Artist Opportunities

Description

The City of Chandler is looking for eight Arizona-based artists or artist teams to create digital artwork that will be printed and installed on metal traffic control cabinets along Frye Road. Frye Road serves as Chandler’s cultural corridor, providing a key connection from the Chandler Museum and Chandler Fashion Center to bustling Downtown. While the City is primarily seeking digital illustrations, original work by photographers, painters, drawers, printmakers, and other 2D artists will also be considered.

For this project, selected artists or artists teams will work with an ASU student or students to come up with a concept and hone the idea into a final design. Artists will be supported by ASU staff and are expected to meet with students in-person at the ASU Chandler Innovation Center on two different occasions for brainstorming and design finalization. Preference will be given to artists who have not completed a traffic control box for the City of Chandler in the past.

Cabinet dimensions are on the following pages. Artwork should be designed to fully cover all faces of the cabinets and will be installed using vinyl adhesive wraps. Selected artists will be paid a stipend of $1,500 per box, which will cover all design costs. Production and installation costs will be covered by the City.

This is a request for qualifications, not a request for proposals. We are only requiring examples of past work. The eight selected artists will be given additional information before submitting designs.

Qualification submissions are due by noon on Monday, August 4, 2025, and can be submitted digitally via the webform found here: https://forms.gle/9EEHz2P4KkgSpwvo8

Submission Criteria – All entries must include:

1. Current contact information, including email and phone number
2. Digital Images: Up to 5 images can be submitted per artist or team of past completed projects. All images should be 1500 – 2000 pixels in the longest direction.

In one document:

3. A current resume or curriculum vitae (CV) including artist(s) accomplishments. Resume or CV should not exceed 2 pages per artist team member. If a resume is not available or does not accurately represent your qualifications, please submit a list of your artistic accomplishments. Please note, no previous public art experience is required to participate in this opportunity.
4. Optional – an introduction not to exceed 500 words explaining your previous completed projects (if applicable) and any inspirations you will draw on for this project.
5. A corresponding image list with all pertinent information is also required. Image list should include size, date completed, and materials used.

Selection Process and Schedule

All artist submissions will be reviewed by the City of Chandler Arts Commission. All entries must be submitted by noon on Monday, August 4, 2025. The City anticipates selecting eight artists/artist teams for this project. The projected timeline for this RFQ is as follows:

August 4                                Submission deadline

August 18                              Selected artists notified

September – October          Contract finalized / Meet with ASU students

November                             Designs finalized

December                              Production/Installation

January                                  Celebratory event

Submission Delivery Details

Submissions must be received by noon on Monday, August 4, 2025. Submissions must be sent digitally via the webform found here: https://forms.gle/9EEHz2P4KkgSpwvo8

Any incomplete submissions will be rejected.

Approximate Traffic Control Cabinet Dimensions  

• Front/Back: 56.25″ high, 44.25″ wide
• Sides: 56.25” high, 26.5” wide

Contact: Vision Gallery staff, at 480-782-2695 or [email protected]

Interested, but need more information? Does this sound daunting? Visual Arts Staff Peter and Hanley are happy to answer any questions you have, go over your submission info with you, and provide feedback. Please do not hesitate to reach out.

Description
“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Terre des Hommes (published in English as Wind, Sand and Stars)

With the constant onslaught of news media around us, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and disconnected from the world around us. As a respite from these intense narratives, exploring minimalism through art offers a refreshing Palette Cleanser, inviting us to reflect on simplicity in a chaotic world.

Simplicity reveals a profound beauty, as it strips away extraneous details to reveal clarity in your artistic thought, design and execution. Maybe your best work is known for its clean lines or its geometric shapes. Do you use a limited or monotoned color palette? Does negative space play a big role in your art? Is your quilt stitching stripped down to the essential shapes needed to highlight and emphasize your design? Perhaps you’re pushing the craft forward by making modern interpretations of traditional quilt blocks or by creating three-dimensional sculptures from quilts that result in spare and elegant forms.

However you use minimalism in your art quilts, we want to see your submissions for the 30th Annual Art Quilt exhibition. Practicing the art of reduction requires a deep understanding of your subject, excellent technical mastery and the ability to identify the most crucial elements of the quilting craft to create dynamic emotional effects and leave a lasting impression in your viewers. Palette Cleanser celebrates the beauty of minimalism and encourages simplicity, clarity, and timelessness to create powerful, thought-provoking pieces.

About the Juror
Susan Allred manipulates textiles and other fibers to explore the ways they affect and reflect our daily lives. Her work expresses her thoughts and feelings about society’s expectations for women, their bodies and their work. Her artistic process, which is lengthy and repetitive, becomes a meditation on “women’s work” — the painstaking labor, both mental and physical — that has historically been dismissed as merely decorative or utilitarian instead of as the product of a fertile, creative minds. By transforming quilts into non-functional sculptural works that invite viewers to think about concepts that may be controversial, Allred questions the notion that crafts cannot be used to create fine art while also commenting on the invisibility of women’s labor.

Allred’s work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions, most recently in a two-person show at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum. She was an artist member at Eye Lounge contemporary art space and served as co-president for two years. Allred lives and works in Tempe, Arizona.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
For a $20 fee, artists may submit up to 3 works for consideration. Please follow these instructions:

1.  Complete artist submission form
   a. Please complete the online submission form with all of the information relevant to your submission including contact and title card information. You will need the following: title, medium, year created, and sales price for all three artworks, images, and an artist statement with any information you think will be relevant to the juror. When pricing your work, please keep in mind the gallery’s 50% sales commission.
2. Access the form here: https://forms.gle/t2jfaRQhv7k1hZzh6
3. Payment: the $20 submission fee can be paid either online or by calling 480-782-2695. Submissions are considered incomplete until the submission fee has been paid.
   a. Pay online here: https://square.link/u/nER0usGO

QUILT DISPLAY
For ease of installation, please ensure your quilts have sleeves appropriate to their sizes. These sleeves should be large enough for 2-inch slats. If your piece has a hanging system other than a sleeve, please contact us prior to entering to ensure it will be compatible with the gallery’s hanging requirements. It is a great help to our installation staff if you include slats with your artwork that fit properly in relation to the length of your sleeves.
• Slats should NOT have a wire attached to them.
• Slats SHOULD have holes at both ends large enough for a nail to fit through. 

Please label slats and any packing material with artist name and artwork title.

EXHIBITION TIMELINE

Entries due: Monday, September 12, 2025 at midnight
Notification to artists: Late September
Work drop-off in person: October 27-30
Work shipped to gallery must arrive no later than Thursday, October 30th
Opening reception: Saturday, November 8, 4-6 pm
Show closes: Saturday, January 24, 2026
Work pick-up: Monday, January 26, 2026

ELIGIBILITY
All quilt artists are invited to enter. Collaborative work by two or more artists is also permitted. The works must not have been previously displayed at the Chandler Center for the Arts or Vision Gallery. Works should have been completed within the last three years. Both two and three-dimensional textile combinations will be accepted.

JURY FEE
There is a fee of $20 to enter up to 3 works. This fee is non-refundable.

SHIPPING/DELIVERY
All delivery and shipping costs are the responsibility of the artist. To ensure your shipping and insurance needs are met when we ship your artwork(s) back to you, we ask you to include a completed return label when you send work for installation. This helps us efficiently process shipping at the end of the show.  Art must be received by Thursday, October 30, 2025.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
Rules listed are for U.S. artists. While shipping costs remain the responsibility of the artist, accepted international entries are handled on an individual basis to assure an efficient and cost-effective delivery.

INSURANCE
Works are insured while on display at Vision Gallery for 50% of the retail price for the duration of the exhibition. All paperwork must designate whether an artwork is available for sale or is listed as NFS (not for sale), along with the insurance value.

SALES COMMISSION 
All artworks offered for sale are listed with a 50% commission, unless specified by the artist as not for sale. Commissions are paid in the month following the sale.

GALLERY HOURS
Vision Gallery is open 10AM – 5 PM Monday – Friday and 10 AM – 4 PM on Saturdays. Call 480-782-2695 for holiday hours.

CLOSE OF EXHIBIT

Artworks from local artists may be picked up on Monday, January 26. Non-local works will be shipped beginning the week following the close of the exhibition; see Shipping/Delivery for details. Accepted artists will be notified with more detailed instructions prior to the close of the exhibition.

QUESTIONS?
Contact staff at [email protected] or call us at 480-782-2695.

Installation view of the exhibition Concerned, but Powerless, by artist Safwat Saleem

Are you interested in showing your work at Vision Gallery or the Chandler Center for the Arts? We always accept exhibition proposals for both spaces and jury them on a rolling basis during the months of January and June. Please click the button below to access our submission form.

Interested artists are encouraged to contact gallery staff prior to submission with any questions they may have. Gallery staff can be reached at [email protected] and 480-782-2695.

Tips

• Incomplete and improperly formatted applications may not receive a response
• Small group exhibitions including 2-4 artists in different media organized around a common theme are more likely to be accepted than solo exhibitions. This benefits both the gallery and the artists as it attracts a wider variety of viewers, but still allows the artists to display a cohesive body of work, as opposed to individual objects.
• Solo artists may still apply, but will be considered for both group and solo exhibitions.
• The quality of your images matters. Make sure your photographs are in focus, well lit, and with a plain background. It is possible to take good photographs with your phone, but if you have a better option – use it! Here is a good tutorial for taking quality pictures of your artwork with a smartphone.
• We do not have a budget for shipping artwork. If you live outside of Arizona, it may be quite costly to get your artwork to and from the gallery.
• Take a look at our past exhibitions to get a feel for the kinds of shows we host.
• If your primary goal is selling artwork, we might not be the right gallery for you. Although we are thrilled when artwork sells, our focus is on hosting engaging, thought-provoking exhibitions for our community to enjoy and not commercial sales.