Fronteer Gallery are putting together an exhibition of small works which will be called The Specimen Cabinet. The exhibition will be held in the Basement Exhibition Space.

OPEN CALL – The Specimen Cabinet

The Specimen Cabinet will be an exhibition of artworks inspired by medical, zoological or botanical specimens. We are looking for small works, A4 sized or smaller, on paper or thin card. Work should be UNFRAMED and will be hung using Command Strips. The exhibition will be held in the Basement Exhibition Space.

Artists are invited to submit up to 3 pieces of work piece of work for the exhibition. Please fill in a separate submission form for each piece of work. You may provide a short description of no more than 150 words for each work, but this will not be displayed alongside the work.

The exhibition will run for 5 weeks from Sunday 17th July – Thursday 18th August.  

The gallery is open Wednesdays - Saturdays.

Artists from all backgrounds are invited to submit up to three pieces of work each. It is free to apply with only successful artists paying a fee of £15 for each piece of work accepted.

In return for your fee, you will get a private view evening with free drinks which you are welcome to bring friends and family along to, and promotion of the exhibition online through social media posts.

The submission deadline is 14th June 2022 and successful artists will be contacted by 16th June.

Successful artists are welcome to send their work by post. Please note that it can only be sent using Royal Mail, and must the fit dimensions for a Royal Mail medium parcel or smaller. Due to Coronavirus restrictions only Royal Mail delivery personnel have access to the building where the post will be sent to. We cannot accept work sent by courier, including Parcelforce. Please note that the postal address is not the same as the gallery address. All work sent by post must reach us not later than 30th June 2022  

Artists are also welcome to deliver work in person to the gallery during gallery opening hours before 30th June 2022.

Successful artists should pay their £15 fee (per work) by 30th June 2022.

Work can be offered for sale during the exhibition, and there is a commission charge of 10%.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

How to Submit

Artists are invited to submit up to 3 pieces of work no bigger than A4 (29.7 x 21cm) on paper or thin card. Work should be unframed. Work can be smaller and any dimension, as long as it is less than A4 sized. All work should be light enough to be held in place with Command Strips for 5 weeks. You may submit up to 3 images of your piece of each work.

If you wish to submit more than one piece of work, please fill in a separate Curatorspace submission form for each piece of work.

If your work is selected for the exhibition you should include a stamped addressed envelope for return postage.

Work in this exhibition will be left unattended with no invigilation. The gallery will be staffed at all times when open to the public, although gallery staff will be upstairs in the main gallery space.

Your work will be sent back in the stamped addressed envelope you provide immediately after the exhibition has ended. If you do not include a stamped addressed envelope we will start to send post back from 21st September onwards. Please be aware that we charge a small handling fee on top of the price of postage for returning work that does not have a stamped addressed envelope provided.

If you want to collect your work in person, work can be collected on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th August ONLY.

At the end of the exhibition the gallery will be closed and then given over to another artist to host their own exhibition for up to 5 weeks while we (Fronteer) are away hosting an art fair in Chester. This means that all artwork from this exhibition will be removed from the gallery and safely stored elsewhere until 21st September, and artists will not be able to collect their work from the gallery between 21st August and 20th September.

Couriers cannot collect your work from the gallery.

All work must be complete at the time of submission. Any work which varies from the original piece submitted may be rejected. If you wish to submit any form of print, it will be your responsibility to print it off and prepare it for exhibition before delivering it to us.

Thank you and good luck!

Michael and Sharon (The Fronteer Team)