Call Description

CALIFORNIA DREAMin’ will be presented February 5 – May 23, 2014 at the Marin Community Foundation (MCF) offices at Hamilton Field in Novato, California. An opening reception will be on March 13, 2014 4:30-6:30 pm. Juried by Julio Cesar Morales. The exhibition is a juried show of artworks by foreign-born immigrants including Dreamers. Artists shall be residents of the San Francisco Bay Area (Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco and Santa Cruz counties) who are making art that explores as their subject matter both the idealizations and realities of living in America as an immigrant, including representations from their homeland. The exhibition title is borrowed from the American folk rock group, The Mamas and The Papas, who released the song of the same title one year after the Civil Rights Act was passed as law 50 years ago. The song signified the arrival of the counterculture era that was an historic cultural phenomenon in the Bay Area and has inspired much of the art that is being made in this region since. Almost two and a half centuries after its’ founding, the United States has been heavily impacted by the contributions of immigrants socially, scientifically, economically, and politically. In fact, immigration has become such an important issue, that Congress is now set to reform immigration policies that will affect lives all around the globe. For this exhibition we are looking for artworks that represent the transformation of identity when moving to America from another country. What cultural traditions have been brought with you? What cultural traditions have you adopted? Has the transition from one culture to another provoked a unique creativity or inspiration for your art? We will also be looking for work that specifically addresses issues related to the economics of immigration, the influence of NAFTA on migration, border security politics, deportation, and immigrant worker rights and justice. Immigrants have come to the Bay Area for a variety of reasons; to gain employment, to flee persecution, as well as for periods of time to attend schools on nonimmigrant visas. The arts play an important role in strengthening public awareness of how diversity preserves individual dignity and group identity, strengthens communities and increases respect among all people. Exhibition Jurors are artist and curator for the Arizona State University Art Museum, Julio Cesar Morales, and independent curator for the Marin Community Foundation, Patricia Watts, who is organizing the exhibition. Approximately 130 pieces will be selected with no more than three works per artist. 2D and 3D artworks will be considered. Entry Deadline is December 13th, 2013. The Marin Community Foundation is one of the largest community foundations in the U.S. with total assets of approximately $1.2 billion and annual grant distributions of approximately $60 million. The foundation has exhibited art in its office space for nearly the entire 27 years of its existence and is currently housed in a 28,000 sq. ft. former airplane hanger space at Hamilton Airfield in Novato. The space has an open floor plan, with large wall spaces and lighting system, designed to display art, both two-and three-dimensional, where three exhibits a year are presented, all of which are open to the public. http://www.marincf.org The show will be supported with: • Email and printed Announcements • Regional Bay Area Press • Opening Reception • Works will be for sale to the public • Visits from school groups, residents of retirement communities & general public • Daily exposure to approximately 50 employees daily JURORS: Julio César Morales is an artist, curator, and educator who recently left the San Francisco Bay Area to become curator at the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe. He came to the Bay Area from Tijuana to study art in the late 1970s where he had the opportunity to work with Suzanne Lacy, then at California College of Arts & Crafts, on two of her large-scale projects in the East Bay including Three Weeks in May, which brought experiences of rape to public attention; and Code 33, a three year project to reduce police hostility toward youth. Morales’ artwork consistently explores issues of labor, memory, surveillance technologies and identity strategies. Morales teaches and creates art in a variety of settings, from juvenile halls and probation offices to museums, art colleges and alternative non-profit institutions. His work has been shown at SFMOMA (San Francisco); San Juan Triennial (San Juan, Puerto Rico); Istanbul Biennale; Los Angeles County Art Museum (Los Angeles); Singapore Biennale; Fototeca de Havana (Cuba); and Museo Tamayo (Mexico City). He has received awards from Rockefeller Foundation, The San Francisco Arts Commission’s Public Art Program, The Fleishhacker Foundation, The Creative Work Fund, Levis Strauss Foundation and Artadia, among others. Recent curatorial projects include Politica y Poecia at The National Watercolor Museum in Sweden (2011), an exhibition of contemporary Mexican art that attempts to trace the lineage of political and poetic issues of migration and labor. Morales is the founder, co-director and curator of Queens Nails Annex, located in the Mission district of San Francisco, which serves as a project space dedicated to presenting collaborative, site-specific and experimental works by artists. You can read an interview with Morales from April 2013 here: http://dailyserving.com/2013/04/curating-activism-an-interview-with-julio-cesar-morales/ Additional BIO information here: http://asuartmuseum.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/new-curator-at-the-museum-julio-cesar-morales/ Patricia Watts – Curator (CA) Patricia Watts has been selected by the Marin Community Foundation to curate and organize three exhibitions annually that focus on social and environmental themes through community issues in art. Watts is founder and west coast curator of ecoartspace, a nonprofit platform for artists addressing environmental issues since 1999. She was formerly Chief Curator at the Sonoma County Museum in Santa Rosa (2005-2008). http://patriciawatts.blogspot.com ELIGIBILITY: The show is open to San Francisco Bay Area artists 18 yrs and older who reside in the following counties: Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco and Santa Cruz. And, who are foreign-born immigrants including Dreamers. MEDIA CRITERION: Entries are being accepted in painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and assemblage. All works must remain in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition. Any work not comparable to the file submitted can be rejected at the curator’s discretion. All wall works must be ready to hang on a two wire hanging system with D rings attached. Stretched canvas on a wooden frame does not need to be framed. 3D artworks will be provided pedestals. Directions for preparing artwork for hanging will be sent to selected artists. No substitutions for works accepted into the show. SIZE LIMITATIONS: Size of works can be no larger than 7ft h X 2.5 ft w (elevator) or 8ft h X 6ft w (lobby doorway). SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: December 13: CALL DEADLINE December 24: Notification of accepted works January 24-31 : Receivership of accepted works February 5 – May 23: Exhibition dates (open M-F, 9-5pm) March 13: Opening Reception 4:30-6:30pm May 23-27: Return of accepted works SALES: All inquires for artworks for sale will be directed to the artist or artists’ gallery by Patricia Watts, curator and organizer. Artists are entitled to 100% of all art sales. All purchased works must remain at the foundation offices until the end of the exhibit. Artworks will be either picked up by the artist or delivered back to San Francisco to be picked up by the artists who will then be responsible to delivery to collectors who have purchased artworks. The foundation will not release artworks to anyone other than the artist. DELIVERY / RETURN OF WORK Local drop off of accepted works will happen late January. Artists are encouraged to drop off works. If this is not possible, we will be picking up works in San Francisco on a specified date and time where works can be delivered. Works must be packaged in a re-usable container. If you drop off works, we ask that you take your wrappings with you and bring them back for the deinstallation in May. MCF cannot be responsible for any artworks not picked-up after the exhibition. All artwork must have the artist’s name and title of piece written on the back.

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria