Fresh Perspectives: Seattle Artwork Purchase

The Office of Arts & Culture, in partnership with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), invites artists to submit two-dimensional artwork and wall hanging sculptures for a competitive purchase for SPU's Civic Art Collection. The call is open to professional artists residing in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, and Alaska. Maximum measurements for work is 48 x 48 x 5 inches and should not weigh more than 50 pounds. Artwork not conforming to these dimensions may be disqualified. The artwork will enter the Civic Art Collection and objects may need to be moved by one person. Artists are encouraged to submit colorful artworks that address housing unaffordability, racial equity, climate change, and other issues of our time.

A total of up to $100,000 is available for all artworks, with budget ranges from $500 to $5,000 per selected artwork. Artwork will be selected by a panel of five to seven youth on the basis of artistic merit, appropriateness for the public setting and existing collection, artistic diversity, and completeness of application. Artworks containing graphic depictions of violence, sexually explicit imagery, and/or nudity are discouraged. Artists who apply will be notified of the selection panel's decisions by early September 2018.

Applications must include up to 8 images of available work, an image description list (not to exceed 500 characters per image), an artist's statement (not to exceed 2,000 characters), and a résumé (not to exceed two pages). Artists from outside the Seattle-area must include shipping costs for each artwork as a separate line item in the image description. The application deadline is 10:59 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time), Tuesday, July 24, 2018. For questions, contact Elisheba Johnson at [email protected] or 206.684.0182, or Blake Haygood at [email protected] or 206.684.1742.