Description

Beyond the Surface
Entry Deadline: January 4th, 2025
Entry Fee: $25 (non-refundable) includes up to three (3) entries with a total of five (5) images to show details

*Your submission fee directly contributes to the operating expenses for this volunteer-run non-profit art organization. Thank you for your support! We do not want the fee to be a barrier to anyone who wishes to apply. If you would need the application fee waived, please email John @ john@cummingsceramicstudio.com
Exhibition Dates: February 15, 2025 to March 22, 2025
Reception & Awards: February 15, 2025 5pm - 8:00 pm
Water is a shared resource that is necessary for all life. TSA Greenville and Water Chats partners are collaborating to host Beyond the Surface. This exhibition invites artists to raise awareness, inspire collaborative innovation, and foster dialogue around challenges related to water resources in South Carolina or shared with the Southeastern region. Artists are encouraged to focus on the following key themes:
Water Quality: The exhibition seeks to explore the health of our water resources throughout South Carolina, including ocean, rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, estuaries, salt marshes and other freshwater and coastal ecosystems. Artists might explore pristine waterways or pollutants that may impact downstream ecosystems and communities. How does water quality influence how humans and/or animals use these ecosystems?
Contaminants of Emerging Concern: As scientific research reveals new and increasingly widespread threats to water resources, such as “forever chemicals”, microplastics, and pharmaceuticals, this exhibition encourages a focus on these often unseen and recently “discovered” contaminants. Artists can consider how these pollutants accumulate in waterways, disrupt aquatic life, or even enter the human body.
Water Resilience, Planning, and Preparedness: With climate change accelerating unpredictable weather patterns, including intensifying hurricanes, floods, and droughts, the exhibition seeks to emphasize the importance of resilience in water management. Artists may reflect on community or ecosystem adaptations, disaster preparedness, or the interplay between nature-based and engineered solutions.
Subtopics for Exploration:
Environmental Justice: Water access and contamination issues disproportionately affect already marginalized communities. This exhibition encourages works that address water inequalities and the basic human right to clean, affordable water.
Climate Impacts on Water: The changing climate is directly impacting water resources - altering rain patterns, exacerbating droughts, and increasing the severity of storms and hurricanes. Artists are invited to highlight the relationship between water and climate, and feature options for resilient water management.
Disaster Preparedness: We invite artists to explore the urgent need for more resilient infrastructure and adaptive water management strategies to mitigate future risks. Special attention will be given to works that honor the experiences of those recently affected by Tropical Storm Helene. This sub-theme acknowledges the immediate and ongoing struggles of disaster victims and encourages artistic responses that raise awareness, while offering spaces for remembrance, healing, and the possibilities for a safer, more resilient future.
Please visit this website for a full explanation of the themes and for the full call for works: https://www.scseagrant.org/beyondthesurface
Open to artists of both 2D & 3D mediums, including but not limited to drawing, painting, graphic design, digital media, ceramics, wood, steel, textiles, and fiber. This show will be curated by a panel of TSA artists, Water Chats program professionals, and student representatives.
Monetary awards will be given within these categories (minimum award amount listed):
Best in Show $300
Best in Water Quality $200
Best in Contaminants of Emerging Concern $200
Best in Water Resilience, Planning, & Preparedness $200
Student Best in Show $100

Application Submittal
https://tigerstrikesasteroid.slideroom.com/#/permalink/program/81695
Questions contact John Cummings, john@cummingsceramicstudio.com
Eligibility: Primary consideration will be for artists residing in South Carolina. Also open to those residing in the Southeastern region of the United States: North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida.
Limitations
Size: Work must be ? 6ft in any direction and weigh ? 200 lbs. Work exceeding this must be installed and uninstalled by the artist under TSA gallery supervision.
Focus: Work does not have to be specific to South Carolina, but must be relevant to SC water resources.
Time:Work must have been created within 3 years and must be completed by the deadline for consideration