Call for Art
You are invited to create a self-portrait for Step Up Gallery’s “Projection and Confession: Self-Portraits.”
The exhibit will run from September 18 through October 18, 2025. This is not a juried show. We plan to accept the first 50 applications, whether you already have created a self-portrait you’d like to submit, or you are just forming an idea for a self-portrait. Fill-out the attached Application to Self-Portrait Show Fillable Form which will reserve a spot for your entry. We’d prefer you create a brand new self-portrait, but if you wish to submit one already completed, we have no objection. Please consider your application a promise to have your self-portrait completed and ready to hang in Step Up Gallery by Saturday, Sept. 13, 10am- 2pm or Monday, Sept. 15, 10am- 2pm.
We’d love to put on a really, really, exciting show of self-portraits of artists, both local and regional. You may use any media except photography. You may use parts of photographs if presented as a collage. You may present yourself in a two-dimensional form or a three-dimensional form including ceramics.
Things to think about while formulating your self-portrait concept:
Sometimes I think I know myself only through glimpses of my past like a polaroid snapshot stuck in an old album. It’s usually a strong emotion that welds these images onto memory. Love found, love lost, fear, courage, pride, shame, joy, melancholy, kindness shown, kindness withheld, commitment or indifference. Yet sometimes an embarrassment turns into an inspiration that completely changes life’s trajectory.
What are your snapshots?
What memory makes you smile? What haunts you? What do you think /fear you look like? Can you let spiritual beliefs show? Can you let political beliefs show?
Things outside yourself help to define you. What things do you like/collect? Will including a certain kind of environment show who you are? Does a role in your life show who you are? Will including a pet show who you are? Will including people you love reveal you?
Will your methods and materials help show your true nature? Bold, intricate, grand, tiny, 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional, bright or subtle colors, painted, drawn, carved, stretched, glued, welded or sewn together.
How to Enter “Projection and Confession: Self-Portraits.”
Fill-out the attached fillable form, add your last name to the beginning of the file name, save it, and email it to diane@stepupgallery.org starting today.
Bring $10 for prize money!
When you deliver your portrait to Step Up Gallery on Saturday, Sept. 13 from 10am – 2pm or Monday, Sept. 15 from 10:00am to 2:00pm, BRING $10, preferably in cash (if check, make out to La Mesilla Arts LLC, our managerial company). All money collected will go to fund one, two or more awards voted on by visitors to the gallery as “People’s Choice Awards.”
Instead of an Opening Reception, we will have a Closing Reception on Saturday, October 18 from 2:00-3:30pm so that we have an opportunity to collect all votes and determine winners. You may take your art with you at the end of the reception. Your self-portrait may be for sale if you so choose. Step Up Gallery management and library staff do not get involved in art sales. Your contact information can be included on your wall tag so that a potential buyer can contact you directly.
RULES
1. All Media is welcome except PHOTOGRAPHY. Parts of photographs may be used in collages.
2. The size limit for 2-D and 3-D art is 48″ in any dimension (including frame), and a 35 lb. weight limit.
3. Art must not present a safety issue to any visitor to the gallery, especially children.
4. 2-D art must be ready to hang on a 1/4′ wide hook with a wire properly attached to the back of frame.
5. Once we receive your application, we will respond with a second form to record the particulars of your self-portrait, once your self-portrait is completed. We will also request a jpeg of your finished art at 300 dpi, 8″ minimum for smallest dimension. We may use that image in marketing the exhibit. In the 2nd form you will also be asked to release Los Alamos County, library and gallery managers from liability if your artwork is damaged or stolen during the course of the show. This is a prerequisite to showing in Step Up Gallery.
Please Note: Step Up Gallery managers reserve the right to reject any entry for any reason at any time.
If you have any questions about participating in this exhibit, please email or call Diane Stoffel, diane@stepupgallery.org or 505-551-4577 (during business hours please).