Placeholder

Saturday March 3, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Deadline extended for Bellevue Museum of Art juried competition for Northwest artists with two $5,000 cash awards

The Bellevue Arts Museum has extended its deadline for its 2018 BAM Biennial, an exhibition that offers a carefully selected range of contemporary artwork in a chosen medium. There are two awards, each for $5,000 cash for the top selections. This year, the material is glass and the exhibition will be entitled "BAM! Glasstastic." The new deadline for artists, designers, and makers to apply is March 19, 2018. (Disclosure: Glass: The UrbanGlass Quarterly editor Andrew Page is one of the five jurors.) The exhibition is open to applicants based in the Pacific Northwest (defined as the following U.S. states and Canadian provinces: Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington). Those who wish to apply do not need to define themselves as glass artists, though their submitted work must use glass as a central component. Those looking to apply can submit applications through CaFÉ.

Artists are strongly encouraged to submit proposals for new work that test their artistic perspectives and push their boundaries. An artist can submit a past work, but it has to have been completed in the last two years and cannot have been exhibited in the Northwest. Applicants can only submit one entry and those who are accepted are responsible for delivering their work for the exhibition in mid-to-late October 2018.

In the application, artists must include a $40 application fee along with ten to twenty digital images representing past work. A project proposal description, up to 400 words, should be included as well. Further application guidelines can be found here.

There are two awards offered. The John & Joyce Price Award of Excellence is a $5,000 cash prize with an opportunity of a solo exhibition at BAM. Then there is the Samuel and Patricia Smith Peoples’ Choice Award, which is a $5,000 cash prize.

The BAM Biennial was launched in 2010 by the Bellevue Arts Museum and occurs every two years with an emphasis on one art medium. Past mediums have been metal, wood, and fiber. The Biennial is a call to artists who are experienced with the medium, as well as other artists who have an opportunity to step outside of their comfort zones.

Glass: The UrbanGlass Quarterly, a glossy art magazine published four times a year by UrbanGlass has provided a critical context to the most important artwork being done in the medium of glass for more than 40 years.