Taking Steps: Recognizing 19th Century African & Indigenous American Abolitionists, Entrepreneurs and Family

The Worcester County Mechanics Association invites experienced portrait artists to submit qualifications to paint large-scale portraits of William Brown and Martha Ann Tulip Lewis (Brown), Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass. These three individuals were free and formerly enslaved people who actively worked in the US to abolish slavery and for the betterment of freed slaves and their community during the mid-19th century.

This is a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to select three artists to individually create a portrait of one of the honorees. The approximate sizes of the framed portraits are 5'W x 7'H for Truth and Douglass and 7'6"W x 10'6"H for the Browns. The portraits will become part of the Worcester County Mechanics Association permanent collection and be installed in Mechanics Hall's grand auditorium in Worcester, MA, hanging alongside portraits of Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, Abby Kelley Foster, Lucy Stone, and others.

Ten finalists will receive $1,000.00 and be asked to present a sketch of their proposed image. The artist commission fees are $40,000.00 for Frederick Douglass, $40,000.00 for Sojourner Truth, and $50,000.00 for William and Martha Ann Tulip Lewis (Brown). The Worcester County Mechanics Association will provide conservation-sensitive materials (canvas and stretcher bars) to the artists. Shipping to framers, framing, and installation will be completed by professionals with museum-quality conservation experience and will be borne by the project organizer.

Submission deadline: October 17, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. MDT. Entry fee: $25.00. Submit 10-20 images. Artist notification: November 4, 2022. International eligibility. Direct inquiries to Gloria D. Hall at [email protected].