Call for Art: HOME
Image by Fiona Cashell
Call for Entries: H O M E
Curator: Fiona Cashell
Application Deadline: April 26, 2025
What does it mean to call a place home? How does the act of moving—leaving, arriving, migrating—shape a person? When we think of our relationship to place, there are many complex experiences to consider, and many questions to ask. Perhaps the thread that connects us all, is the desire to belong.
In both philosophical and Buddhist thought, impermanence speaks of the transient nature of all things—the inevitability of change, movement, and transformation. This concept can resonate deeply when we find ourselves navigating new territories; when caught between the familiar and the unknown, or when searching for stability in flux, or even searching for flux in fixed stability.
The inertia of not changing creates a tension between wanting to shift direction and being unable to make a move. Home offers safety and protection from the cold, unless home is the cold, then home becomes a prison.
The tension between longing to stay and the pull to explore – between holding onto what we know or embracing the unknown — unable to leave / unable to stay.
To seek to belong is to map the self. We position and negotiate our identities within landscapes, environments, and place. This experience is universal, transcending cultures, geographies, borders and histories. It compels us to ask: What is home? How does it manifest —as a place, a person, an object, a phrase, a poem, or even as a memory?
We invite submissions that explore these themes through:
Narrative inquiry
Documentative, explorative, or speculative approaches
Interdisciplinary practice
Conceptual, abstract, or experimental processes
We are particularly interested in works that engage with concepts relating to:
Belonging
Home (what is home, its meaning, its representation)
Place, landscape, and environment
Borders and liminal spaces
Mapping the self and identity in flux
Navigating the unknown or unfamiliar
Deadline for Submission of Applications: Saturday, April 26 at 11:59pm CST
Notification of Acceptance: Will go out by email on Sunday, May 11, 2025
Delivery of work to ARC: Thursday & Friday, May 29-30, 2-6pm; Sat, May 31, 12-4pm
Pick-Up Work at Gallery: Sat, June 28, 2:30-4pm
Shipped Work Return Date: Week of June 29
*Pre-Paid FedEx or UPS return label is required
*Do not use the U.S. Postal Service
About the Curator: Fiona Cashell
Fiona Naomi Cashell (b. Dublin, Ireland, 1981) is a lens-based interdisciplinary artist using digital, material and hybrid practices to explore the boundaries and artistic use of performative and documentative style moving image works, photography, text, textile and print.
Growing up in a working-class south Dublin suburb and emigrating multiple times has profoundly affected Fiona's creative sensibility and interests in place. As a result, work created is usually situational in context – utilising the immediate environment and drawing from personal narratives, experiences and histories that correlate or draw connections between the self, memory, attachment, distance, impermanence, otherness, landscape and place. Other interests intersecting with or informing her practice include slow cinema, poetry, flora and fauna and wilded "lived" spaces, chance, philosophy, psychology and cultural studies.
Fiona is a professional member of the Teaching Council of Ireland and Visual Artists Ireland, and serves as an advisory board member for SAH Journal (Ireland). She exhibits widely, and her work has been shown in institutions such as Anthology Film Archives, New York; West African Research Center, Senegal; Temple Bar Cultural Trust, Ireland and CICA Art Museum, Korea.
Fiona holds an MFA in Studio Art from Stony Brook University, New York, and a BDes (Hons) in Visual Communication from MTU, Cork. She is also a graduate of the NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program.
Visit Fiona @ www.fionacashell.com
Opening Reception, Friday, June 6, 5:00-8:00pm
Exhibition dates: June 5 - 27, 2024
Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Submission Instructions
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STEP 1: Upload your images
• Decide which images you will submit. Ideally, the art should have been completed in the last 5 years.
• Label each image with: Last name, Item # of the image, Title of work, Medium, size and date. Separate with a dash. Example: daVinci-1-Mona Lisa-30x21x2”-1503. Number the images consecutively.
• Images must be submitted in JPG /JPEG format
• Limit the number of images to the amount you chose to pay for. ARC will only review the number of images you pay for. (standard fee is $40 for 3 images. $10 for each additional image. Students pay $25 for 3 images, with $10 for each additional)
• If you are a student, also upload a photo of your student ID along with your images.
• Please note that images of accepted work will become the property of ARC Gallery and may be used for publicity.
• Upload your images. They will go to a Dropbox file for juror’s review.
• When you are finished uploading files, go to the top of the screen and close this window. It will take you back to the original application form
• Complete the 1st dropdown box: Click on either “standard” or “student” application
• Complete the 2nd dropdown box: Highlight the number of images you are submitting
• Make sure there is a “1” in the Quantity box. (If you click another # it will multiply your fee by that #)
STEP 2: Fill out the application
• Now, click on “Pay Fees”. This will take you to a page where you can enter your application information.
• Check the small box at the top indicating which show you are applying to. (this is easy to miss, but your application will not go forward if you don’t check it).
• Complete: name, email, phone, website (if you have one) and address (be sure to enter your country or it won’t go forward)
• Enter you artist statement. Write a brief statement addressing your work and/or your images. Please limit your statement to under 125 words. Do not include your name (jury is anonymous) and do not try to make it a resume—ie don’t include education details or a history of past shows.
• Click on the box” “I uploaded my images”
• Now enter the label info for each of your images. Each should include: (a) item number; (b) title, (c) dimensions: height x width x depth, (d) mediums / materials, (e) date produced, and (f) price. Make sure you itemize your list to correlate to the #s on the images you submitted.
• Click on the black “pay fees” button at the bottom.
STEP 3: Pay fees
• Click: “sign in”
• Click either: “Apple pay” or “credit card”
• Enter requested information
• Click “continue”
• Review information and click “Purchase”
• Your application will not go through until you have clicked purchase.
• If you have any payment issues, send an email message to the gallery: info@arcgallery.org. We will sort it out for you. (Also we can refund payments that have gone awry, so don’t panic!).
• An email receipt will be sent by ARC Gallery after application and payment is completed
• Submissions will not be reviewed until payments are received
Questions?
Please feel free to email the gallery with any questions. We are here to help. Our email address is: info@arcgallery.org.
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Eligibility
Original works created within the last 5 years. All mediums and materials will be considered in addition to video and performance based arts. No projections or media installations will be accepted for this show due to space limitations. Open to all artists, national and international.
Exhibition and Delivery Requirements
Work must arrive by scheduled dates or will not be hung.
A label must be attached to the back/bottom of each work with name, title, medium and price.
Work must be presented in a manner appropriate to the artwork and be equipped for presentation. If work isn’t shown in the traditional gallery sense; it should still able to be displayed in a professional manner by gallery installers per artist specifications.
Absolutely no Peanuts in shipping boxes!!!!
Work must be able to remain in exhibition through exhibition dates. No work can be retrieved early.
If work is shipped, use either UPS or FedEX and include a prepaid return shipping label with your package.
No work which was not originally selected by juror will be hung.
Sales
Works will be for sale unless noted as NFS (not for sale) on the entry form. ARC will act as a liaison for sales of the artists' work. However, any work sold and paid for via Paypal will have the small fee deducted from the sale amount. ARC will deduct a 20% commission from the selling price of the work in group shows, with the artist retaining 80% after any Paypal fees if applicable. Please price accordingly.
Insurance
ARC exercises professional care when handling submitted work. We do not assume responsibility or liability including but not limited to accidents, damaged work, or forces of nature. Artists who feel their work is fragile should consider carrying their own personal property insurance. Again, the gallery will not assume liability for damage.
Accepted Work: Shipping and Delivery Return
With the exception of hand-delivered and picked-up work, all work shipped to and from the gallery must be paid ahead-of-time by the artist.
ARC will pack and make ready for return all shipped work and schedule the pickup. However, ARC will not make any payment or handle work that has to be dropped off for return. Please enclose A PRE-PAID return shipping label with the work. This should be, and can easily be, obtained online at UPS or FEDEX websites at the time work is being shipped to gallery for exhibition.
Upon close of show, ARC will alert the chosen shipper that the work is ready for pick-up. Any checks for return shipping made out to ARC will not be accepted nor will handwritten Fed Ex shipment labels. All acceptable pre-paid labels will need a barcode for scanning purposes.
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Please feel free to contact the gallery via email (info@ARCgallery.org) should you have any questions re: the exhibition, submitting work, or the prospectus. Email messages are checked daily. If you contact the gallery by phone, please call only during hours when the gallery is open.
ARC Gallery and Educational Foundation
Gallery Hours: Open Thurs & Fri - 2-6pm, Sat & Sun - 12-4pm; Closed Mon-Wed.
1463 W. Chicago Ave 1st floor
Chicago, Illinois 60642
312 877-5760
Before you begin, read our Submission Instructions (PDF) in the Call for Entry you are responding to. Click here to browse Calls for Entry.
Please Note: ARC takes a 20% commission fee on works sold. So please price your work accordingly
STEP 1: Upload your images
Decide which images you will submit. Ideally, the art should have been completed in the last 5 years.
Label each image with: Last name, Item # of the image, Title of work, Medium, size and date. Separate with a dash. Example: daVinci-1-Mona Lisa-30x21x2”-1503. Number the images consecutively.
Images must be submitted in JPG /JPEG format
Limit the number of images to the amount you chose to pay for. ARC will only review the number of images you pay for. (standard fee is $40 for 3 images. $10 for each additional image. Students pay $25 for 3 images, with $10 for each additional)
If you are a student, also upload a photo of your student ID along with your images.
Please note that images of accepted work will become the property of ARC Gallery and may be used for publicity.
Upload your images. They will go to a Dropbox file for juror’s review.
When you are finished uploading files, go to the top of the screen and close this window. It will take you back to the original application form
Complete the 1st dropdown box: Click on either “standard” or “student” application
Complete the 2nd dropdown box: Highlight the number of images you are submitting
Make sure there is a “1” in the Quantity box. (If you click another # it will multiply your fee by that #)
STEP 2: Fill out the application
Now, click on “Pay Fees”. This will take you to a page where you can enter your application information.
Check the small box at the top indicating which show you are applying to. (this is easy to miss, but your application will not go forward if you don’t check it).
Complete: name, email, phone, website (if you have one) and address (be sure to enter your country or it won’t go forward)
Enter you artist statement. Write a brief statement addressing your work and/or your images. Please limit your statement to under 125 words. Do not include your name (jury is anonymous) and do not try to make it a resume—ie don’t include education details or a history of past shows.
Click on the box” “I uploaded my images”
Now enter the label info for each of your images. Each should include: (a) item number; (b) title, (c) dimensions: height x width x depth, (d) mediums / materials, (e) date produced, and (f) price. Make sure you itemize your list to correlate to the #s on the images you submitted.
Click on the black “pay fees” button at the bottom.
STEP 3: Pay fees
Click: “sign in”
Click either: “Apple pay” or “credit card”
Enter requested information
Click “continue”
Review information and click “Purchase”
Your application will not go through until you have clicked purchase.
If you have any payment issues, send an email message to the gallery: info@arcgallery.org. We will sort it out for you. (Also we can refund payments that have gone awry, so don’t panic!).
An email receipt will be sent by ARC Gallery after application and payment is completed
Submissions will not be reviewed until payments are received
Remember: ARC takes a 20% commission fee on works sold. So please price your work accordingly
QUESTIONS: Please feel free to email the gallery with any questions. We are here to help. Our email address is: info@arcgallery.org.
Please note that images of accepted work will become the property of ARC Gallery and may be used for publicity.