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2024 VCUarts Undergraduate Juried Exhibition CALL

"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" in black old fashioned text on plain white background

The 2024 VCUarts UNDERGRADUATE JURIED EXHIBITION
Submission period: 9/16–9/27
Exhibition: 11/14–12/7

The Anderson and VCUarts are excited to announce the 2024 VCUarts Undergraduate Juried Exhibition, November 14–December 7 at The Anderson, juried by Misa Jeffereis, Associate Curator at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.

The Undergraduate Juried Exhibition is open to undergraduate students from all VCUarts Departments, working individually or collaboratively in any media or discipline – or combination thereof. If you are a current VCUarts undergrad, you’re invited!

THEME:
Selected by our Juror, the theme for the Fall 2024 Undergraduate Juried Exhibition is “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” The theme is intended to inspire rather than limit – the Juror will take a broad interpretation of the theme and participants are encouraged to do the same. If you have a work you’d like to submit but are unsure about its relationship to the theme, submit it! The full thematic prompt is provided here.

PROMPT:

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time

This excerpt from William Shakespeare’s 1606 The Tragedie of Macbeth is the main character’s reaction to the death of his wife Lady Macbeth. Filled with hopelessness that each day is the same as the one before, Macbeth mourns his empty life. The sentiment of this statement rings true for many of us today, with catastrophic global events casting dark shadows over our daily lives—from the effects of climate change to tumultuous political campaigns to the atrocities of war. And yet, there is always tomorrow. Tomorrow can bring a new day, a fresh start, and the possibility of living better. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow invites artists to consider what tomorrow holds. The phrase raises the fundamental issue of how artists grapple with questions of the future; the ways that artists explore time, impermanence, and temporality in their work; how learning from the past can be a means toward envisioning the future; how a warming globe prompts questions of environmental justice, climate action, and sustainable living; the ways that innovation and curiosity are sparked by the onset of a new day—and on the flip side, the anxiety and procrastination of constantly producing new work; how repetition of ideas, materials, or forms may appear in one’s artwork; how daily studio practices and rituals inform one’s work; how artists deal with the onslaught of political and social upheaval through spirituality, religion, and self-care as a means of self-preservation; and how artwork can be utilized as activism in working toward a different reality. As this prompt is being written, the impending US presidential election compels us to consider our values, our agency in making change, and what a better tomorrow can be.

VENUE:
While The Anderson will serve as the primary hub of the exhibition, off-site, online, and alternative venue projects are encouraged. In such cases, students may be called upon to assist in securing the locations and permissions required to carry out their project. And remember that, in addition to traditional gallery space, The Anderson has an array of exterior and non-traditional interior spaces that can be made available on a case by case basis.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
You will be asked to provide the following…
– Up to 3 works. (see file size and format requirements on the Submission Form for details)
– A resume or CV.
– An artist statement, up to 250 words, that will help the juror appreciate the meaning(s), material techniques, concepts and/or context of your work.

–> SUBMISSION FORM <–

EXHIBITION TIMELINE:
9/16 – Submission period opens
9/27 – Submission period closes
10/20 – Selected artists notified
11/14 – Juror lecture, Juror awards announced, & Opening Reception of Exhibition
12/7 – Closing Day of Exhibition

SHIPPING WORK:
While we expect that work will be dropped off in most cases, we understand that students studying remotely may need to ship their work for inclusion in the show. Shipping of works will be addressed on a case-by-case basis following the jurying process.

JUROR AWARDS:
A number of scholarship awards including the Dean’s Award, Juror, and department-specific recognitions will be given out. A detailed list of awards will be made available in the coming weeks.

Questions can be directed to: Chase Westfall (cawestfall@vcu.edu) and Sarah Irvin (seirvin@vcu.edu). To ensure a prompt reply, please use the subject line “UJE Question!”

ABOUT THE JUROR:
Misa Jeffereis is Associate Curator at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, where she recently organized CAM’s presentation of the touring exhibition Paul Chan: Breathers. She curated Justin Favela: Ruta Madre (2023), Mona Chalabi: Squeeze (2022), Alia Farid: At the Time of the Ebb (2022), and the Great Rivers Biennial (2020), featuring Kahlil Robert Irving, Tim Portlock, and Rachel Youn; co-curated Shara Hughes: On Edge (2021); and has programmed CAM’s Street Views outdoor video projection series with exhibitions by Jonathas de Andrade, Oliver Laric, Jennifer West, and Marina Zurkow. Prior to CAM, Jeffereis was Curatorial Associate at the Walker Art Center. Jeffereis has served on juries for apexart, Association of Art Museum Curators, Bemis Center for the Arts, Center for Maine Contemporary Art Biennial, Harpo Foundation, New American Paintings, Socrates Sculpture Park, the South Bend Museum of Art Biennial, Springfield Art Museum, and The Luminary’s Futures Fund. In 2021-22 she participated in the Association of Art Museum Curators Mentorship Program. She is on the board of Gallery 210 at University of Missouri at St. Louis, and the board of Midwest Artist Project Services, an organization that serves and empowers artists, collectives, and arts organizations in the Midwest. Jeffereis holds a Masters in Art History from Hunter College in New York.

ABOUT THE ANDERSON:
Formerly known as the Anderson Gallery, The Anderson reopened its doors in 2017 as VCUarts’s student-centric exhibition space. Focusing on creative engagement and discovery, The Anderson is a laboratory where students can experiment with conceptual and practical strategies of art making and display.

POSTER DESIGNED BY NNEOMA NJOKU