Confluence Gallery, located in the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge’s Education and Visitor Center in Bloomington, MN is currently accepting exhibit proposals for their 2021 and 2022 exhibition program years. Deadline to submit your proposal is January 15, 2021.

About the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and The Confluence Gallery

Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) is a thriving urban refuge where nature connects people, communities, and wildlife. Where diverse communities are welcomed through meaningful connections, educational opportunities, and recreational experiences, while conserving wildlife habitat in the Minnesota River Valley. With over 14,000 acres spanning more than 70 miles along the Minnesota River, land spans across both rural and urban communities, across seven counties, wight school districts, and 10 municipalities. This landscape provides a diversity of habitats that facilitates numerous access points for visitor use and connects people, communities, and wildlife. 

The Refuge’s Confluence Gallery, located in the Bloomington Education and Visitor Center, is a venue for emerging and established Minnesota-based artists who reflect the community and who excel at creating artwork with a focus on nature and natural elements, ecology, conservation, and/or the beauty of the Minnesota River Valley. The Refuge sees the Confluence Gallery as a conduit between the natural world and the local community; it exists to inspire, educate, and connect refuge visitors to the natural world.

Proposal Requirements:

All proposals must include:

o   An artist statement or proposal description of 1000 characters or less (including spaces) which indicates how the exhibiting artwork will align with the gallery’s mission.

o   10 digital artwork samples saved as standard JPEGs (file dimensions should be 1200 pixels or more on the longest side; file resolution of 72 ppi/dpi (standard web resolution); file size under 5 MB. 

o   Information about each work sample (image) including title, medium, size, and date of completion. This information will be requested when you download your images to your portfolio on CaFE™. 

o   Optional resume or biographical summary (two-page maximum).

o   $15 non-refundable application fee.

Proposals will be reviewed by a Curatorial Review Panel who will select proposals based upon the following criteria:

• Relevance to the Confluence Gallery’s mission and theme (nature based subject matter)
• Quality of the artwork/artistic excellence
• Creativity and originality
• Technical skills
• Overall exhibition proposal

Proposals must be received by January 15, 2021 via CaFE™ to be considered and a $15 non-refundable application fee is required. Applicants will be notified by February 15, 2021 of the curatorial panel's decision.

While solo exhibitions are likely, selected artists may be combined (by Artistry/Refuge) to create a two-person show that adds to a dynamic and exciting exhibition program for the given year(s) that showcases a variety of visual art mediums, nature-based subjects, and techniques by a wide range of creative voices (i.e. a variety of ethnic and gender representation) while always expressing a high standard of artistic excellence. In addition to proposals selected through this jury panel process, Artistry/Refuge may also invite artists directly to exhibit.

Due to COVID-19: While the Refuge hopes that the Confluence Gallery and Visitor Center will be open to the public for viewing it may select and schedule artists whose artwork will be displayed and presented using online and virtual modes only. Artistry and the Refuge will do everything possible to create and promote dynamic and accessible virtual experiences when necessary including an online exhibition catalog and a virtual gallery tour with artist interview via video.

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria