2025 CALLS FOR ENTRies

OMISSION

OPENING reception | APRIL 4 | 5PM - 8PM
$30 total intake fee for up to 3 pieces.
submissions due: 3/19, 3/20, 3/21 - 12 PM TO 4:30 PM

Cottonwood Center for the Arts is pleased to offer an open call for entries for the month of April, 2025: OMISSION. 

Negative space in a work of art is the space around and between the focus of the piece. That space has a form. For this call, we are asking artists to create works that celebrate the value and import of negative space, to examine quiet empty elements and elevate them to primary subject matter. Please review our show entry guidelines before you begin your submission. All mediums will be considered, previously exhibited works will not be accepted.

If you’d like inspiration, we suggest these examples:
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Beheading Holofernes
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Reichstag
Shigeo Fukuda, various graphic design
Clarence Coles-Phillips, various graphic design

SELF STARTER

OPENING reception | JUNE 6 | 5PM - 8PM
$30 total intake fee for up to 3 pieces.
submissions due: 5/21, 5/22, 5/23 - 12 PM TO 4:30 PM

The selfie has become a part of our culture that means different things for different living generations in our society. It can be an exercise in narcissism, ironically indifferent, politically poignant, or even just plain candid. For this call, we ask artists to start with a smart-phone-generated self portrait*. This digital image will be the launching point for a work of art that expresses your relationship with the world, however you define that real or virtual space. Please feel free to incorporate any other mediums that call to you. We welcome non-traditional display formats—please be thoughtful and communicative about how our curator can make your vision work IRL. Please review our show entry guidelines before you begin your submission. All mediums will be considered, previously exhibited works will not be accepted.

For inspiration—this article shows some interesting examples of contemporary self portraits (please note that not all of them are ‘selfies’ though, and make sure that your submission does indeed begin with an actual selfie): Artspace.com

*Do not start with a self portrait created with any other type of camera. Do not ask another person to snap the picture—it must be taken by you or with a timer set by you.

METAL

OPENING reception | AUGUST 1 | 5PM - 8PM
$30 total intake fee for up to 3 pieces.
submissions due: 7/16, 7/17, 7/18 - 12 PM TO 4:30 PM

Metal has contributed its unique qualities to fine art for centuries, and contemporary artists continue to find surprising and inventive ways to utilize it their art practices. Of course sculpture comes to mind, from the monumental rusty steel forms of recently passed minimalist icon Richard Serra to the bright, light, and sharp kinetic works by Colorado Springs’ own Starr Kempf. 2D artists have equally inspiring materials in the form of ever-improving metallic pigments, as well as metal leaf applications. This call invites artists to submit works that either highlight metal as a primary medium or depict subjects made of metal. Please review our show entry guidelines before you begin your submission. All mediums will be considered, previously exhibited works will not be accepted.

If you submit a very heavy piece, please include your plan for how it can safely be displayed in our gallery. Jewelers, this call is both especially apt as well as challenging for you—our juror will be looking for works that are not simply pretty or decorative, but explore the relationship between object and the body that would wear it.

JUST DESSERTS

OPENING reception | DECEMBER 5 | 5PM - 8PM
$30 total intake fee for up to 3 pieces.
submissions due: 11/19, 11/20, 11/21 - 12 PM TO 4:30 PM

Humans love sugar, and therefore, like everything else we love, we idolize it, fetishize it, celebrate it, and adoringly immortalize it in art. This call asks artists to call to our lust, our fondness, our sweet tooth for dessert. Of course we are reminded of Wayne Thiebaud’s iconic elegies to the pastries he was denied in his youth, but don’t forget that frosting can be weaponized as a reminder of cultural disparity such as in the works of Yvette Mayorga. Dessert making itself is an art form that can be enjoyed in the moment--please reach out to our Gallery Director if you have a concept for the First Friday opening of this exhibit. However dessert inspires you, we ask you to submit works that address this passionate affair. Please review our show entry guidelines before you begin your submission. All mediums will be considered, previously exhibited works will not be accepted.

An important side note: holiday sales times tend to favor works that are ‘giftable’—i.e. smaller in scale, lighter in price. Our juror will not have these considerations top-of-mind, but you may want to consider them when planning your submissions.

MORE 2025 CALLS COMING SOON!

IF YOUR WORK IN NOT ACCEPTED (or even if it is):
Please consider visiting our quarterly critique, Artist Test Kitchen.