From Confrontation to Catharsis
SDA's 2021 International Exhibition in Print

EXHIBITION: 
Each year, Surface Design Assocation's International Exhibition in Print showcases the breadth and depth of contemporary artists and designers working with fiber and textile-based materials, methods, and techniques. The work of selected artists will be featured in the Fall 2021 issue of Surface Design Journal. The Journal is read by artists, gallery owners, curators, scholars, and enthusiasts nationally and internationally. Entries may be submitted online through June 1, 2021 via CaFÉ.

GOAL: 

“This moment in artistic production can lead to healing, freedom and liberation.”  
-Keidra Daniels Navaroli, 2021 EIP Guest Juror

The Oxford Dictionary defines catharsis as “the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.”  It requires a willingness to confront uncertainty, fear, and personal pain. Through the creative process, artists challenge and express feelings others often struggle to acknowledge or accept. As a profound and visually communicative art form, textiles have long reflected both cultural ideals and social anxieties. During this time of sociopolitical division, financial struggle, and health and environmental crises, how can fiber art help to mend — figuratively and literally — our connection to one another and the world at large? Surface Design Journal invites artists to give voice to the vulnerabilities of our fractured time — visually channeling fear, doubt, grief, pain, and anger in order to offer a compelling path toward equity, reconciliation, and hope. 

Artists working in all media are encouraged to apply.

JOURNAL OVERVIEW: 
Journal Editor Elizabeth Kozlowski and Scholar Keidra Daniels Navaroli will co-jury this exhibition, selecting work for inclusion in a comprehensive print and digital edition of the Fall 2021 Surface Design Journal. The publication will include full and detailed images as well as artist statements and juror reflections addressing the context of the work in the exhibition and its place within the evolution of broader trends in contemporary textile and fiber-based arts. 

Artists whose work is selected will receive one complimentary print copy of Surface Design Journal. Print and digital versions will be available for purchase on the SDA website www.surfacedesign.org. 

JUROR:
Keidra Daniels Navaroli is an independent scholar and the former assistant director and curator of the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts at Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech). She received her M.A. in the History and Criticism of Art from Florida State University (B.A. in Art History from the University of Florida) and completed internships with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Sotheby’s Auction House in New York.

Since 2010, Navaroli has curated multiple exhibitions, including the award-winning Designed to Mobilize: Propaganda Kimono 1920-1945, which illustrated the influence of patterns manufactured as propaganda during the Asia-Pacific War, and Reimagined: Innovations in Fiber, an exhibition of Miami-based contemporary artists characterized by their use of experimental materials. Her research focuses on addressing how textiles – a familiar, yet dynamic medium – can be utilized to question cultural divisions, foster intergenerational dialogue, and enhance the understanding of traditionally-underrepresented communities. Recently, Navaroli was selected as a Constellation Leader for POLARIS: The Museum Mentor Network and is currently applying to a doctoral program to support her research interests and experience.

Fostering her passion for textiles and contemporary scholarship, Elizabeth Kozlowski is now serving in her fourth year as Editor for the quarterly journal, Surface Design. Kozlowski has a M.A. with Honors in Museum Anthropology from Arizona State University and a B.F.A. in studio art, ceramics from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton. She has been awarded numerous curatorial residencies and travel grants including the 2019 Creative New Zealand Cultural Exchange Grant; the 2017 Windgate ITE Scholar-in-Residence at the Center for Art and Wood, Philadelphia; and the Danish Arts Foundation International Research Grant in 2015 and 2017 respectively. Kozlowski is currently a doctoral student in Cultural Anthropology at Tulane University, New Orleans.

ELIGIBILITY AND ENTRY FEE:
This exhibition is open to all artists, with discounted entry fee offered to SDA members. Artists may enter up to three artworks. 2D and 3D works are eligible, as is documentation of time-based media, performance, or conceptual work. Only photographic documentation of work will be considered. Work must have been completed since January 1, 2019. Work executed under classroom/educational guidance or supervision is not eligible. Artists who have been included in prior EIPs are encouraged to apply, but submitted work should show a progression or be from a different body of work.  

Information about SDA membership is available at the SDA website: https://www.surfacedesign.org/members/member-benefits/

$25 entry fee for SDA members, up to 3 artworks.
$45 entry fee for non-members, up to 3 artworks.

ENTRY PROCEDURE:
Entries are to be submitted online through CaFÉ:           

The following information is required for submission: 

1. Name, address, telephone, e-mail.
2. Up to 3 artworks - maximum 2 images per artwork - 1 overall image and 1 detail of each artwork.  Six images total may be submitted per entrant. Jurors request one overall and one detail of each full original artwork. 
3. Images - full and detail - JPEG only; Upload options for image files:

NOTE: Uploaded images are scaled by the system and two monitor versions are created: a small 100-pixel thumbnail and a large 700-pixel image. These images are available for preview in your portfolio after uploading.

4. Each image must be titled as follows: 

• Full Image: “last name_first name_title_year”
• Image Detail: “last name_first name_title_year_detail”

NOTE: Artists must provide print quality images of selected work at 300 dpi, 6x8" min, jpg or Tiff.

AWARDS: 
Award honorees will be featured with expanded coverage in the Fall 2021 edition of Surface Design Journal, From Confrontation to Catharsis: SDA International Exhibition in Print. Award categories are:

• Collaboration and Community
• Emerging Artist/ Next Generation Award 
• Fiber Reinterpreted    
• Guest Juror Award
• Modern Meets Tradition    
• Material Exploration Award
• Textiles and Technology

IMPORTANT DATES: 

Feb 10 - June 1, 2021    Call for Entry open through CaFÉ
June 2-18, 2021              Jurying Process
June 21, 2021                 Artist notification of acceptance
July 12, 2021                  Text, images, & captions for publication due
August 9, 2021               Design Phase for Journal begins
September 23, 2021       Publication of Journal 

Surface Design Association, a 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization founded in 1977, is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of textile-inspired art and design through member-supported benefits including publications, exhibitions and conferences. Visit us at www.surfacedesign.org.

For questions, contact info@surfacedesign.org.

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria