36th Annual Decatur Fine Arts Exhibition: “Cat & Mouse”

Presented by the Decatur Arts Alliance
Decatur, Georgia
May 2 – June 13, 2025 

Cat and Mouse…

Is a playful way to illustrate a certain type of power struggle. This game of constant pursuit, capture, and escape is a trope of fables, fiction, movies, and cartoons. Will one win over the other, or are the combatants locked in a never-ending game where the upper hand is gained, but eventually lost?

After her enemies forced her to abdicate her throne on July 24, 1567, leading to unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, Queen Mary of Scotland fled to England, seeking the protection of her cousin, Elizabeth I. Perceiving Mary as a threat, Elizabeth confined her in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England.

Queen Mary was a skilled needlewoman and sewed many embroideries while she was under house arrest in England. An important means of expression for Mary, her amazing collection of embroideries featured fantastical beasts, Latin sayings, and hidden meanings…

One embroidery in particular, Mary’s embroidery of a cat, is imbued with hidden meaning. The cat depicted has red fur, a nod to Elizabeth I’s red, Tudor hair. The cat has its paw on the tail of a mouse, stopping it escaping. Is this a reference to the power struggle between these two female monarchs, or to Mary’s imprisonment, where the meek mouse, though under the cat’s foot, is bound to escape? 

The Decatur Arts Alliance invites artists working in all media to submit work that explores the meaning of the game of “Cat and Mouse” in all its aspects: historical, political, and moral. Like the embroidery of the imprisoned Queen of Scotland, hidden meanings, games, and feints are encouraged in all works…

The Decatur Arts Festival draws approximately 40,000 people to downtown Decatur for a celebration of the arts that includes a juried Artists Market, New Dance, Literary Arts, Performing Arts Stage, and a Concert on the Square, as well as the Fine Arts Exhibition. This large audience represents a broad spectrum of knowledge and appreciation of the arts, and the Fine Arts Exhibition addresses this spectrum with a diversity of styles and media. Works selected for the show reflect a wide range of artists’ experiences and viewpoints, with excellence as a common thread.

EXHIBITION LOCATION

The exhibition will be installed in the newly renovated Fourth Floor Gallery of the Decatur Library, part of the DeKalb County Public Library.

The City of Decatur, DeKalb County, Georgia, is located just east of and adjacent to the city of Atlanta’s in-town communities and near the metro area suburbs. With more than 200 shops and restaurants in commercial districts around the Square and in historic Oakhurst Village, Decatur is a popular shopping, dining, entertainment, and arts destination. Twenty-four thousand residents live in Decatur’s quiet, tree-lined neighborhoods and downtown condominiums, and as the DeKalb County seat, this thriving commercial community is the epicenter of county business. www.Decaturga.com

RECEPTION
A closing reception is planned for Friday, June 13, 2025 from 6-9pm.

SALE OF ART
Sales are encouraged. The Decatur Arts Alliance handles all sales and collects a 25% commission on all artwork sold as a result of this exhibition. All artwork for sale must be priced by the artist and so stated in the entry. Please be sure to include the 25% commission for the Decatur Arts Alliance in your price. The 7% Georgia sales tax will be added at the point of sale. Sales from the Fine Art Exhibition have increased each year and works from the exhibition have been added to private, corporate, and non-profit collections.

AWARDS
Best of Show:  $1,000
Gold Award:  $700
Silver Award:  $500

Purchase awards totaling $2,500 are selected by the City of Decatur for inclusion in its public art collection. Local institutions and universities frequently purchase exhibiting artwork. Purchase awards will be publicly announced on the exhibition website.

Please note:

Each institution has its own procurement procedures, so payment may take longer to process for institutional purchases. While the Decatur Arts Alliance works to ensure timely payment to artists, funds disbursements from outside institutions are not within the organization's control and may result in delays.

JURORS

Tracy Murrell is an Atlanta-based visual artist with an extensive exhibition history in group, solo, and juried shows. Her work has been featured in prominent publications such as Create! Magazine, New American Paintings, and ArtVoices, and she has participated in prestigious residencies, including The Hambidge Center and Green Olive Arts in Morocco. A 2022 Gold recipient in ArtFolio’s Painting category, Murrell also served as a Brown University CSREA Practitioner Fellow. In addition to her public art projects and international collaborations, she is a member of the Atlanta Beltline Public Art Advisory Council, bringing her expertise to artist selection and exhibition curation.

Mark Schoon is an artist and educator living in Atlanta, GA. His photographs are included in the permanent collection of The High Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, CA, the University of North Dakota, and the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. He holds a BA in television production from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and an MFA in Photography from Ohio University.

Schoon is currently a Professor of Art at The University of West Georgia.

Brandi Smart, owner of Empire Arts Gallery in Kirkwood, is passionate about fostering a vibrant arts community. Her own artistic journey began with a BFA in Fine Arts from the Cleveland Institute of Art, which included studies at the Hochschule Anhalt in Dessau, Germany. Brandi finds inspiration in the quiet beauty of the night, and her personal work explores the mystery and magic of nightscapes.

ORGANIZERS
Decatur Arts Alliance (DAA) connects residents, businesses, tourists, and artists to increase arts access and engagement in the city of Decatur, GA. Founded in 1989, the nonprofit produces the annual Decatur Arts Festival, numerous city-wide public art programs, community art and music events, and in 2024, launched the “Creative Village” project at Legacy Park that offers affordable artist studios and community workshops for all ages and skill levels. The DAA provides a collaborative environment to coordinate the interests of artists, gallery owners, theater groups, dance groups and performance venues within the city, helping to make Decatur home to a strong arts community. The Decatur Arts Alliance is supported by membership and sponsorship, along with proceeds from the Decatur Arts Festival and the Decatur Wine Festival. To contact the Decatur Arts Alliance, call 404-371-9583, email admin@decaturartsalliance.org, or visit www.decaturartsalliance.org.

The Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library and the Georgia Center for the Book are located at 215 Sycamore Street, Decatur, Georgia 30030. For information, visit http://dekalblibrary.org/branches/deca, and http://dekalblibrary.org/, or call 404-370-3070.

Application Requirements

How to enter:

All entries are to be submitted digitally through www.callforentry.org (CaFÉ). Please retain a copy of the information you provide on the entry form. 

If you have not registered previously with CaFÉ, setting up your portfolio is free. Participants may submit three entries for one fee of $30. Each artwork, which may include three images, must be submitted on a separate entry form. After completing the entry information, a credit card number or PayPal account will be required to confirm the entry process for the first submission.

Please note: 

The first entry must be paid by credit card or PayPal.  Second and third entries (optional) will use a coupon code in lieu of a fee, per instructions on the CaFÉ website.

Each entry will receive the jury’s decision in a separate email, via CaFÉ, no later than April 4, 2025. It is the artist’s responsibility to monitor their CaFÉ account where all submissions will be listed and marked either invited or not under “My CaFÉ Entries.”

It is the sole responsibility of the applicant to note each artwork's application number, as this identifier will be used to announce the accepted works. Please retain a copy of the information you provide on the entry form.

CaFÉ requires that all images conform to a specific format. Before you begin the entry process, review CaFÉ’s instructions and tutorials. For technical assistance with your entry, please see https://www.callforentry.org/cafehelp.phtml, or contact cafe@westaf.org. For questions about exhibition guidelines, please contact finearts@decaturartsalliance.org.

Entries will be active on the CaFÉ website beginning February 4, 2025, and must be completed by 11:59PM MST on March 14, 2025.

Submissions Must Include:

•      Contact information including mailing address, telephone number, email address, and website address (if applicable)

•      Title of each work submitted

•      Year artwork completed

•      Brief statement about the work. This may include descriptive material. Limited to 1000 characters.

•      Up to three images of the work submitted for jurying. Only ONE artwork should be included per application. If the work is a 2-D work, an overall view and at least one detail are recommended. If the work is a 3-D work, two alternate overall views and one detail are recommended. All submitted images must be formatted to the specifications outlined on the CaFÉ website.  (http://www.callforentry.org/image_prep.phtml). 

Note: By submitting images of your work, you give permission to the Decatur Arts Alliance to use the images for publicity in the organization’s websites, digital publications, press releases, Decatur Arts Festival publications (both print and electronic), and online catalog of the exhibition.

•      Image list numbered to correspond to the portfolio images submitted. Please include full photography credits as well as the title, dimensions, and description of each work.

•      Presentation/installation requirements for the work submitted. Any special fixtures required must be provided by the artist.

Notification of Acceptance:

Notification of the jury’s decision will be posted on CaFÉ no later than April 4, 2025, under “My CaFÉ Entries.” It is the artist’s responsibility to monitor their CaFÉ account where entries will be listed and marked as either invited or not invited.

Instructions for shipment and retrieval of artwork, as well as a consignment agreement, will be included in acceptance notifications sent via CaFÉ.
 

Delivery Details:

Shipped artwork must be received no later than Thursday, April 24, 2025.  

In-person drop-off (directly to the Fourth Floor Gallery) will occur exclusively on Friday, April 18, and Monday, April 21, 2025, between 11:00 AM and 5:30 PM. Please make sure your drop-off time is confirmed with gallery staff before arrival. If unavailable on those dates, artists must arrange alternate drop-off plans directly with the Decatur Library staff coordinating the Fine Arts Exhibition. Dropped-off artwork should arrive properly packed to protect the integrity of the artwork. Artwork not packed will be considered “as-is” and the gallery will not be responsible for the condition of the work.

Please Note:

All works must be delivered with all hardware/stands necessary for secure and stable display in the gallery space. In some cases, artists may be asked to personally install 3D works for display security.

Eligibility Criteria

Artists are invited to participate in a juried exhibition of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works. Artwork will be chosen from submitted entries by a panel of three jurors on the basis of creative excellence and quality of execution.

• All works must be original and completed within the last five years.
• Artwork previously showcased in this exhibition is ineligible for inclusion again.
• The sponsors are the final authority on eligibility.
• Works to be hung must be ready for hanging with any necessary hardware in place.
• Two-dimensional artwork should be no larger than 4 ft. tall and 5.5 ft. wide. Three-dimensional work should be no taller than 6 ft. tall and 6.5 ft. wide. NO WORK should weigh more than 50 lbs.