EARTHEN is an interactive show about the material of clay, form and culture. It is a deep dive into the material and multiple, cultural and creative practices with clay. 

Humans have grown up with clay, it has been with us since the beginning of our evolution on earth. It is sustainable, natural and useful in several practical ways from serving to protect, build and carry our food and plant life in the most beautiful ways. Its value in our lives continues to grow as we learn more about its potential purpose in domestic interior design, medicine, architecture and as a construction material. It is therefore integral technologically to our present and future lives.

How has your ceramic practice shaped your sense of 3D design conceptually and way of perceiving the world? Have you inherited your clay practice from your ancestors? What and who inspires you to make with clay? Submit strong photos of your ceramic art. We are looking for experimentation and conceptual expansion with clay as material.

This submission opens January 27, 2025. Exhibition: May 29-July 31st. 

Apply by May 1, so that our jury of curators can make thoughtful decisions on entries.

This juried exhibition will appear in Vermont press and in an art magazine. Selected artwork will be eligible for the onsite exhibition at the Mad River Valley Arts gallery in Waitsfield, Vt on May 29th -July 31, 2025.

Artists are invited to enter 2 or 3 innovative artworks of original design that push our understanding about experimental art and design with clay whether explored from an aesthetic, material, conceptual, environmental, scientific, philosophical and/or poetic perspective. The exhibition will show a diverse range of contemporary interpretations of design in clay in 3 dimensions. Accepted sculpture must be made out of mostly ceramics but can include additional material such as wood, metals, glass, recycled/readymade combinations, textiles, installation, industrial arts, interdisciplinary practice: sciences/history +art, or mechanical technologies such as robotics and video. 

Art work will be examined and judged on the basis of strong craft, innovative design, thoughtfulness and its pertinence to our current dialogue about 3D conceptual design with clay in the context of our contemporary world and its transformative power whether from ecological, technological, psychological and philosophical perspectives.

Application Requirements

• Submit entries to CaFÉ Call for Entries. If you do not have a CaFÉ account, you will need one to enter. There is no charge to open a CaFÉ account. If you have questions about starting a CaFÉ account, contact CaFÉ, How to Apply for Artists | CaFÉ™ - CallForEntry.org.
• Notifications will be emailed on May 3rd. Artists who enter more than one artwork will receive two different notifications, one for the invited work, and another for the work(s) that were not invited. Juried selections will include only one artwork per artist. Prizes will be awarded for 1st $225, 2nd/3rd $200 selections.
• Entries will not be accepted after midnight mountain standard time (MST) on October 1st. The CAFÉ Call for Entry will close at that time.
• Note that CaFÉ does not let you go back into your application to make changes or corrections. Please review your entries before checking out. If you need to make changes or corrections after you have paid your entry fee, you will need to start a new application to enter the information for all entered artwork.
• ENTRY IMAGES MUST SHOW ONLY THE WORK ITSELF, NO BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
• Entries must be File Type: JPEG or JPG files or vimeo files no longer than 2 minutes.
• File Dimensions: 1,200 pixels or greater on the longest side.
• File Size: Under 5 MB.
• Color Profile: sRGB
• You will need to enter the information for each piece separately, starting with the title of the piece. List each piece separately in the same space required for artist statement, materials, techniques, photographer, etc., beginning with the title of the artwork. For example, if you are entering two separate works, for the Artist's Statement, you will have the TITLE of the first piece followed by the artist statement for that piece, then the TITLE of the second piece followed by its artist statement, all in one space.
• The same format works for every space.
• For materials, etc. you will list the TITLE of the first piece followed by the materials, then the TITLE of the second piece followed by its materials, all of that information is entered into the same space for materials.
• List dimensions as Height x Width x Depth. Our onsite exhibition space consists of 2 galleries which makes us limited in accepting more than 30 works.
• Artworks created within the last three years are preferred.
• Please include price for sale or not for sale
• Earthen will be juried by the MRVArts creative team. We are fortunate that our creative team all have university degrees in the visual arts, architecture and sciences. These accomplished creatives are the jurors for Earthen and will be announced in the next 2 weeks.
• Notification of INVITED or NOT INVITED will appear in your CaFÉ account after the jurying has been completed. You will receive a notification from CaFÉ with acceptance or regrets. Multiple submissions may receive two different email notifications. Email notifications will list each artwork as Invited or Not Invited. Please check SPAM for notifications if they do not appear in your email.
• Entry fee: $35 for up to two images or 2 video files, 3rd image of another work is an extra $5. Entries close at midnight, May 1st, Mountain Time Zone, USA. CaFE does not let you go back into your application to make changes or corrections. Review your entry before checking out.
• Artists must submit an artist resume, artist statement and artist bio.

Eligibility Criteria

All artists in the fields of contemporary art which include textiles, ceramics, industrial arts and design, multimedia, sculpture or installation are eligible and must be over 18 years old.