Call for Entries
32nd Annual Decatur Arts Festival Fine Arts Exhibition
Presented by the Decatur Arts Alliance, Decatur, Georgia
May 19–June 14, 2020

The Decatur Arts Alliance invites artists working in all media to participate in the Fine Arts Exhibition of the 32nd Annual Decatur Arts Festival. The exhibition is a juried multimedia presentation that contributes a fresh and unique perspective to the festival every year.

The Decatur Arts Festival draws approximately 60,000 people to downtown Decatur for a celebration of the arts that includes a juried Artists Market, Children’s Festival, 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 in the Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College, 141 E. College Ave., Decatur, Georgia 30030. The Dalton Gallery is in the Dana Fine Arts Building. For directions, visit https://www.agnesscott.edu/maps-directions.html.

ELIGIBILITY
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 two years.
•The organizers are the final authority on eligibility.
• Works to be hung must be ready for hanging with any necessary hardware in place.
•  Artwork must fit through a standard door.
• Video presentations are eligible, but the gallery does not offer facilities for projection. Any selected videos will be shown on a flat screen or computer monitor.
* An artist entering an installation piece should be prepared to personally deliver, install, and de-install the work as needed. All physical requirements for installations are considered during the selection process.

RECEPTIONS
The opening reception of the Fine Arts Exhibition is Tuesday, May 19, from 5 until 7 pm, in conjunction with the Decatur Business Association monthly meeting. The exhibition closes with the Last Call party on Sunday, June 14, from 4 until 6 pm, which will include selected artists’ talks. We encourage exhibiting artists to attend both of these functions.

JURORS
Jerushia Graham is currently the Museum Coordinator for the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking. The Atlanta-based artist exhibits both nationally and internationally. She earned an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and BFA degrees in Fabric Design and Printmaking from the University of Georgia in Athens. Graham was previously the Education Director for Atlanta Printmakers Studio as well as an arts professor for Kennesaw State University, the University of West Georgia, and the Art Institute of Atlanta-Decatur. She has produced curatorial projects for the Zora Neale Hurston Museum in Eatonville, Florida, and the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning in Duluth, Georgia. Graham has been selected by the Georgia Committee for the National Museum of Women in the Arts as one of five women to exhibit in Paper Routes: Women To Watch 2020. Several of her papercuts are currently traveling the state of Georgia in the Highlighting Contemporary Art in Georgia: Cut and Paste exhibition sponsored by the Georgia Museum of Art and Lyndon House Museum. Graham is interested in nurturing socially-minded introspection through her artwork and building welcoming collaborative arts experiences through her workshops and curatorial projects. She is currently experimenting with pop-up engineering for a new series of work as well as planning a paper-based stop motion animation festival for the Paper Museum.

 Lauri Jones is an Atlanta-based artist who ceates works on paper, artist books, art quilts, and intricately stitched textile pieces. A native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Jones graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1990 with a degree in Graphic Design. She spent most of her design career creating TV network identities, promotional animations, and main titles for both domestic and international clients. In 2009 she received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Savannah College of Art and Design and currently teaches art and design thinking at The Westminster School in Atlanta. Her recent exhibitions include Page by Page at the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning; Hard and Soft International Contemporary Craft Exhibition in Denton, Texas; and Book as Art: Flight Edition at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Her work can be found in many personal and public collections including the City of Decatur and Rhode Island School of Design’s Fleet Library Special Collection.

Kevin Sipp is a fine artist, independent scholar, and curator with expertise in printmaking, painting, sculpture, and multi-media installation. A Florida native, he has lived and worked in Georgia since the early 90s where he received a BA in Printmaking from the Atlanta College of Art. Sipp's fine art works have appeared in solo and group exhibitions throughout the country and internationally. His fine art prints have been featured in exhibitions by noted curators such as renowned Master Printmaker Malcom Christian, Founder of Caversham Press in Balgowan, South Africa. His foundational aesthetic focus examines the spritual, political, social, and historical influence of African derived culture in the world often making references to African Myth, Afro-Futurism, Cultural Identity, Colonial History, past and contemporary music, politics and comics.
     Sipp is a highy sought-after public speaker whose lectures have inspired and entertained audiences at Brandeis University and the Emory University Michael C. Carlos Museum, Arnall Golden & Gregory Law Firm, festivals, and comic book conventions. His poetry has also been featured during the National Black Arts Festival. He is an independent curator and exhibition designer, and the City of Atlanta’s Gallery 72 Cultural Affairs and Public Art Coordinator.

AWARDS
Best of Show              $1,000
Second Award              $700
Third Award                 $500

Purchase awards totaling $2,500 are selected by the City of Decatur, Decatur Business Association, and Decatur Downtown Development Authority for the City of Decatur’s public art collection. Additional purchase awards are being solicited.

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.

AGREEMENT
Submitting an entry to this exhibition through Call for Entries (www.callforentry.org) constitutes an agreement on the part of the artist with all conditions set forth in this prospectus. No work accepted for the exhibition may be withdrawn before the close of the exhibition. After acceptance, the artist cannot substitute another work for the accepted one or change the sales price.

The Decatur Arts Alliance reserves the right to refuse to install any work that, upon arrival at the Dalton Gallery, differs markedly from the images submitted or that does not, for any reason, meet the exhibitions standards of excellence.

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

ENTRY ETIQUETTE
Please understand that space is limited and if your work is accepted, another artist's may have been denied. Accepted artwork is an integral part of the layout and overall aesthetic theme of the show. If you withdraw your accepted work, you are not only disrupting the balance sought by the jurors and organizers, but also denying another artist the opportunity to exhibit his/her work. Please be considerate and do not submit the work you are submitting to the Fine Arts Exhibition to multiple shows with overlapping schedules.

LIABILITY
All reasonable precautions will be taken to ensure protection of submitted work upon receipt. Work will be insured for the duration of the exhibition. No liability can be assumed by the Decatur Arts Alliance during storage or by sponsors or personnel connected to the exhibition for damage incurred or loss of work while in transit. Artists are advised to arrange their own shipping insurance.

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. See Exceptions below.

If you have not registered previously with CaFÉ, setting up your portfolio is free. For this exhibition here is a $30 charge for entering up to three works. Each work must be submitted on a separate entry form with up to three images per entry. After completing the entry information, a credit card number or PayPal account will be required to confirm the entry process.

Please note: a credit card number or PayPal account is required for the first entry. If entering more than one work, artists should follow the instructions on the entry form for additional entries charged to the first payment.

CaFÉ requires that all images conform to a specific format. The Decatur Arts Alliance encourages all entrants to review the instructions and tutorials for formatting images and entering before beginning the actual entry process

Entries will be accepted on the CaFÉ website from January 6 through March 2, 2020 and all entries must be completed by midnight MST on March 2.

 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.

Participants may enter up to three pieces for one fee. Submissions will include the following:
• 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 75 words.
• Up to three images of each work submitted for jurying. 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). 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).
• Image list numbered to correspond to the portfolio images submitted. Please include full photography credits as well as title, dimensions, and description of each work.
• Presentation/installation requirements for the work submitted including any special fixtures required

NOTIFICATION OF JURY ACTION AND DELIVERY/RETURN OF ARTWORK
Notification of acceptance will be by email only, no later than April 6, 2020 to the email address provided on the entry form, with “Notification of Jury Decision” in the subject line. Attached to the notification email will be instructions for shipment and retrieval of artwork of accepted work as well as a consignment agreement. Applicants not chosen will also be notified. No phone calls, please.           

Images of accepted work will be retained by the Decatur Arts Alliance for archival purposes. The exhibition will hang from May 19 through June 14, 2020, in the Dalton Gallery in the Dana Fine Arts Building on the campus of Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia (https://www.agnesscott.edu/maps-directions.html).

The organizers:
The Decatur Arts Alliance (DAA) is a nonprofit partnership of artists, business owners, residents, and government dedicated to supporting and enhancing the arts in the City of Decatur. Founded in 1989, the DAA sponsors the annual Decatur Arts Festival and is a founding sponsor of the AJC Decatur Book Festival. The Fine Arts Exhibition has been a part of the Decatur Arts Festival since its inception. The DAA provides a collaborative environment to coordinate the interests of artists, gallery owners, theater groups, dance groups and performance venues within the city and helps make Decatur home to a strong arts community. The DAA is supported by membership, along with proceeds from the Decatur Arts Festival and the Decatur Wine Festival.

To contact the DAA, call 404.371.9583, email info@decaturartsalliance.org, or visit www.decaturartsalliance.org.

The place:
The City of Decatur, Georgia, is located just east of and adjacent to Atlanta’s intown 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 thousand residents live in Decatur’s quiet, tree-lined neighborhoods and downtown condominiums, and as the DeKalb County seat, Decatur’s thriving commercial community is the epicenter of county business. (www.decaturga.com)

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria