Eastern Mennonite University is calling artists with any connection to Eastern Mennonite School or Eastern Mennonite University – current or former graduate or undergraduate student, faculty or staff – to submit proposals for consideration for a special art installation for the institution’s 2017-18 Centennial Celebration.
In September 2016, five selected artists will join project curator Ashley Sauder Miller ’03 in a year-long undertaking of creating 100 10-inch x 10-inch new art works. Each artist’s 100 pieces will relate to the Centennial theme: “Eastern Mennonite University 1917-2017: Serving, Leading, Transforming,” the history of Eastern Mennonite University/Eastern Mennonite School, or a depiction of EMU’s vision for the future.
The “10x10x100 Project” culminates in an exhibition in the Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery of University Commons during the Homecoming and Family Weekend, Oct. 13-15, 2017.
600 ‘different ways to explore EMU’
The 10x10x100 Project is one of two arts initiatives derived from a call for proposals by the Centennial Steering Committee for artistic works to mark EMU’s 100th anniversary, said Alyshia Zimmerman ’13 Kauffman. She is chair of the Centennial Visual and Performing Arts Subcommittee and oversees the university’s permanent art collection.
Miller’s “10x10x100 Project” appealed to the committee “because it brings many artists together who have a connection to EMU,” Kauffman said. “The volume of what is created also promises to showcase many different ways to explore the history of EMU and EMS.”
Miller, a mixed media artist who directs the Spitzer Art Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia, is a 2003 graduate of Eastern Mennonite University and a 1999 graduate of Eastern Mennonite School. She has facilitated similar projects twice on a different scale: 30 6-inch x 6-inch pieces made over 30 consecutive days) with groups of 27 and 47 artists.
“Both of these projects resulted in community building experiences, where both artists and the public came together to gain a greater understanding of the creative process and to celebrate the accomplishment of completing the artmaking challenge,” she said. “As an alumnus, I’m pleased to facilitate this same experience for a group of artists connected to EMU’s past, present and future.”
One goal is create a sense of community and unity between artists, she said. “On the flip side, I like that the people who view the work have a sense of the time frame and an idea about what you set out to do and how things ended up.”
A theater piece, to be written and performed by Ingrid DeSanctis ’88 and Ted Swartz ’89, has also been commissioned by the subcommittee, which also includes Gretchen Maust, administrative assistant for the theater and visual and communications arts departments, as well as student representative Michaela Mast and a second student representative to be named (former student representative Londen Wheeler has graduated).
Proposals due July 1
Proposals should include bio, resume, 15-20 images of work completed in the past year, and links to a website or another site where additional work can be viewed. Include the media (be as specific as possible, i.e. mixed media on paper, acrylic on canvas), describe the proposed project’s connection to EMU, and include how the work will be displayed (i.e. framed and hung from a nail, sculpture on the floor or installed at another location, ceramics on a pedestal).
Proposals are due July 1 and can be emailed to ashley_sauder_miller@yahoo.com. Selected artists will be notified during the first two weeks of July.
Each participating artist will receive a stipend of $1,200. The artist will retain ownership of the work with the option of listing it for sale during the exhibition with a 20% commission on sales to be retained for the Centennial Fund.