Hudson Valley Artists: The Material, The Thing

Curated by Nicole Hayes

June 22 – November 6, 2022

CALL TO ARTISTS
The Call is closed.

The Material, The Thing, the 15^th annual Hudson Valley Artists exhibition, considers how artists understand and reimagine the material culture we live in. Every time we walk into a big box store we are inundated by meaningless disposable things. We have collectively lost an understanding of the materials that make the things we live with. Who even knows how plywood is made, or what microcrystalline cellulose is, but we all have it in our homes. In this cultural moment artists and artisans become an essential conduit of understanding the materials and the things in our society.

The Material, The Thing invites artists and artisans to submit work that investigates materials and their physical and cultural properties. We want to see artistic practices that consider the inherent beauty of physical materials and work that questions or champions the things produced by our culture.

We invite alchemists who transform dollar store gems into unexpected forms, woodworkers following the grain of an apple tree limb, watercolorists obsessing over the movement of pigment on paper, video artists categorizing their shopping trips, minimalists showcasing the beauty of cinder blocks and backyard foragers making pigments from their yard waste.

What is your material?  Why are you compelled to use it? How does this material express who you are? How does your relationship with your art material express your understanding of our contemporary culture? And, what is unique about the materials used by artists in our region? How do the materials of Hudson Valley artists tie them to this physical place and our history?

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The Hudson Valley Artists exhibition is open to all artists and artisans with a permanent mailing address and active art practice in the counties of Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rennsselaer, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester who have not had a one-person major museum exhibition and who are not currently represented by a large commercial art gallery. The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art staff, board members, and their immediate families are not eligible. Students are not eligible. There is no application fee.

Artists are invited to submit a maximum of six images or files of work created in 2019 or later. In addition to traditional fine art and craft mediums, audio, video, film and performance works are eligible for this exhibition. Brief proposals for new works to be created for this exhibition, including installation, social practice, or performance works, may also be submitted.

The Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award of $3,000 will be used to acquire one or more artworks from the exhibition for the Museum’s permanent collection. This Purchase Award is made possible thanks to the Alice and Horace Chandler Art Acquisition Fund. Artists whose work has been purchased in the past include Laura Cannamela, Richard Edelman, Charles Geiger, Holly Hughes, Patrick Kelley, Deb Lucke, Nestor Madalengoita, Stephen Niccolls, Libby Paloma, Elisa Pritzker, James Ransome, Adie Russell, and Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, among others.

ABOUT CURATOR NICOLE HAYES

Nicole Hayes is a curator who utilizes art to deepen human connection by amplifying diverse voices, and augmenting visitor engagement. Nicole joined Art Omi as Curator in 2014 and has curated exhibitions and events with Allison Saar, Iran do Espitrito Santo, Nicole Cherubini, Liliana Porter and David Shrigley among others. Before moving upstate, Nicole lived in New York City and managed the studio of internationally acclaimed abstract painter Sean Scully. Nicole began her career at the groundbreaking not-for-profit cultural center, Exit Art. Nicole currently lives in the tiny hamlet of Omi, NY with her children and dog. She enjoys watching the seasons change on her daily walks at Art Omi. Nicole has a BFA in Ceramics from Rhode Island School of Design and maintains an active studio pottery practice.