Curated and Produced with Becky Nuttall to support the 2019 English Riviera UNESCO Global Geopark Festival.

The Moon is distant from the Sea –
And yet, with Amber Hands –
She leads Him – docile as a Boy –
Along appointed Sands –

Emily Dickinson.

Torre Abbey stands along Torbay’s appointed sands and within the Abbey’s galleries are the beautiful cartoons of The Planets, including the goddess Luna, by Edward Burne Jones, a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

In Torbay the pull of the moon controls the tides “with amber hands” and forms our extraordinary UNESCO Geopark, sustaining our fishing and tourism industries - amongst our local businesses is Arundal Astronautics, bridging the distance between us and the stars.

The planets, or the Seven Heavens in medieval cosmology, inspire poets and artists. In this exhibition visual artists, poets and the community are invited to submit works, stories and contemplations on this theme to contribute to a collective response to our unique situation.

Submissions

Through a selective call for art in 2019, creative and personal reactions are sought for curation into a collective response. Alongside this, reflections from resident communities have been invited to offer provocations and stimulus to inspire this creative production and form a part of the final collection.

It is the intention of the project to encourage a reflection on the impact of a landscape and atmosphere many may take for granted and through this apply a focus onto our UNESCO Global Geopark status and encourage awareness of and engagement with this designation.

Community Responses

Throughout January and February 2019, individuals, groups and communities were invited to respond to a call stimulus reflecting on life in Torbay, providing written, visual and audio submissions digitally. These responses will form a part of the final exhibition and are also distributed here as part of submission stimulus for the creatives call in the form of a media pack.

Community responses were curated and selected by the call producers. The intention of the call was to consider positive, honest responses about the place we live, that look at the real views of real people in these communities. However, the exhibition is intended to largely reflect positively and constructively on our environment. Negative responses were not excluded but were considered based on their balance or assessment of real challenge that our communities face.

Individuals who submitted community responses agreed that their submission may be used as stimulus for the production of work as part of the exhibition and therefore all content submitted as part of their response was licenced to Artizan Gallery and artists submitting responses to the creatives call solely for this purpose. This may include incorporation of the original material as part of the production of a new work. For example, an artist may choose to quote sections from a written response within a new representation.

Responses may have been submitted anonymously but for those that aren’t, artists are not obliged to credit the original source material when incorporating it into work. Where work is not submitted anonymously, first names will be provided alongside the submission within the media pack. The call producers will judge whether source material has been represented fairly and in the spirit of the call. Individuals submitting under the community call are prohibited from also submitting work under the creative call.

Creative Responses

Following the community call, artists and poets are invited to submit new and existing work which responds to the initial call stimulus and subsequent community responses which will be provided as a digital multimedia pack including visual, written and audio content. The media pack will also include statements from the call producers. (The media pack can be found here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1H7nG-fkyyiC-8zvHDOkZwSbhuiX-9vYO)

Artists and poets who submit creative responses will be licensed to use content within the media pack to influence or physically incorporate into their work. Borrowed content should be used respectfully and not misrepresented. Where this is used, artists will be required as part of the submission process to specify what content has been incorporated into their work. Artists are not required to credit individual submissions from the community responses in the work itself.

Selection and Deadlines

Final works will be selected by the Artizan Gallery Team, Becky Nuttall, Robert Garnham and a representative from the English Riviera UNESCO Global Geopark Management Group. Selected works will be exhibited at Artizan Gallery and the selected poets chosen for display at the gallery will have the opportunity to perform their work at the artist preview.

Submissions for the creative call will open on February 16th and close April 23rd. 

Sales, Commissions and Fees

The exhibition will be run as a commercial show and all works exhibited for sale are subject to a 30% commission fee. A small, simple, print anthology of written works will be produced and available to purchase for a small contribution. Submission fees are below and must be paid before the final deadline of April 23rd for your submission to be considered. 

Artist 2D/3D Work (for sale): £10.00 for the first work, £5.00 for additional works up to a maximum of 5 works.

Artist 2D/3D Work (not for sale): £10.00 for the first work, £5.00 for additional works up to a maximum of 5 works. If your work is selected there is an additional £5.00 fee per work if they are to be displayed NFS.

Poet: £3.00 per work, up to 2 works.

Additional Requirements

A complete submission consists of a fully completed booking form and the appropriate fee, as well as a signed copy of the terms and conditions.

Artwork Submissions

2D works can be up to 60x60cm to be considered as ONE work. Works up to 120x120cm will be considered as TWO works and require the associated fee.

3D works may be floor standing up to 100cm high or surface display up to 60cm high with a maximum footprint of 60x60cm. If you have a work which exceeds these dimensions it may still be considered, please get in touch before completing an application form.

Poetry Submissions

All poetry submissions must be provided in the following format:

• Typed in an editable word document
• All submissions should be submitted in ONE word document but should be on separate pages
• Font: Either Calibri (body) or Times New Roman, size 11
• Titles: Bold and underlined
• Line spacing: 0pt within stanzas, 8pt between stanzas
• Margins: No less than 2.5cm
• Individual works must be no longer than 40 lines
• We regret that we cannot accept paper submissions to this call. 
  
  

Dates: The exhibition will run from May 8th – May 31st.

Exhibition set-up will take place during May 6th and 7th and the final deadline to receive work is 5PM May 4th; works not received by this time will not be displayed and fees will not be refunded.

Exhibition takedown will be after 6PM May 31st and all works must be collected by June 3rd 5PM unless alternative arrangements are made; please note we will officially be closed between these two dates so you must pre-arrange your collection time with the gallery. T

he final deadline for applications is April 23rd. Applications will be confirmed between the dates of April 23rd and April 25th.

Payments: Fees can be paid by cheque made out to Artizan, by cash in person at Artizan Gallery, 7 Lucius Street, Torquay, Devon TQ2 5UW, or by BACS

Organiser Details

The exhibition is organised and curated by Artizan Gallery and Becky Nuttall.

Main Contact: Julie Brandon