Common Currents: Call for Entries

A Joint Exhibition of Work by Visual Artists from Northeast Ohio & Western New York

Cleveland and Buffalo have much in common, and not just their addresses on Lake Erie. These two once-thriving industrial cities are both engaged in a 21st-century reboot with the visual arts playing a key role in this renewal. The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve and the Burchfield Penney Art Center are collaborating to develop a joint exhibition of work by Western New York and Northeast Ohio artists that will be exhibited in Cleveland April 10 – June 21, 2025, and in Buffalo July 11, 2025 – November 2, 2025.

The Exhibition

The open-ended theme of Common Currents, references life, vitality, new eyes and new ideas, change, remediation, renewal, growth, and transformation not only in our environment but within our relationships and ourselves.

To be eligible, artists must be current residents of Northeast Ohio (Ashland, Ashtabula, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Holmes, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, and Wayne Counties) or a current resident of Western New York state (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, Wyoming, and Monroe Counties)

Entry Guidelines

All Western New York entries must be submitted through the Smarter Entry submission portal; Western New York artists must select Common Currents: Buffalo to Cleveland in the submission portal.

(Northeastern Ohio artists must select Common Currents: Cleveland to Buffalo)

Up to 5 digital images of work created within the last five 5 years may be submitted. Submissions should include an artist statement related to the submitted work and artist’s practice and a brief bio and a resume. Entries must be received by August 3, 2024, at 11:59PM. There is no entry fee. Late or incomplete entries will not be considered.

Format: 72 dpi jpegs at a maximum of 1,280 pixels on the longest side. Upload via Smarter Entry portal. Clearly identify each image with: artist’s name, title, date of work, medium, size in inches (height x width x depth) or length for film and video.

Selection Process

Initial Entries will be taken by digital submission, with final curation of the exhibition done by Grace Chin, Executive Director of the Sculpture Center in Cleveland and Kyle Butler, Assistant Professor of Fine Art at Villa Maria College in Buffalo. Chin will select initial submissions from the Western New York, and Butler will select initial submissions from the Northeast Ohio. The curators together will then decide on final artists and schedule studio visits in both cites to make a final selection of works for the exhibition.

The curatorial staff of the exhibiting institutions reserve the right to remove any work that is not in proper presentable condition. The selected work must be available for the duration of the exhibition. The artist cannot provide a substitute for selected work. By submitting to this call for work artists grant AAWR & the Burchfield Penney permission to include your name as part of future mailings and announcements. If you would prefer to NOT be included on our mailing list, please notify us in writing.

Grace Chin is Executive Director of the Sculpture Center in Cleveland with over twenty years of experience as a development professional, arts manager, practicing artist, and business owner.  She began her career in New York with the American Symphony Orchestra and also held positions with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, The Whitney Museum of American Art and a number of other organizations during her career. Grace also owns and manages her own business, designing jewelry collections that have been presented in nationally recognized craft galleries and juried art exhibitions.  Chin holds a Bachelor of Arts in studio art/sculpture from Dartmouth College, and a Master of Arts Administration from Columbia University.

Kyle Butler is a multi-disciplinary artist with a primary focus on two-dimensional works and periodic returns to sculptural installation.  Originally from Michigan, he has lived and worked in Buffalo since 2008.  He has exhibited widely in Western New York, including solo exhibitions at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo Arts Studio, Nina Freudenheim Gallery (which represented him from 2011 – 2020), and Raft of Sanity.  He has been in group exhibitions at the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, and more.  He has carried out large-scale performance and installation projects, including a spotlight project at Nuit Blanche in Toronto, Ontario in 2014, is a Franklin Furnace Fund grant recipient, and is in the collections at the Albright Knox, the Burchfield Penney, and numerous private collections.  He’s organized many exhibitions, including co-curating the series Amid/In Western New York at Hallwalls, and as curator at Starlight Studio and Art Gallery for their Side by Each series.  Butler is an Assistant Professor at Villa Maria College and a Teaching Artist at Starlight.