Parkside Art Gallery is stretching its wings.
Just over a decade old, the community gallery on Cedar Avenue is preparing to take a major step in keeping in time with practices of larger galleries.
Beginning in 2013, its annual show schedule will be based on "Call for Exhibition Proposals," which the gallery has already acted on and made guidelines available.
Gallery director Barb Brown says it's a process used by most galleries and it will see artists who are interested in showing, submit very specific information to the Parkside selection committee. The closing date for the first round will be Sept. 30, 2012.
The committee will then choose from the submissions to create a show schedule that provides diversity, and showcases artists from a larger art community than is drawn from now.
Brown adds past practice left it up to the gallery director to solicit artists or single-handedly deal with anyone who presented a proposal. The method sometimes resulted in last-minute decisions, which Brown says had its pros and cons.
"Sometimes it's really good to just let things happen as they happen, but this will make it more of an open process. As an artist, it challenges you to be precise about what your body of work is."
The Call for Exhibition Proposal requirements are straightforward and require the artist to submit a maximum of 15 jpeg images of their work on DVD or CD or good quality printed photographs. The images must be representative of the work to be exhibited and at least four of the pieces must be included in the proposed show.
A list of image descriptions and a proposal, which includes an artist statement and project description, with a maximum 500 words is also required.
An artist's resume with educational, professional and personal facts relevant to their artistic background must be included. Brown says that kind of information is interesting to people, even if the artist is self-taught.
Proposals will be evaluated after the deadline date and successful applicants will be notified no later than Dec. 1, 2012.
Brown says the gallery committee worked with the board for an entire year on putting the proposal strategy together. Proposal guidelines are available now at Parkside and on their website at http://parksideartgallery.100mile.com.