Our ancestors have passed down to us much more than our physical traits and personalities. Their stories of hardship and prosperity, failure and success, servitude and freedom, relocation and settlement, and other aspects of the human experience have helped to shape who we are today. The traditions and ancestral knowledge passed down to us influence our worldviews and the values that we will pass on to future generations. Maryland Federation of Art (MFA) and the Black Art Today Foundation ask artists to share works that give voice to the enduring values and experiences passed down to them through community and family. Any original 2D and 3D artwork in any media will be considered. Works selected by the juror will be exhibited in MFA’s Circle Gallery from June 26 – July 25, 2024.
Myrtis Bedolla is the owner and founding director of Galerie Myrtis, an emerging blue-chip gallery and art advisory specializing in twentieth and twenty-first-century American art with a focus on work created by African American artists. Bedolla possesses over 30 years of experience as a curator, gallerist, and art consultant. Established in 2006, the mission of the gallery is to utilize the visual arts to raise awareness for artists who deserve recognition for their contributions in artistically portraying our cultural, social, historical, and political landscapes; and to recognize art movements that paved the way for freedom of artistic expression. Bedolla has recently gained national press in the New York Times article “Black Gallerists Press Forward Despite a Market That Holds Them Back” in June 2020 and authored “Why My Blackness is Not a Threat to your Whiteness” in Cultured Magazine in July 2020. Past coverage also includes being voted Best Gallery by the Baltimore Sun in 2017; “Black Art in the Spotlight,” Baltimore Magazine, September 2018; “Living with Art: Myrtis Bedolla Builds a Home and Gallery in Old Goucher,” BMORE Art, Issue 3; “Women in the Arts,” which honored women at the helm of the Baltimore art scene, Baltimore Style Magazine, October 2013. Bedolla holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, University College, received her curatorial training at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, and earned online certificates in Cultural Theory for Curators and Curatorial Procedures from the Node Center for Curatorial Studies, Berlin, Germany.
NOTE: Should Circle Gallery or any other exhibition space be closed for reasons beyond our control, MFA reserves the right to move a planned physical exhibit to our online gallery.
Watch the video below for a tutorial on how to upload your entries.
What is a submission?
One submission or application on artcall.org is the equivalent of one entry on MFA’s old entry system, or one piece submitted for jurying. Artcall.org uses the terms submission and application interchangeably.
How do I enter a video submission?
When submitting a video, you must put the link to the video in the Linked Web Resource field, and you must upload a screenshot of the video as an attachment.
Can I edit my submissions after I've submitted them?
Artcall.org requires you to select the number of submissions / applications you want to enter and to pay before entering in your image and image details. You can edit your submission details along with images you've attached up until the submission period is over. Once the submission period has ended, you cannot edit their entries in any form.
Can I add more submissions after I've paid?
You must submit a separate submission / application for each piece of artwork you wish to be shown to the juror. You have the option to add a second or third image of the same work to your submission / application as a detail photograph This is not required.
Have the entry fees changed at all?
The fees have changed but not drastically, 1 or 2 entries are $30. Up to 4 additional entries are $4.50 each. Entry fees are non-refundable.
Who is this exhibition open to?
We invite all artists residing in any of the states or territories of the US, Canada, or Mexico to enter this exhibition.
