Arc Gallery - Growing Up Now

Young people have little agency to decide their futures, but they will undoubtedly experience the consequences of decisions made by today’s adults in power. We encourage artists to reflect on this power imbalance in their work and to consider the ways in which children are often overlooked and marginalized in discussions about their own lives.

We invite artists of all backgrounds and mediums to submit works that explore the challenges and threats faced by children growing up in the world today.  From the looming threat of global warming and natural disasters to the rise of school shootings and the erosion of civil rights, young people today face unprecedented challenges that will shape their lives and the future of the planet they inhabit.

This call is open to all age groups and generations at all stages of their career. Submissions can include paintings, drawings, photography, digital art, sculpture, mixed media, and video. We encourage artists to draw on personal experiences and observations in creating their works. We hope to showcase a diverse range of perspectives and styles that highlight the complex and multifaceted nature of these issues. Through this call for art, we hope to shine a light on the challenges faced by children today and inspire greater awareness and empathy for this historical time. EXHIBITION DATES: October 26 - November 17, 2023

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: Sunday, September 17, 2023

Deadline for Submission of Applications: Sunday, September 17, 2023 at 11:59pm CST

• Notification of Acceptance: Will go out by email on October 1, 2023
• Delivery of wall-hung and pedestal work to ARC: Thursday & Friday, October 19 & 20, 2-6pm; Sat, October 21, 12-4pm
• Delivery of all larger work to ARC: Sat, October 21, 12-4pm
• Pick-Up Work at Gallery: Sat, November 18, 2:30-4pm
• Shipped Work Return Date: week of November 20
• *Pre-Paid FedEx or UPS return label is required
• *Do not use the U.S. Postal Service

About the Curator:

Danielle Andress is a Chicago based artist and educator. She primarily produces non-functional weavings and assemblages that investigate our relationships with digital architectures, consumable images, siloed spheres of influence, and the circulation of information through the poetics of weaving and everyday objects. As a bi-racial practitioner, her work considers identity politics and relational objecthood via slow craft and material artifacts through a multicultural lens. She earned her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the California College of the Arts. Danielle Andress is an Assistant Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Fiber and Material Studies department where she teaches hand and digital weaving. She has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally including at the Central Museum of Textiles (Lódź, Poland), John Michael Kohler Art Center (Sheboygan, WI), Yunnan Provincial Museum (Kunming, China), SPACES (Cleveland, OH), Lowe Mill (Huntsville, AL), and the Anchorage Museum of Art (Anchorage, AK).