Residents of Union County who are 60 years of age or older are invited to exhibit an original work of art – completed within the last three years – in the annual Union County Senior Citizens Art Exhibit. Sponsored by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, the exhibit is open to entrants who are either amateur/non-professional or professional in status.
The Union County Senior Citizens Art Exhibit, which starts with an opening reception, will be on display from June 8 to July 16 at the spacious enclosed atrium of the Elizabethtown Gas Company, located at 1085 Morris Avenue in the Township of Union.
Any person who meets at least two of the following criteria is considered a professional: sold the type of art entered in the exhibition through commercial channels; exhibited in a professional gallery; and held professional membership in a guild or association.
Following are the 11 categories of eligible work: oil, acrylic, watercolor (includes gouache), pastel (including chalk, charcoal and oil pastel), print (such as etching, engraving, lithograph, woodcut, monoprint, monotype, silkscreen), drawing (including pencil, pen, ink, graphite, and markers), mixed media (combines two or more media, no one of which clearly predominates; includes collage and assemblage), sculpture (designed in three dimensions, carved or constructed in any medium, abstract or figurative, painted or unpainted), craft (one-of-a-kind creations only, no craft kits or molds), computer imagery (artwork created by computer only, using a pixel-based painting or graphics program, such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator or Corel Painter), and photography. Please note: photos taken by a digital camera, digitally-altered photos, and images made using a scanner must be entered in the Photography category.
Guidelines require that hanging artwork, crafts and photos must be no more than 36 inches and no less than 11 inches in height and width, including matting, from outer edges of the frame. Standing sculptures or 3-D crafts may not exceed 18 inches in height, width or depth, including the base. All works must be properly labeled and delivered “show-ready” with screw eyes ready for hanging. Where necessary, pictures must be protected with glass, Plexiglas, Mylar or other clear material. Plexiglas is strongly recommended on pieces over 24 inches.
Three professional artists will judge the entries. Awards will go to first, second, third place and honorable mention winners in each category. First place winners in all categories go on to compete in September at the New Jersey State Senior Art Show which will take place at the Meadow Lakes retirement community in East Windsor.
To obtain an application, call Teya David, Senior Art Coordinator, at the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs: 908-558-2550, or e-mail: culturalinfo@ucnj.org. Relay users dial 711.
Applications must be returned via mail to the Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, 633 Pearl Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07202; by fax to 908-352-3513; or by the e-mail address, on or before Monday, May 23, to be eligible.
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