Call for Submissions: Heavy Metal

The Gallery at Casa
Call For Submissions: Heavy Metal – Community Show
Introduction:
The Gallery at Casa is calling for submissions for an exhibition called Heavy Metal that will be running from June 25 – August 20, 2022. This exhibition will be installed throughout Casa and will be part of a large, celebratory, ribbon-cutting event, street festival, and public art installation hosted by the City of Lethbridge and the Allied Arts Council.
A redevelopment project in the heart of downtown has been ongoing on 3 Avenue by the City of Lethbridge for four years. As part of this construction project, streetcar tracks were discovered buried beneath the asphalt. These tracks were used by a streetcar that travelled the length of 3 Avenue from 1912 to 1947. These tracks were buried by road construction circa 1949. The tracks have since been excavated and removed in order to facilitate new sewer installation and modification of the layout of 3 Avenue. The Allied Arts Council of Lethbridge, in cooperation with the city, has saved various lengths of this streetcar track for use by artists in a celebratory exhibition.

Thematic considerations:
Through the artifacts that we excavate, we can reflect upon the history of our community.  More often than not, the historical excavations we do are metaphorical and deal with interpreting documents, photographs, and stories.  Currently, within the 3 Avenue redevelopment, history has been unearthed and excavated in the form of monumental beams of steel. Each section of streetcar track is a silent repository of stories, mute and waiting for an artist to give them a voice. It is the hope that this sort of raw material, with so much historical weight, provides an inspiration to create something unique and engaging.

The Gallery at Casa invites artists to participate in two ways:

Track 1 – Rail as material:
Artists may have a piece(s) of streetcar track to incorporate into an artwork to be displayed in the Main Gallery. Artists are asked to loosely reflect on themes of excavation, history, or the passage of time. The pieces of rail are quite heavy and available in 2, 3, 4, and 5-foot lengths.  There is a limited quantity of material, and interested artists are invited to visit Casa to see the rail pieces in person before writing a proposal.

Proposal deadline: March 15
Completed Art Work due: June 1

Track 2 – Inspired by Rail:
Artists working in all media, unable to work with the streetcar track pieces, may submit a related work for inclusion in the Heavy Metal exhibition. This submission can be recent or proposed work that loosely reflects on themes of excavation, history, or the passage of time. Proposed artwork can be in any media.
Proposal deadline: April 15
Completed Art Work due: June 1
All participants will be paid CARFAC exhibition fees.
Download full artist call and submission requirements here: https://artslethbridge.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Heavy-Metal-Commun...