Local Art Seen: PLYS With Purpose @ the PROVE and a Call For Art

While downtown Tuesday eve I stopped in at the PROVE to check out their current show PLYS With Purpose, a silent auction of skateboards crafter by local and international artists. All proceeds directly benefiting the Gary New Duluth Skate Park. The artists in this show were selected not only for their art skills but also for their impact on skateboard communities or the influence of skateboard culture on their lives.

The skateboard decks are always impressive. It's also impressive how they've incorporated online opportunities into the auction mix. (Visit www.32auctions.com/plyswithpurpose2019)

The architect for the new skateboard park is Mark Leski, a nationally recognized skate park design known as "The Wizard."

THIS SHOW RUNS THROUGH JUNE 21
MORE PLYS BELOW THIS CALL FOR ART

CALL FOR ART

You Don’t Know Me

an exhibition about epic personal stories

You Don’t Know Me is an exhibition whose theme is inspired in part by the concept of “sonder,” a term invented by writer John Koenig and defined in his Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as complex as your own.” These lives--“populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness”-- continuously swirl around us as “epic stories,” that we move in and out of as we navigate the world around us.

Whether spoken in delight, anger, sadness, or as a simple matter-of-fact, “you don’t know me” is a statement that suggests the confrontation of humans’ inner and outer lives: what we do and do not know about the people around us, what we choose to reveal to others, and what we keep inside. At a time when the distance between human connections can seem exacerbated by technology, social differences, and our current political climate, Prøve Gallery invites artists to submit works of art that visualize--through representational, symbolic, and/or conceptual means--complex lives and epic stories in relation to, intersecting with, or distinct from your own. Show us what we may not know about you.

Selected artworks may explore (but are not limited to):
* Explorations of self & personal narratives or mythologies
* Human interconnectedness
* Empathy, understanding, & trust
* Connections & encounters among strangers or friends
* Isolation & distance
* Misconceptions
* Secrets & revelations

Specifications:
Open to all subjects and/or styles.
Open to all media that can be wall mounted. All works should be completed in a ready-to-hang format.
There are no size requirements or limitations beyond practical considerations of space (must fit through conventional door).

Submission
Deadline for submission is July 1, 2019 (midnight, central time).

HOW TO SUBMIT
Please email all submissions to info@provegallery.com with subject line: You Don't Know Me

Please submit (in one PDF document):

* Image(s) of Work

* Didactics [titles, medium, size, & price (if for sale)]

* A brief artist statement that answers the following question: How does your artistic work visualize, reveal, or even conceal the “epic story” of your life and its relationship to the epic lives that are playing out all around you?

All artists will be notified upon acceptance with a deadline of July 3, 2019.
Selected artwork is to be dropped off, or mailed in by Saturday, July 13, 2019.
Opening reception Friday, July 19, 2019.

All submission materials must be written in English.
All work is shown at the artist's own risk.
All work shipped to Prøve Gallery must be sent with return shipping or be picked up by the artist or an artist's representative.
--
Dr. Jamie L. Ratliff
she/her/hers

Board Member, Prøve Gallery
21 N Lake Ave
Duluth, MN 55802

jamie@provegallery.com

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