skip to Main Content

May 25 through June 13, 2021
Application deadline: March 19

The Decatur Arts Alliance invites artists working in all media to participate in the 33rd Annual Decatur Fine Arts Exhibition. The exhibition is a juried multimedia presentation that contributes a fresh and unique perspective and is usually in conjunction with the Decatur Arts Festival. At this time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to ensure whether the festival will be held at the same time as the exhibition, but the exhibition will move forward.

The audience for the Fine Arts Exhibition represents a broad spectrum of knowledge and appreciation of the arts, and the exhibition addresses this spectrum with a diversity of styles and media. Works selected for the show reflect a wide range of artists’ experiences and viewpoints, with excellence as a common thread.

Exhibition Location

Currently we are planning on an in-person exhibition, available for viewing by appointment in order to enforce social distancing safety guidelines regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. In the event of cancellation of an in-person exhibition, artwork will be available for viewing online. The exhibition will be in the Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College, 141 E. College Ave., Decatur, Georgia 30030. The Dalton Gallery is in the Dana Fine Arts Building. For directions, visit the Agnes Scott website.

Eligibility

Artists are invited to participate in a juried exhibition of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works. Artwork will be chosen from submitted entries by a panel of three jurors on the basis of creative excellence and quality of execution.

  • All works must be original and completed within the last two years.
  • The sponsors are the final authority on eligibility.
  • Works to be hung must be ready for hanging with any necessary hardware in place.
  • Artwork must fit through a standard door.
  • Video presentations are eligible, but the gallery does not offer facilities for projection. Any selected videos will be shown on a flat screen or computer monitor.

Note: An artist entering an installation piece should be prepared to personally deliver, install, and de-install the work as needed. All physical requirements for installations are considered during the selection process.

Receptions

Currently we are planning on in-person opening and closing events with timed attendance, social distancing and building capacity enforced. This will require a strict RSVP policy. These in-person events may be canceled if necessary due to conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opening reception of the Fine Arts Exhibition is (timing to be discussed) Tuesday, May 25, from 5 until 7 pm, in conjunction with the Decatur Business Association monthly meeting. The exhibition closes with the Last Call party on Sunday, June 13, from 4 until 6 pm, which will include selected artists’ talks. We encourage exhibiting artists to attend both of these functions if conditions allow.

Jurors

Susan Bridges is the founder, owner, and director of Whitespace, a contemporary commercial art gallery located in a converted 1893 carriage house in the historic neighborhood of Inman Park in Atlanta, Georgia. For 15 years, Bridges curated pop-up shows around the city in churches, U-Haul facilities, shipping containers, and an underground parking garage. In 2006 she opened Whitespace Gallery in a former carriage house behind her Victorian home in Inman Park. Today the gallery represents more than 40 local and national artists, who’ve shown work at the Smithsonian Institution, the Venice Biennale, and Art Basel Miami Beach. In addition to directing Whitespace, Bridges is currently focusing her attention on i45 Collective, a group of Inman Park, Old 4th Ward and Little 5 Points galleries and the newly created Flux Projects, a non-profit benefiting public art projects. Susan is a current board member of BURNAWAY, an online magazine dedicated to the visual arts and Flux Projects.

Sanithna Phansavanh is an artist working and living in Atlanta, Georgia, with an interest in the cycles of creation, existence, and permanence. Ranging from small pencil drawings to large-scale painted murals, his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, with notable showings at the High Museum of Art, on the Atlanta BeltLine, as a part of the Living Walls Conference, and through the City of Atlanta’s Public Art programs. Phansavanh also has served as the Senior Art Director for Intercontinental Hotels Group, an Art Director for the American Cancer Society, and has lectured at Georgia State University. He holds degrees in fine art from both Georgia State University and the University of Georgia.

Maurita N. Poole, Ph.D. is director and curator at Clark Atlanta University Art Museum (CAUAM). She received her doctorate in cultural anthropology from Emory University, and her professional training was attained at Williams College Museum of Art, The Walters Art Museum, The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, and Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. As the museum’s director, her emphasis is strengthening the organization’s infrastructure and providing opportunities for the next generation of museum professionals. She oversees the Tina Dunkley Fellowship in American Art, a collaborative Diversity in Art Museum Leadership Initiative involving CAUAM, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Zuckerman Museum of Art. In addition, she is developing the Black Optics Artist Residency, a platform that connects artists of African descent from the American South to artists and institutions in the global south.

Awards

Best of Show: $1,000
Gold Award: $700
Silver Award: $500

Purchase awards totaling $2,500 are selected by the City of Decatur, Decatur Business Association, and Decatur Downtown Development Authority for the City of Decatur’s public art collection. Additional purchase awards are being solicited.

Sale of Art

Sales are encouraged. The Decatur Arts Alliance handles all sales and collects a 25% commission on all artwork sold as a result of this exhibition. All artwork for sale must be priced by the artist and so stated in the entry. Please be sure to include the 25% commission for the Decatur Arts Alliance in your price. The 7% Georgia sales tax will be added at the point of sale.

An online catalogue is anticipated. Sales from the Fine Art Exhibition have increased each year and works from the exhibition have been added to private, corporate, and non-profit collections.

More details and
application information:

Back To Top