So Much Going on in Memphis!!!

Check out these calls to artists for events in Memphis:


RIVERARTSFEST CALLS FOR ARTISTS (oops - this one is due today - hurry up and apply!)
Fine artists nationwide are invited to submit entries for inaugural RiverArtsFest in the heart of the historic South Main Arts District of Downtown Memphis.
The juried show will be held Oct. 26-28. The deadline for submissions is May 30 electronically via the RiverArtsFest website at riverartsfest.org.

The festival will feature both a Juried Art Exhibition and Juried Artist Market. Ken Marvel of LewAllen Contemporary in Santa Fe will select approximately 50 artists for the exhibition, while a five-person jury will select up to 150 participants for the artist market. Winners will be announced June 30th.

Artists may submit applications to one or both of the competitions in the following categories: ceramics, digital art, drawing, fiber, glass, graphics and printmaking, jewelry, metalworks, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture and wood. Application details are available on the website.

Free and open to the public, RiverArtsFest will celebrate the visual, performing and culinary arts with activities for all ages. The festival is sponsored by former festival organizers of Arts in the Park and the South Main Association. For more information, call 901-482-1399.
PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL THOSE INTERESTED


Call for Proposals: The Memphis Downtown Storefront Art Project
The Rhodes College Center for the Outreach and Development of the Arts (CODA) and the Center City Commission (CCC) are working together to install art of any media in vacant storefront windows along Main Street between Adams and Union in downtown Memphis. The installations will be temporary, so should be relatively easy to put up and take down. Artists that become involved with the project will receive a base stipend of $500 for materials and installation of work in the window. Students in BFA and MFA programs are also strongly encouraged to to apply.

CODA will retain ownership of the work and shared rights of reproduction upon completion.

Deadline for submissions is July 1, 2007.

Please send an artist's statement of no more than 300 words, 5-10 images of your work in a jpeg format, and any ideas that you may have regarding the project.

Direct all submissions and inquiries to Lauren Kennedy.
e-mail: kenle@rhodes.edu
phone: 870.225.9388

Workshops for New School Projects This Week

The UrbanArt Commission is hosting two artist workshops this week for the current Memphis City Schools' Call to Artists.

Workshop Description
The UAC will be hosting two separate artist workshops where artists and designers who are interested in applying can access detailed information about the Memphis City Schools Projects.

Workshop Dates and Times
*Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 5:30 P.M. at UAC office
*Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 12:00 (Noon) at UAC office
Our office is located at 8 S. Third Street, Memphis, TN 38103
(south-east corner of Third and Madison, enter our office from Madison).
A parking garage sits east of office entry (on Madison) and costs about 5 dollars.

Project Description
Memphis City Schools is building three new schools including Douglass High School,
Manassas High School, and White Station Middle School. Images and additional
information about each of the schools can be found on the UrbanArt Commission website
at www.urbanartcommission.org.

Please remember that artist proposals are due by 4:00 PM June 8, 2007.
If you would like to attend one of the workshops or if you have additional questions about the Memphis City Schools Projects, please contact:
Melanie (Mel) Spillman, Project Manager
901.525.0807
mspillman@urbanartcommission.org

Temporary Public Art in NY

From yesterday's New York Times.

Funded by the Public Art Fund, this public art piece by Beth Campbell, a Brooklyn artist, is in a nondescript storefront vaguely advertising personal growth. When you look inside the locked front doors, you see the same storefront repeated five times, down to the gum on the floor.

From the article:

Ms. Campbell, 35, said she was partly inspired to create the storefront — which appears to be a vague combination of travel agency and life-coaching service — by the nameless stores she sees in Greenpoint, where she lives.

“They’re kind of like Fed Ex and UPS places that sell milk and Avon, and maybe you can get your taxes done there,” she said. But the idea arose more from a desire to create a public artwork that did not immediately announce itself as art, one that caught people in mid-stride and played with their expectations and their perceptions of real and recreated, copy and original.

On view in Lower Manhattan through June 24, 125 Maiden Lane.

Winchester Park/Intown Charrette Paper Release Invitation

Join the Memphis Medical Center, St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral and the UrbanArt Commission for the release of the Post-Charrette Paper

Learn what has happened, what is happening now and how you can get involved.

4:30 - 6:30 pm, Monday, May 14th
St. Mary's Cathedral, 700 Poplar Avenue

For more information or to obtain a copy of the charrette paper call 901-525-0880.

Grand Opening of The Links at Riverside

Today was the grand opening of The Links at Riverside, a renovated 9-hole public golf course that includes one of our public art projects by Jim Wallace of the National Ornamental Metal Museum. The project is part of the City of Memphis Percent for Art Program.

Riverside was actually the first public golf course in Memphis. When it opened in 1913 it was an 18-hole course, but the Mighty Mississippi took 9 of those holes over the years.

In it's newest incarnation, Riverside sports a new clubhouse with a pro shop, grill, patio and putting green. It is only 2 miles from downtown and set among gorgeous oak trees. The best part, of course, is the hand-crafted gate at the entrance. It was a bit dark today because of the rain, but here are some pictures that show a bit of the detail of the artwork.



Mayor Herenton was there.



The ribbon was cut.



Beautiful old trees.



Gates by Jim Wallace.













The Links at Riverside should be open for golfing tomorrow, if there is no rain. Go for a visit - just to see those beautiful gates and the really big trees.
465 South Parkway West

New Public Art Projects with Memphis City Schools

Three new projects with Memphis City Schools:
Douglass High School, Manassas High School, White Station Middle School

Art Enhancement Budgets: $85,000 - $144,500 per school
Proposal Deadline: 4:00 pm, June 8, 2007
Artist Eligibility: Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee Artists

Click here for the call-to-artists. And please contact us with any questions.