I finished my entry for the 2011 Spring Arts in the Airport show.  How about you?
Note:  Guide to Online Schools has info on art degrees.  Many people seek additional training to supplement their natural talent to make them successful artists.

See more pieces from the Think No Evil series!

Of all the shows across the country that I have been a small part of over the years, I have received more feedback from the Arts in the Airport series than any other.  Note: Some people ponder a masters degree online when they want to take advanced art courses. Whether you were part of this exhibit or want to someday be a part of another exhibit, extra knowledge is helpful.

I was an exhibiting artist in the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 shows, and I regularly heard from fans of my work that they saw my pieces while traveling through Knoxville. 

Such a treat it has been. 

I am going to work on an entry for this next call.  To all of my fellow TN artists… take a minute to enter.  There is no entry fee and the exposure is great.

CALL for ENTRIES:  Arts in the Airport

The Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville and the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority (McGhee Tyson Airport) announce a call for entries for the next “Arts in the Airport”, a juried exhibition developed to allow regional artists to compete and display work in the most visited site in the area. The selected art will feature contemporary 2- and 3-dimensional artwork and will be exhibited in the secured area behind McGhee Tyson Airport’s security gate checkpoint from April 21 – October 20, 2011.

DEADLINE:
Received by March 25, 2011

ENTRY FEE:
There is no entry fee.

SUBMISSIONS:
Each artist may submit up to five entries which must be original works in the following categories: Painting, Graphic Arts, Photography, and 3-D.

ELIGIBILITY:
This exhibition is open to all artists 18 years and older residing in the 33 counties of East Tennessee.

Download a prospectus with detailed information and application at www.knoxalliance.com/news.html!

JUROR:  The Arts & Culture Alliance, with assistance from Stephen Wicks of the Knoxville Museum of Art, will jury the exhibition. Final approval is the purview of the Airport Authority.

AWARDS:  Prizes include $1,000 in cash awards.

More information about the program, as well as images of the current exhibition, can be found at www.knoxalliance.com/airport.html.  The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions. The Alliance receives financial support from the Tennessee Arts Commission. Special thanks to Bluegill Creative: Design and Marketing Communications.

MONEY FOR DESSERT

Most professional artists rely on art sales for income. Most emerging artists hope for art sales for extra income for supplies. Many prestigious art shows come with publicity and great printed materials, but lots of artists never get to go to out-of-town openings due to financial constraints.

So, how do you afford to produce
artwork, submit work, get to
attend the openings and still
afford to eat dessert?

Maybe this Call for Submissions from The Soap Factory could be the answer to your art entry problems. The Soap factory is looking for work for group exhibits, AND they offer installation support, travel, accommodations, and a stipend to those selected to exhibit.  Sign me up!

I stretched my wings and sent in an application
of my work as an installation.
You’ve got 6 1/2 days to get it postmarked…better hurry.

CALL for SUBMISSIONS: The Soap Factory

The Soap Factory exhibits work in its galleries throughout the year. Exhibitions curated from submissions are typically comprised of 8-10 artists. The Soap Factory is a 120-year old ex-industrial warehouse on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

They have no climate control, air conditioning or permanent heating system; please bear this in mind when submitting your work. Projects by individual artists that propose to use the entire 12,000 sq feet of gallery space are always encouraged.

They are particularly interested in proposals conceived specifically for The Soap Factory galleries. (So do your homework!) Their programming is unique in that they select only a small proportion of the artists they exhibit from their pool of submissions. They commonly receive 400 artist submissions per season.

DEADLINE: November 30, 2010. They do NOT accept e-mailed submissions so this is a POSTMARK deadline.

REVIEW DATES: Submissions are reviewed for exhibition between May 1st and October 31st.

NOTIFICATION: March 2011

They may keep your submission on file for up to 8 months. Do not call or email to check on your submission. The Soap Factory does not return work. Please only send materials that you do not need to be returned.

COVER PAGE indicating the following information: Name, Email, Phone, Address, Medium of submission

IMAGES: Up to ten color images of your work on disc. Digital images must be Mac compatible (jPeg, tif, pdf) not less than 1500×2100 pixels. Each submitted image MUST ALSO BE PRINTED IN HARD COPY. Submissions that do not include hard copy images WILL NOT BE REVIEWED.

RESUME, artist statement and project description/ proposal.

Please submit any video on DVD. DVD must be in Zone 1 format (readable in USA).

Work samples WILL NOT BE RETURNED

The Soap Factory is committed to diversity in audience, staff and programming. To assist them in achieving our diversity goals, please indicate your ethnicity or cultural background. Please note that compliance or non-compliance with this request will NOT affect the status of your submission.

The Soap Factory provides full installation support for all selected projects, including travel and accommodation, as well as a stipend to artists. They provide publicity, exhibition invitations, mailings, opening reception and artist talks. However, they do not provide insurance coverage for work exhibited at The Soap Factory. All work is shown at the artist’s own risk.

Mail submissions to:

Program Manager
The Soap Factory
514 2nd St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Questions? Visit The Soap Factory Submissions Page!

As an homage to the new interactive R.L. Gibson site, I thought we could all take a little trip down memory lane with some work from the past.  Speak No Evil is not my favorite series to date; however, it is a step in my development as an artist that I cherish.  Enjoy! 

Speak No Evil, 2006 – 2007

Artist’s Statement: “I am an Objectivist–that is, I believe in objective reality. I believe that words have meanings, and I enjoy the debate that asks, ‘Who defines a language?’ Is a language–be it written, spoken or aesthetic–defined by the user or some other hierarchy of trusted caretakers? And why are people often offended by truth–not the ugly, hurtful truth, but the sky-is-blue truth? How does context change definition and intention? My work explores these questions. I’m not ceratin the answers are clear to me although I do not doubt the existence of the objective truth of the answers–an odd sort of faith from a distinctly unspiritual woman.

“I am deeply influenced by my role as a southern born and reared woman. I have a great love of southern language with all of its innuendos, euphemisms and passive tones that mak a long history of eccentricities, unpopular opinions and niceties. I ws spoon-fed ‘If you can’t say something nice…’ but it wasn’t well digested. Does the adage ‘Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil’ function without ‘Think No Evil?’ This body of work juxtaposes exasperatingly high moral standars against the public question of excruciatingly low moral fortitude and asks, is ‘Speak No Evil’ an acceptable substitute for ‘Think No Evil?’ while posing the personal queston ‘Am I a truth teller?’ or just not a ‘Well-Behaved Woman?’ ” –R.L. Gibson

Click below for a slideshow of Speak No Evil.

See the what critic Michaela Pilar Brown said about Speak No Evil:

“In this series of xerographic prints, Gibson challenges patriarchal conventions about truth, morality, and freedom in a culture increasingly driven along a path to homogeneity, and a return to the exclusion and marginalization of unpopular opinions and ideas. Gibson employs the use of text throughout these images to call attention to the use of language.

“Words attached to art imbue meaning and effect interpretation often more powerfully than images alone. It musts be noted that Gibson makes use of the red editor’s pen. The images are simple, and words are used with brevity. Challenging large ideas with such an economy of words and simple images leaves room in Gibson’s work for both comic relief and austerity.

“Her use of text is both a nod to its literary origin, and a subversive tyrannical act, to make the viewer question both meaning and use in a broader context. In the work ‘Such a Pretty Face,’ Gibson addresses the notion of hiding criticism in a compliment. It begs the questions, in a postmodern world, a world of rapidly exchanged text, ticker tape, and irretrievable digital burps, who owns the language? Can words live in static form? Do they evolve? When are they weapon, propaganda, song?

“In the triptych ‘See, Hear & Speak,’ Gibson addresses the notion of turning a blind eye to evil. It is an image and phrase familiar to most Americans, so familiar in fact that the phrase ‘see no hear no speak no evil’ conjures images of a monkey covering its eyes, mouth and ears and the reverse. A doll’s head has replaced the monkeys. This simple change destroys the kitschy-ness of the image, and presents a more human question. The doll’s head floating against a flat background robs it of its innocence. By ignoring evil are we not responsible for its growth?”

–Michaela Pilar Brown, 2007 as Director of Gallery 107 North

Thank you for your patience while RLGibson.com was under construction!

In 2008, I was privileged to have PR Maven Toni Turbeville design and launch a beautiful website in promotion of my work as R.L. Gibson.  As always, Turbeville listened and responded to my desire for a simple, mono-chromatic site that gave the bare basics of my work and my statement in this world as an artist.

Here’s what the site used to look like:

Developments over the past year, including the launch of a new series Psychomachia with Arizona-based artist Jerry Portelli, the launch of a new art blog ArtAndArtDeadlines.com, and the requests from my peers and fans to offer current updates on the work coming out of my 42 square-foot studio–Well, they all resulted in this relaunch of my site in a format that allows you to leave comments, receive automated updates by email, and get a closer look at the work behind the work.

Welcome, I’m glad you’re here.  Take a minute and subscribe by email.

–R.L. Gibson