Light Art Space invites photographic artists to submit pinhole photographs to Layered Light.  Images made with analog and digital processes are welcome. Content and subject are up to the photographer - questions to consider are: Why are you using a pinhole camera? How does the pinhole image support the content of the work?  

This exhibition celebrates images made in the spirit of experimentation and play and is dedicated to the late Eric Renner.

Submission Requirements:

Submissions must pinhole images created in the last 5 years. Unique, custom-made pinhole cameras can be included as an entry with print made from it.

Sponsored by Pinhole Resources Inc. and Freestyle Photographic Supplies

Light Art Space is located in the Downtown Historic Arts District in Silver City, New Mexico. 

Exhibition Dates:  April 23th, 2021 - June 26th, 2021, in the North Gallery at LAS.

Jurying and Awards

Jurors:  Nancy Dize Spencer and Scott McMahon

First Place                            $250
Second Place                       $150
Third Place                           $100 gift certificate from Freestyle Photographic Supplies

Shipping of accepted work:

Work Due at LAS April 17th. Artists are responsible for all shipping costs. Return shipping label must be included. Shipping instructions will be sent to artists whose artwork has been accepted.

Work needs to arrive at the gallery ready to hang.   Framing is encouraged but is not required. Work can be sent matted or unmatted.  Unmatted prints will be shown with magnets supplied by the gallery. Unconventional work is welcome. Artists must supply specific hanging devices and instructions if magnets are not appropriate. Artists are responsible for shipping costs and must include a prepaid return shipping label.

Important Dates:

March 21st midnight Mountain time - deadline for submitted work
March 26th - notification of acceptance via email
April 17th - work due at Light Art Space
April 24th - opening day, an all-day reception 10 am – 6 pm observing social distancing

Entry Fee:

Entry fee: $35 for 1 - 5 images. Students $15 Use coupon code STUDENT.  

Juror Bios:

Nancy Dize Spencer, Director of Pinhole Resource Inc., a nonprofit archive and educational organization dedicated to sharing information about pinhole photography. Spencer was married to and collaborated with Eric Renner for 31 years. Renner started Pinhole Resource and passed away suddenly in April of 2020. They also co-edited Pinhole Journal, published three times a year from 1985-2006. They have given educational lectures and workshops internationally in China, Japan, Poland, France, Italy, Greece, Argentina, Germany, and Canada. Their photographs and assemblages are exhibited in major collections throughout the world. Spencer and Renner received the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2015.

Scott McMahon grew up in Connecticut and now resides in Columbia Missouri where he is an Associate Professor of Art at Columbia College. He received his MFA from Massachusetts College of Art & Design in Boston, MA, and his BFA from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Selected exhibitions include Poetics of Light, Palace of the Governors New Mexico History Museum Santa Fe, NM & National Media Museum in Bradford UK; Amerykańskie Metafory, Galeria Pusta, Katowice, Poland & Old Gallery ZPAF, Warsaw, Poland; Forgotten Attributes, Three Columns Gallery, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; The Bioluminescent Firefly Experiment, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Second Nature, The Halide Project, Philadelphia, PA; Response Time, Sol Mednick Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. McMahon’s work has been published in Pinhole Photography, Rediscovering a Historic Technique by Eric Renner, The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes by Christopher James, Anthotype by Malin Fabbri, Poetics of Light – Contemporary Pinhole Photography by Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer, Pinhole Journal, The Hand Magazine and Gum Printing – A Step-by-Step Manual, Highlighting Artists and Their Creative Practice by Christina Z. Anderson. He was a resident artist at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine; iPark Artists’ Enclave in East Haddam, CT; Border Art Residency in La Union, New Mexico, and Main Street Arts in Clifton Springs, NY.

Nancy Spencer and Scott McMahon are currently writing a book on contemporary pinhole photography. 

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria