Image of atlas of Ohio with Artist Atlas title text

Painting featuring colorful geometric shapes

Colored, Textured Geometric by Allan Payer of Sandusky, Ohio

Each Artist Atlas will feature a new work of art from the 2015 Accessible Expressions Ohio Touring Exhibition.

January / February 2015

Hope your 2015 is off to an inspired and healthy start! As VSA Ohio moves into the new year, we want to keep in touch with our constituents and better connect you with opportunities for competition, exhibition, and performance. The Artist Atlas is a new bi-monthly email providing you with a list of local and national artist opportunities.

Additionally, we plan to highlight artist studios and collectives throughout Ohio to give you a better sense of what our constituents are up to and who you might network with!

If you are affiliated with a studio, gallery, or art program with an upcoming exhibition, feel free to pass along information regarding calls for art or other exciting events to Morgan at [email protected]. We will do our best to post them on our calendar and in this email.

Take a look below and see if any of the opportunities speak to you or an artist you might know!

Best of luck with your creative endeavors this month.

Studio Spotlight

We want to feature a new studio for artists with disabilities in Ohio in every email. For this month's spotlight, we are highlighting a studio in Central Ohio, Open Door Art Studio, that has been in the news recently regarding their upcoming show! Click here to watch the news clip about Open Door.

Open Door Art Studio was founded in 2007 as a part of the Columbus Center for Human Services and is located in Grandview Heights, a neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. They offer full-time studio programming and serve 60+ fine artists with disabilities. In addition to studio space, Open Door is also home to a gallery that hosts multiple exhibitions throughout the year. This month, the studio is teaming up with another local artist collective, Tacocat Co-operative, for a portrait exhibition.

Caged by Darrel Miller

Click here to visit the Tacocat website for more information on this exciting show!

VISUAL ART

Art from the Heart- Xenia, OH

Deadline: Friday, February 6, 2015

The X*ACT Gallery invites area artists to exhibit original works of art which represent the theme ART FROM THE HEART.

Entries will be accepted during X*ACT Gallery hours, Thurs - Sat from Jan. 26 through Feb. 6 from noon to 6 pm. Entry forms are available at X*ACT, 45 E. 2nd St., Xenia, OH or online at www.XeniaACT.org Entry fee is $10 per piece. 3 entries per person limit. Call 937-372-0516 for more information. An exhibition Gala will take place on Saturday Feb. 7 from 2-4 pm. Artwork will be on display at the X*ACT Gallery through the month of February including during the special Valentines production of Love Letters on Feb. 14. Questions? Contact [email protected].

B.R.A.V.E. -- Being Radically Authentic and Vocally Expressive

Deadline: Friday, February 13, 2015

Spring exhibition addressing Human Trafficking and the Need for Prevention and Healing.

Imprisonment/Slavery/Freedom, Deception/Truth, Despair/Hope, The Plight of Refugees, Individual and Community Responsibility, Healing, Empowerment and "Having a Voice" are all themes that one can explore, as well as your own.

This exhibit is timely, because more cases of human trafficking occur in Central Ohio in the spring and early summer than anywhere else in the country. We are creating this spontaneous exhibit as a forum for education and prevention, while demonstrating our support of human trafficking victims everywhere.

Click here for guidelines and entry form

The Psylodelic Gallery Neo-Psychedelic Evolution: Mind Manifesting Art

Deadline: March 1, 2015

The Psylodelic Gallery opened in 2013 at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch as a center committed to the art and culture that has permeated the American mainstream since the 1960's. In keeping with that spirit of artistic evolution, the Psylodelic Gallery invites you to submit your work to be considered for our 2015 National Juried Art Exhibition. The theme will be based on Modern Psychedelic art and its various forms, and personal interpretation and perspective on this art movement. This theme is open to many different interpretations and mediums, and should reflect the creativity and depth within the soul.

Click here for guidelines and entry form

Residency: Grin City Collective Emerging Artist Residency

Deadline: March 10, 2015

Grin City Collective is located on a 320-acre farm in central Iowa a mile north of the town of Grinnell. During the summer, Grin City invites nine college level writers, visual or performance artists for a special, subsidized 4-week residency. Artists accepted into the Emerging Artist Residency receive individual housing and studio space. The residency ends in a final group show and reading in the downtown Grinnell Art Gallery.

Click here for more information

Competition: VSA International Art Program for Children with Disabilities: Yo Soy...Je Suis...I Am...The Future

Deadline: March 30, 2015

Coming soon! VSA proudly presents a unique opportunity for student-artists with disabilities from around the world to display their artwork side-by-side in an online exhibition. A selection of artwork from the online entries will be chosen for a live exhibition in Washington D.C.!

Click here for guidelines

MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS

Competition: 2015 Washington International Competition for Strings

Deadlines: March 9, 2015

The Washington International Competition for Strings is held every three years. The 2015 Competition for Strings semi-finals will take place at George Washington University in the Benjamin T. Rome Music Hall at 801 22nd Street, NW, in Room B-120 on both Friday, June 5, and Saturday, June 6. The finals will take place on June 7, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. in the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Click here for Strings guidelines

Competition: VSA International Young Soloists Competition

Deadline: March 16, 2015

Coming soon! Each year, a select number of outstanding young musicians with disabilities, ages 14-25, from around the world receive the VSA International Young Soloists Award. These emerging musicians win a $2,500 prize, professional development experiences, and the opportunity to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Started by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith in 1984, the program, open to musicians of any instrument or genre, has provided opportunities for hundreds of emerging young musicians with disabilities.

Click here for Young Soloist guidelines

Call for Entry: Unsigned Only Music Competition

Deadline: March 18, 2015

Unsigned Only is a unique music competition designed for solo artists, bands, and singers all over the world who are not signed to a major label record company or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or imprints. The goal of Unsigned Only is to find an outstanding, talented performer: a band, singer, or solo artist...a newcomer or veteran...raw or polished - the "gem" that needs to be discovered. Unsigned Only is looking for the total package.

Click here for application and more Unsigned information

Competition: VSA Playwright Discovery Competition

Deadline: April 13, 2015

Coming soon! The VSA Playwright Discovery Competition invites middle and high school students to take a closer look at the world around them, examine how disability affects their lives and the lives of others, and express their views through the art of script writing. Writers may write from their own experience and observations, or create fictional characters and settings. Scripts can be comedies, dramas, or even musicals-be creative! Young writers with and without disabilities are encouraged to submit a script. Entries may be the work of an individual student or a collaboration by a group of students.

Click here for Playwright Discovery guidelines