DEAR ARTIST FRIEND…

Any questions?
Call or email Jocelyn or Lisa
PHONE: 533-3171
EMAIL: UGALLERY@QUEENSU.CA

Call for Submissions
Deadline for proposals: January 7, 2008

THE ARTEL announces eight exhibition opportunities in 2008 under the title Welcome HERE. This call is open to proposals from emerging artists currently or formally living in Kingston Ontario and the surrounding communities, and is also open to artists with other kinds of connections to the Greater Kingston area.

This exhibition series is scheduled to begin February 2008 and end November 2008. Those selected receive a 3-week exhibition slot in the Artel’s 530 sq/foot gallery, at no charge. Promotion, administration, installation assistance and gallery volunteers are all included. Some charges may apply for an opening reception. Proposals will be selected by The Artel Collective according to the artistic merit of the work.

As part of the project, The Artel Collective will host two public dinners, which the artists are requested to attend to contribute to discussion on ‘life as an artist in Kingston’.

THE ARTEL is a non-profit, community-based artist collective and artist’s residence located in Kingston, Ontario. Run by a volunteer group of 12 artists and community players, The Artel Collective is committed to supporting emerging artists practicing in a variety of media, including: visual and media arts, performance, installation, music, curatorial, community, activist and interdisciplinary work.

As a venue THE ARTEL is unique; equipped with a public gallery space on the first floor of an artist house. THE ARTEL encourages collaborative relationships between artists, between artists and institutions, and between artists and members of the Kingston community-at-large. THE ARTEL seeks to support diversity within Kingston’s arts scene, and welcomes involvement from a wide and overlapping range of artistic disciplines, approaches and interests.

If presenting your work in an alternative, community-minded arts venue sounds appealing please send your proposal by email to the.artel@gmail.com or drop off/mail to 205 Sydenham Street, Kingston Ontario K7K 3M3

For more information on The Artel visit www.the-artel.ca

REQUIRED MATERIALS

Please include the following in your proposal package:
A one page description of the project you would like to present
AND/OR
Your artist statement
AND
Your artist resume / curriculum vitae
OR
A descriptive and detailed overview of your arts experience
AND
Images of your work, on CD, DVD, or colour print-out / portfolio, with an image list including titles, medium, and size of works
* Indicate whether the work shown in your images is the work you are proposing for exhibition OR whether the images presented are providing examples of the type of work to be created for the exhibition. These materials will not be returned, but pick-up can be arranged.
AND
A maximum half-page answer to the question
‘what is it like to be an artist in a place like Kingston?’

Living Sketchbook by Rebecca Soundant
a community collaborative drawing installation
December 6 - December 12, 2007

This is an interactive exhibit where people are encouraged to come and draw on the paper that lines the inside of the gallery space in a rather whimsical way. The paper is about a foot wide and seemingly endless. People are encouraged to draw on the paper that is on the floor, the walls and even the ceiling.

This gallery, transformed into a ‘living’ sketch book, is in constant transition as drawings are added and people/visitors will animate the ‘book’ by walking in a back out of the sketches.

The paper comes from a factory in Smiths Falls where ends of paper rolls used to make cigarette packages are either given away or discarded. The paper, then, is stiff with one side shiny and the other side matte. After the exhibit, this paper will again be re-cycled for making cigarette-like packages with only drawings in them (and not the cigarettes). Buy a pack for a friend who you’d like to encourage to quit. All proceeds will go to the Artel (2$ a pack).

The Artel Requests Silent Support

The Artel is pleased to announce the presentation of its first silent auction fundraiser at the Sleepless Goat Café and Worker’s Cooperative (91 Princess Street). On display are original works donated by some of the city’s most innovative and talented contemporary artists. Bids will be accepted for all works from now until 4:00pm on Saturday December 22nd at which time, bidding will close and the highest bidder will be declared the winner of the work.

The artists who have donated their original paintings, prints, and photographs to the silent auction include a mix of emerging and established local visual artists such as: M.P. Tully, William Weedmark, Irina Skvortsova, Melinda Richka, Sharon Muilwyk, Cameron Tomsett, Brent Nurse, Isaac Gillis, Aida Sulcs, Rebecca Soudant, Klaudio Shita, Gjen Snider, Sandra Jass, Lisa Visser, Ben Nelson, and Don Maynard.

There will be an informal meet and greet with a number of the artists at the Sleepless Goat on Monday December 17th between 7-9pm.

All proceeds from the auction will support the Artel’s activities as one of the most exciting, vibrant, and dynamic arts presentation organizations in the city. Located in a 6 bedroom house at 205 Sydenham St., the Artel Arts Accommodation and Venue houses 6 artists in live/work spaces as well as a gallery and event venue.

Run by a collective of the house’s tenants and a group of community members, the Artel collective believes that artistic partnership and collaboration provide the best support to the development of excellence in emerging artists, particularly where such efforts include the public presentation of artwork in the form of exhibitions and events. By welcoming the involvement of artists from multiple disciplines and levels of achievement, and presenting art for the purposes of interpretation and enjoyment by the community, The Artel fosters diversity and accessibility that help to create the best possible environment for artistic growth.

Timber Timbre: MySpace

Nich Worby: MySpace

Reception / Wig Party: December 14th, 7-10pm

THE ARTEL is proud to present Socialite, an installation about the art of manners and appearances and the occasional or the not so occasional desire to get away from it all.
Brought to you by two artists and socialites about town: Irina Skvortsova and Melinda Richka, the show features video and site specific installation.

Richka explores facets of one’s private life while coping within boundaries of isolation. Series of images provide a discrete peek into a space where the protagonist exists in a state of einzelhalf as a side effect of struggling with social and cultural mismatches. Combined with socially expectant objects and text, this installation sets a nostalgic tribute to the contrary enigmas of avid sociality.

Skvortsova presents a parody of socialite etiquette. Focusing on the expressiveness of body language and facial expressions the artist invites the viewer to read these as a complex communicational interplay specific to characters from a particular social strata. Periodic appearances by a certain character set the tone of interpretation of this social mingling, and attempts to disrobe the socialites of their aura of mystery.

New paintings from Sharon Muilwyk explore the space of in-between. Muilwyk determines the in-between as a state of change–the constant transformation that occurs when one thing becomes something else. Through the medium of paint, Muilwyk explores the in-between of order:disorder, urban:rural, man:nature, past:present, lost:found, rational:irrational, real:abstract. Her images are inspired by the visual memories of places she has experienced throughout her own evolution and her relationship with nature over time.

Reception: Saturday, November 17th, 7-9pm

Queen’s Journal Article