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INFOCUS, the photography support group of Phoenix Art Museum, is calling for entries for the 2017 INFOCUS Sidney Zuber Photography Award. The award is granted biennially to an emerging or early career photographer who demonstrates artistic promise. The competition is open to photographers who are residents of the United States, working in all photographic media and styles.

We intentionally left the meaning of "emerging or early career" undefined. This award will not be restricted by whether or not you have published a book, had your work in shows, or whether you have gallery representation. Applicants have the chance to state in a brief artist’s statement why they feel that they should be considered as an emerging or early-career artist. There are no age restrictions. The goal is to provide award money to an artist who, early in his or her career, will benefit from it.

AWARD

The artist selected for the INFOCUS Sidney Zuber Photography Award will receive an unrestricted cash award of $5,000. One or more artworks by the winning photographer will be displayed for up to two months at Phoenix Art Museum. The award winner will also be honored at a reception at the Museum on April 26, 2017, and will be reimbursed up to $1,500 for travel expenses to attend. Selected artist(s) will be featured in INFOCUS event announcements and social media promotion by both Dr. Rebecca Senf and INFOCUS, and will have their websites (if available) linked from the INFOCUS Sidney Zuber Photography Award web page.

View the 2015 INFOCUS Sidney Zuber Photography Award Winner here.

IMPORTANT DATES

• Entry period: December 12, 2016 – February 21, 2017 NOW EXTENDED TO THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2017 at midnight Mountain Standard Time, no exceptions. Please be sure to take your time zone into account when planning your entry.
• Judging: February 24, 2017 - March 31, 2017
• Award Ceremony: April 26, 2017, at Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
• Exhibition: up to two months at Phoenix Art Museum between April 26, 2017 and January 15, 2018.

ENTRY PROCESS

Applicants are required to submit a brief artist’s statement which includes the URL for the applicant’s website, if applicable.

Artists may submit up to seven images for the $35 entry fee. The jurors will consider submitted images and the artist’s statement in choosing the winning artist, and may also consult the applicant’s website. Entries must be submitted digitally via the CaFÉ website and payment of the $35 entry fee must be processed through CaFÉ. Although the entry must be a digital representation, the artwork itself may exist in another medium, such as a print on paper or one or more physical objects. INFOCUS will mat and frame one or more works by the winning artist for the exhibition. Applicants may only enter the 2017 competition once, with a limit of seven images. There are no age restrictions that pertain to artists responding to the Call for Entries for this award.

The CaFÉ Website is the exclusive method of entry. Please do not send application fees or artwork to INFOCUS or Phoenix Art Museum.

JURY

The competition will be judged by three jurors: Dr. Rebecca Senf, Norton Family Curator at Phoenix Art Museum and Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography;  Mark Klett, Regents’ Professor of Art and Distinguished Sustainability Scholar at Arizona State University;  and Russell Lord, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Drawings at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Jurors will select one photographer as the INFOCUS Sidney Zuber Award winner, and may identify one or more additional artists for Honorable Mention.

JURORS

Dr. Rebecca Senf is the Norton Family Curator of Photography at Phoenix Art Museum and the Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography, a joint appointment between the Center for Creative Photography and Phoenix Art Museum. Since the photography collection at Phoenix Art Museum is drawn on a loan basis from the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, Dr. Senf serves as the liaison, bringing the Center’s collection to the public in Phoenix. She earned a Ph.D. in Art History at Boston University. In Boston, she worked on the Museum of Fine Arts major exhibition of Ansel Adams works from The Lane Collection, for which she also co-authored the exhibition catalogue. Between 2007 and 2015, she curated thirty-two exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum including Debating Modern Photography: the Triumph of Group f/64; Richard Avedon: Photographer of Influence; Human Nature: the Photographs of Barbara Bosworth; Edward Weston: Mexico; Odyssey: the Photographs of Linda Connor; Charting the Canyon: Photographs by Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe; Exposing Time: Capturing Change Through Photography; Pure Photography, Post Production and Mixed Media; W. Eugene Smith: Photo Essays; From Above: Aerial Photography from the Center for Creative Photography; The Process and the Page: Developing Photographic Books; All that Glitters is Not Gold: Platinum Photography from the Center for Creative Photography; One-of-a-Kind: Unique Photographic Objects and the Steele Gallery exhibition, Ansel Adams: Discoveries of January to June, 2010. Her book, Reconstructing the View: The Grand Canyon Photographs of Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe, was released by University of California Press.

Mark Klett is the Regents’ Professor of Art and Distinguished Sustainability Scholar at Arizona State University. Mr. Klett is a photographer interested in the intersection of places, history and time. His background includes working as a geologist before turning to photography. Mr. Klett has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Japan/US Friendship Commission. Mr. Klett’s work has been exhibited and published in the United States and internationally for over thirty-five years, and his work is held in over eighty museum collections worldwide. He is the author/co-author of sixteen books.

Russell Lord is the Freeman Family Curator of Photographs at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). Mr. Lord previously held positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery. His deepest area of expertise is the origins of photography, but Lord has written and lectured widely on almost every moment in the history of photography. His recent publications include: Gordon Parks: The Making of an Argument; Edward Burtynsky: Water; and Natural Magic: Salted Paper Prints in North America. Lord’s recent exhibitions include: Photography, Sequence, and Time (2012-13); Ten Years Gone (2015); and Something in the Way: A Brief History of Photography and Obstruction. Much of his research focuses on the relationships between photography and other visual media. 

WHO WE ARE

INFOCUS is the primary support group for photography within Phoenix Art Museum, providing leadership in fostering, building and developing a community that creates, views critiques, understands, collects, curates and appreciates photography.

INFOCUS provides access to world-class photography and photography experts through exhibitions and lectures at Phoenix Art Museum and throughout Arizona.

INFOCUS also engages in diverse activities, often monthly, designed to:
   •  Add to our knowledge about the history and medium of photography
   •  Encourage member-collectors to share their treasures
   •  Promote interest in taking, collecting and preserving photographs
   •  Learn more about historical photos and how they were taken
   •  Travel to significant national and international photography sites and collections

For general information, visit the INFOCUS website: http://infocus-phxart.org
More about the INFOCUS Sidney Zuber Photography Award: http://infocus-phxart.org/ZuberAward/CFE
Facebook @InFocusPhxArt
Twitter @InFocusPHX
Instagram @InFocusPHX

Please note that, if you apply, your name will be added to the master INFOCUS email communications mailing list. You may opt out at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of each notice. Our mailing list is used solely for INFOCUS communications and not shared with anyone else.

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria