Ballad of the Farm: Then, Now, Tomorrow

Ballad of the Farm: Then, Now, Tomorrow is an exhibition in which owners/lenders of crowd-sourced historic farm photographs will be paired with artists from the six-state Mid-America Arts Alliance region. Artists are invited to enter into a dialogue addressing issues confronting farming and agrarian life by investigating the photograph's story through adding their own narrative and creating new works of art addressing the "Farm: Then, Now, and Tomorrow." The museum plans to encourage discussion about and interest in the topic of agrarian life, its history, evolution and future. A group of historic farm photographs is available for artists to view prior to submitting a proposal.

Artists must reside in one of the following six states in the Mid-America Arts Alliance Region: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, or Texas. Entry fee is $25.00. Submissions must include an exhibition proposal, artist statement, visual documentation (5-20 images in JPEG format, minimum 1920 pixels on longest side, 72 ppi/dpi, 3 MB maximum), resume or CV, and support material such as PDFs of reviews or catalogs. All media are invited including paint, print, drawing, photo, site-specific work, performance, sound, video, film, and installations. Work size is limited to eight feet in height; the gallery spaces include a total of 178.25 running feet.

Entries are due October 15, 2014. Acceptance notification will be sent October 20, 2014. Selected artists will create new works from October through April, with the exhibition running May 13, 2015 – September 13, 2015. Exhibition awards include Corporate Sponsor award, Curator's Choice, Farmer's Choice, and Purchase Award. Loan forms will be completed by the museum and signed by the curator and artist. The exhibition is currently in developmental stages of touring, and artists are encouraged to consider this possibility in the execution of their work. Contact Director Carol Kobza at [email protected] for more information about viewing historic farm photographs.