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal… (2018), Sun, Shadows, Stone: The Photography of Terry Toedtemeier (2018), Geolocation: Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman (2015), Blue Sky: The Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts at 40 (2014), and The Question of Hope: Robert Adams in Western Oregon (2013).

Dr. Dolan earned a B.F.A. in Photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art, an M.A. in Art History from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. in Art History from Boston University. She has worked with the photography collections at institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Addison Gallery of American Art, and the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University.

Application Requirements

• Exactly 10 images (no watermarks) from a single series or body of work created within the last five years
• Details about each print: title, medium, dimensions (please use "0" for depth), price, date
• Artist CV
• Brief Artist Statement (not to exceed 300 words)

Submitting to this Call for Entry requires exactly 10 images (no watermarks) from a single series or body of work created within the last five years. If an applicant has previously been featured in the PNW Drawers, the submission must be of new or different work. Submitted images must be the same as the original prints intended for inclusion. Absolutely no substitutions will be permitted. 

Please include a concise artist statement (not to exceed 300 words), Artist CV, and details about each print including title, medium, dimensions, price, and date. 

If accepted, works must be delivered to the gallery matted and/or mounted. Due to the physical dimensions of each drawer, the matted or mounted sizes of accepted works are not to exceed 20” x 24” x 1.5" when stacked together. Please ensure that you are listing the FINAL mounted/matted dimensions, NOT the size of the print area.

CaFÉ Submission FAQ

Join Blue Sky Staff for a Zoom Q&A to help answer submission questions on November 21st, 2024 at 6 PM. Register here.

Sales Information

All prints selected for the PNW Drawers are eligible for sale with the artist's permission, with a 50% commission retained by Blue Sky. Artists who are currently represented by a gallery are asked to ensure that your entry does not infringe on any standing agreements before making a submission. Blue Sky will not be responsible for negotiating commissions with an artist’s representation or sending commission payments to an artist's gallery. Artists must plan to make separate payment arrangements with their gallery representation. 

Submission Deadline

The deadline for submissions is 10:59 PM (PT), Wednesday, December 18, 2024. There is no entry fee. Only one entry per artist is permitted. No deadline extensions. Blue Sky cannot respond to inquiries about the status of a submission, nor is the juror able to offer feedback or reasoning for rejected submissions.

Notification of Acceptance 

Accepted artists will be notified no later than February 3, 2025. Works must be received at Blue Sky no later than 5:00 PM on March 22, 2025. Accepted works will debut to the public on First Thursday, April 3, 2025.

Eligibility Criteria

Any photographic artist who is a current resident of Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington is invited to submit work for consideration. Please ensure that your CaFÉ profile reflects residency in one of these locations. Submissions received from outside the eligible region will be withdrawn.