The Mary E. Black Gallery is pleased to receive proposals from community groups, cultural groups, guilds, artists/craftspeople and curators for exhibitions in 2022. Annually, seven shows are selected by the Exhibition Review Committee to fulfill the gallery’s mandate, as Nova Scotia’s only public fine craft gallery, to exhibit traditional and contemporary fine craft created by aspiring and established local, regional, Canadian and international artists. Juried, curated and travelling exhibitions are eligible.
Year round the Centre for Craft Nova Scotia hosts exhibitions in the Mary E. Black Gallery which educate the public about craft and promote the pursuit of excellence in the craft community.
Submissions must include the following:
Letter of Intent/Proposal:
- Clear description of theme/concept and the type of work defined by medium, technique, membership or function (maximum of 500 words)
- Proposed or working title of exhibition
- A list of artist/s and justification for their inclusion if the proposal is curatorial or a group exhibition
- Brief description of the how you envision the works being organized and presented ie: general layout, presentation style, exhibit fixtures, interpretation equipment or special display requirements for the gallery floors, walls, ceiling and windows
- Please indicate if you are open to the possibility of being curated into a two person show, group show, or shared use of our gallery space.
Support Material:
- A list of works to be exhibited (include artist, title, medium, dimensions in metric, date of work) or if not yet created, a list of what is planned for inclusion
- Support material which can include any materials relevant to the application, images (maximum of 20), promotional materials, reviews and catalogues
- Image requirements are as follows: JPEG format, maximum of 1024×768 resolution
- Titles of image and media files should be numbered (01-20) and titles must match the list of support material
- A list of the support material provided including the title, medium, dimensions in metric, date of work
- A curriculum vitae of the principal organizer/curator or artist
Proposals and support material must be submitted via Dropbox link to administration@craft-design.ns.ca by 4pm AST on March 31st, 2020. Please title your drop box file with your/your organization’s name first Followed by “MEBG Submissions 2022”. Late submissions, incomplete, or submissions sent outside dropbox will NOT be accepted.
The Mary E Black Gallery staff offers assistance to applicants who face barriers to applying or have any difficulty with the process. If you require assistance, please contact the gallery at administration@craft-design.ns.ca or 902-492-2522.
Sign up to Dropbox for free to share your uploaded images and files here: https://www.dropbox.com/
To learn how to share a link with us, please refer to this link: http://www.dropbox.com/help/274/en
Proposal evaluation is based on:
- The artistic merit of the exhibition proposed
- The quality of the applicant’s work to date
- Visitor engagement, programming and educational opportunities
- The ability of the organization/individual to bring the exhibition to fruition
In response to the gallery’s mandate and the above listed evaluation criteria, the most successful proposals illustrate or address the following:
- Excellence in craftsmanship or technical mastery
- A strong, cohesive concept or theme that in its presentation, will work in our gallery setting
- Exhibition content that offers some breadth, depth, variety and clarity of ideas that are interrelated in some way
- Successful concepts that inspire, challenge, motivate, inform, excite or incite emotional and intellectual responses, offer new perspectives and address issues of relevance for our craft community and our visiting publics
- Artistic merit also includes opportunities to showcase innovation in fine craft in the use of new materials and/or techniques
- Unique gallery experiences that are less passive and more active or interactive
- Opportunities to support inclusion and highlight the diversity of people and our human experiences
- Suggestions for public programming which could accompany and enhance the exhibition‘s concept, provide exposure for craft artists, activate our gallery space and engage/educate current and attract new audiences
The Mary E. Black Gallery covers:
- Artist’s fees based on recommended CARFAC rates
- Cost of an opening reception
- Colour invitation / exhibition brochure
- Inclusion in our standard publicity program