Blue Sky is now accepting submissions for the 2022 Pacific Northwest Drawers (PNW Drawers)

Photographers from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia are welcome to apply. There is no application fee to enter. 

Blue Sky established the Pacific Northwest Drawers in 2007 to showcase regional contemporary photographers through an annual juried exhibition. Selected work can be viewed in the flat files for a full year at the gallery, or digitally on the Blue Sky website. The online exhibition will remain a part of the Blue Sky digital archive indefinitely.

For more details about submitting, or to view our FAQs, visit: 

2022 Jurors

Dru Donovan works with both photography and video to examine the connection between physical and emotional occurrences by constructing or revisiting human experiences. Donovan’s work has shown nationally and internationally and was included in reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today at the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in the 2010 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, Fraenkel Gallery, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Williamson Knight Gallery and Philadelphia Photo Arts Center. Donovan’s photographs were published in Aperture Magazine, Blind Spot, Picture Magazine and Matte Magazine. In 2011 TBW Books published her first book, Lifting Water. In 2011-2012 she participated in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace studio residency. Awards Donovan has received are the John Gutmann Photography Fellowship in 2015 and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 2016.

Efrem Zelony-Mindell is a white non-binary artist. Some of their curatorial endeavors include group shows: n e w f l e s h, Are You Loathsome, and This Is Not Here. They have written about art for FOAM, Unseen, DEAR DAVE, SPOT, and essays for artists’ monographs. Their first book n e w f l e s h (2019), published by Gnomic Book and shortlisted for the Paris Photo Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Award 2020, looks to study queerness beyond the body . Efrem's second book Primal Sight (2021), also published by Gnomic Book, is a survey of contemporary black-and-white photography and includes the work of 146 international artists. Their third, self published, book Witness (2021) acts as a small step into the direction of a world cognizant of the values of critical race and gender theory by focusing on the works of 64 BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists. These books are in over 50 libraries and archives around the world. Efrem exists in New York, unless they're elsewhere.

Application Requirements

Application Requirements

• Exactly 10 images (no watermarks) from a single series or body of work created within the last five years.
• Details about each print, print type, size, medium, and price
• CV or résumé
• Concise artist Statement

Submitting to this Call for Entries requires exactly 10 images (no watermarks) from a single series or body of work created within the last five years. If an applicant has previously been featured in the PNW Drawers, the submission must be of new or different work. Submitted images must be the same as the original prints intended for inclusion. Absolutely no substitutions will be permitted. 

Please include a concise artist statement, CV or resume, and details about each print including print type/medium, size, and price. 

If accepted, works must be delivered to the gallery matted and/or mounted. Due to the physical dimensions of each drawer, the matted or mounted sizes of accepted works are not to exceed 20” x 24” x 1.5" when stacked together. 

Sales Information

All prints selected for the PNW Drawers are eligible for sale with the artist's permission, with a 50% commission retained by Blue Sky. Artists who are currently represented by a gallery are asked to ensure that your entry does not infringe on any standing agreements before making a submission. Blue Sky will not be responsible for negotiating commissions with an artist’s representation or sending commission payments to an artist's gallery. Artists must plan to make separate payment arrangements with their gallery representation. 

Submission Deadline

The deadline for submissions is 10:59 PM (PT), Tuesday, January 4, 2022. There is no entry fee. Only one entry per artist is permitted. Blue Sky cannot respond to inquiries about the status of a submission, nor is the juror able to offer feedback or reasoning for rejected submissions.

Notification of Acceptance 

Accepted artists will be notified no later than February 28, 2022. Works must be received at Blue Sky to be deposited into the PNW Drawers no later than 5:00 PM on March 19, 2022. Accepted works will debut to the public on First Thursday, April 7, 2022—the beginning of Portland Photo Month. 

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Any photographer who is a current resident of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, or Alaska is invited to submit work for consideration. Please ensure that your CAFE profile reflects residency in one of these locations.