Spring/Summer Exhibition Submission Updates!
A fine Spring welcoming thanks to those artists and designer who have submitted artworks to date! We seem to attract a wide variety of artworks – in differing mediums and disciplines. The greater the range the better! Keep them coming!
There’s still two weeks until our submission deadline of June 1st.
Sneak Peek Preview…
Here’s A Sneak Peek of a few randomly chosen artworks that have been submitted so far. These early entries have yet to be reviewed or chosen for the final Exhibition. It’s just a tiny Sneak Peak preview of what’s to come!
Makers Series during the Spring/Summer Exhibition
With 4 Makers Talk evenings to plan, we’ve had a number of excellent artist proposals to be considered for the Artists to Talk discussion so far. There are a few more speaking spots we’d like to fill. Let us know what you’d like to talk about.
Any submitting artists or artisan entering artwork for consideration in the Spring/Summer Exhibition that is interested in participating as a speaker/panel member or presenter, please send us a 200 word overview of that you’d like to talk about, discuss, or share insight in support of artistic achievement, send it over to us at info@makersalley.org We’ll review the offers and requests and venture to put together another installment of our Makers Talk Series.
Remember, this offer is for artists that submit work to the exhibition or Makers Alley members.
We Would Love for You to Get Involved!
Want to get involved with helping us producing the Makers Talk series?
We’re looking someone for 2-4 hours a week during the exhibition, who can work as a coordinator with the featured artists, keep the schedule, and facilitate the logistics of making sure the talks are managed smoothly. Anyone with solid event production experience would be qualified!
We also have a few gallery attendant spots open. It’s fun to meet, greet and engage with artists, patrons and other visitors. Help encourage visitors to vote for the best of exhibit choices. Anyone interested? Please go to our VOLUNTEER TAB to check the gallery attendant schedule.
With all activity that’s going on, we’re on the lookout for a few content writers or an editorial manager to work with our design team to help shape the editorial voice of the collective as expressed in our newsletters, website and social media. Journalism background or practical working experience is required, send us some writing or design samples of your work to info@makersalley.org
For Those Who Might Have Missed It…. here’s another “look back” at the wrap up video we made about our ARTOber 2023 Juried Exhibition
Artist Profiles – Meet Camille Whiteman
From time to time we keep adding to the growing body of work the artist profiles and studio visit series we’ve been making. Here’s a peek at our latest artist profile on the mixed media artist Camille Whiteman.
Read Camille’s Print Profile -written by Tracy Ecclesine Ivie
Imagination runs wild in the world of mixed media sculptor Camille Whiteman, whose work includes a small, patchwork dog with a tree on its head and a wheel for a foot; a human-sized wooden abacus, anchored by a pair of men’s black shoes, and a mosaic woman’s bust, made of tiles and shells, whose head is crowned by barbed wire and whose backbone is made from a deer skeleton.
Her sculptures, which include many found objects, may appear whimsical, but often reflect more serious themes, she says, including incest, “broken children” and animal cruelty. “Some of my work is pretty intense,” she says. “It lies at the junction of beauty and sadness, the disturbing relationship between humans and the worlds they inhabit and create—the terrors and joys we all share. “I feel like my art is kind of a not-so-gentle nudge. People can get the message, or they cannot get the message,” she adds.
Behind the mystery are untold stories waiting to be revealed, such as the evolution of “Bee House,” a four-foot glass tower with more than 300 bees in tiny bottles. No, she didn’t kill them (as some people ask). They were ordered online by a friend and when their incessant buzzing alarmed postal workers, they wrapped the shipment in plastic, which led to the insects’ early demise.
“I felt bad for the bees,” Camille says. “So I went to a science surplus store and got all these little tiny bottles and built them all a home.” And as she pivots from one imaginative idea to another after more than 40 years as an artist, Camille hopes at least one of her messages will get through: that the world needs to be a better place and people need to start being brave enough to look at things that are wrong and do something about them.
Other Programming News – ARTOber 2024
As many of you already know, Makers Alley has been incubating the ARTOber art and culture Festival during the entire month of October for the last few years. River Arts Collective (“RAC”) has been set up as an independent, neutral arts organization operating under the fiscal sponsorship of Fractured Atlas, to manage the yearly regional Festival that provides a cooperative marketing and promotional support campaign to all the arts and cultural organizations that participate in the Festival!
A special thanks to over 40 arts organizations and businesses that have supported arts and culture, and all the artists and supporters who helped put the festival on last year!
For this year’s ARTOber Festival, RAC has been awarded a grant from the PA tourism board to expand the marketing platform for the Festival which will allow us to increase the media expenditures!
Planning meetings are underway!
For more information about ARTOber 2024 and for those that want to get involved with the events and activities presented in our Delaware River Valley, please contact info@riverartscollective.org.