Castles in the Sky: 2nd Annual Juried Art Exhibition

By Hill-Stead Museum Upcoming Exhibitions November 6, 2024

Castles in the Sky
2nd Annual Juried Art Exhibition at Hill-Stead Museum

About the Exhibition

The phrase “air castle” appears just once in Theodate Pope’s diaries, as she emerges from adolescence and is on the brink of womanhood, while still living in Cleveland, Ohio and before she enrolled in Miss Porter’s School in Farmington in the fall of1886. It was a defining period of her life that would eventually bring her family to this central Connecticut village. The diary passage foretells what her life would become. Theodate’s girlhood daydream of living on a farm in the east became a reality with her design of Hill-Stead for her parents in 1901. Once a 250-acre estate rooted in the principles of the Progressive Era, the concept of “gentleman farmer” and experimental agriculture became a model dairy farm, and later, under her “gentlewoman farmer” guidance, continued to thrive. As Theodate matured her long-ago idea to bring poor children to live with her evolved into her becoming guardian to three orphaned boys who she raised has her sons. Theodate’s philanthropy toward her adopted state and hometown, in part, grew as well from her teenaged musing. “Air castles” is the theme of this year’s exhibition. What is your dream, musing, fantasy brought to life in your artmaking?

Ready to submit your work? CLICK HERE.

Not a member and want to participate? JOIN NOW.

Castles in the Sky Info Sheet

Michèle Wije - Juror

Michèle Wije has been

responsible for organizing and managing several domestic and international exhibitions for The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Federation of Arts. She recently curated the exhibition, Whitfield Lovell:

Passages, that traveled to six venues across the United States and, this summer, co-curated Lee Krasner: Geometries of Expression for the Ogunquit Museum of Art in Maine. As the curator of the Katonah Museum of Art, Wije created groundbreaking shows including, Sparkling Amazons: Abstract Expressionist Women of the 9th St, Show and Bisa Butler: Portraits which traveled to the Art Institute in Chicago. Wije began her career in the Modern and Contemporary Art Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she specialized in twentieth century European Modernism with a focus on German art. She has organized several international loan exhibitions including the award winning, Glitter and Doom: German Portraits of the 1920s as well as Rooms with a View: The Open Window in the 19th Century, Humor and Fantasy: The Berggruen Paul Klee Collection, Max Beckmann in New York, Marsden Hartley’s Maine, Edvard Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed, Obsession: Nudes by Klimt, Schiele and Picasso from the Scofield Thayer Collection and Lucio Fontana. On the Threshold. Wije is now responsible for exhibitions and curatorial affairs at the Yale University Art Gallery. She has published widely on art, is a US member of the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art (AICA-USA) and holds a PhD in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

Important Dates

October 7, 2024: Submissions begin on CaFÉ
March 28, 2025: Deadline for submissions on CaFÉ
April 15: Notification on CaFÉ and hillstead.org
April 30: Receiving of accepted works, 10 am-12pm, 4-6 pm at Hill-Stead
May 7: Deadline for shipped artwork
May 15 - June 29, 2025: Duration of exhibition
May 31: Reception and Awards Ceremony, 4-6pm at Hill-Stead
June 29 (Sunday): Close of exhibition
July 7-9, 2025: Pick-up of displayed works, 1-5pm at Hill-Stead

Prizes

First Prize: $750
Second Prize: $500
Third Prize: $250
Juror's Award: $100
Theodate's Choice: $100

Guidelines for Artwork

Up to three works per artist may be submitted.
A maximum of one work per artist may be selected.
All two-dimensional work must be framed and/or ready for installation with hanging hardware, wire, or d-rings already installed on work and the entire work must not exceed 60 inches in any dimension. The work cannot exceed 50 pounds. Pieces without hanging hardware will not be included in the exhibition.
Three-dimensional work cannot exceed 48 inches in any dimension and should be accompanied by a pedestal/or be ready for display as a freestanding or self-containing work. The work cannot exceed 100 lbs.
Hill-Stead Museum will not accept installations due to space constraints.
The Museum prohibits glitter, wet paint, sharp objects, open flames, balloons, spray (perfumes, hairsprays, etc), dangerous chemicals, weapons, pressurized containers, plants or animals (alive or dead), hazardous materials (explosive, flammable, or perishable), decaying materials (mold or insect infestation), or anything deemed harmful to the Museum’s collection.

If there are questions about this please contact Melanie Bourbeau, Senior Curator, at [email protected]
or (860) 677-4787, ext. 122.

Important Information

Eligibility: National and International artists 18 years or older with current Hill-Stead Museum membership. Original works accepted in all media.

Entry Fee: A $20.00 entry fee will be charged for the first piece submitted and $10.00 per piece after that up to a total of three total works submitted. Check, Visa, Discover, or Mastercard will be accepted through the CaFÉ website.

Submission: Hill-Stead Museum will only accept submissions through CaFÉ before the submission deadline of March 28, 2025. CaFÉ is an online application and jury management system for calls for entry. To submit artwork visit: Call for Entry Online Submission

Membership: You must have a current Hill-Stead Museum Membership to be eligible to submit your work. If you are not a current member, the Museum reserves the right to remove your work from the jurying process with the loss of entry fees as a result. For membership information, please contact Megan Olver at [email protected] or (860) 677-4787, ext. 181 or go to hillstead.org/membership on the homepage before accessing CaFÉ.

Selected Works: Selected works must be delivered ready to hang/display. Artworks considered unsuitable for hanging/presentation will be refused. Curatorial staff reserves the right to refuse an artwork that is misrepresented through documentation or is not the piece selected by the juror.

Shipped Artworks: The deadline for receipt of shipped artwork is May 7, 2025. If work is not at Hill-Stead by May 7, 2025, we reserve the right to not include it in the exhibition. Any artwork being shipped must include return postage/shipping fee that must be received before the end of the exhibition (June 29, 2025). In the case of inadequate or nonexistent return postage, works will be considered abandoned property and disposed of as the Hill-Stead sees fit. All artwork should be packaged in a manner that will allow for the materials to be re-used for return shipping. Otherwise please include materials for return packaging. Please do not ship artwork with packing peanuts.

Liability: Hill-Stead Museum will not be responsible for any damage whatsoever, before, during, or after the exhibition. No works will be released without proper identification. Any work not picked up by the dates noted above will become property of the Museum and will be considered abandoned property and disposed of as Hill- Stead Museum sees fit.

Sales: We encourage the sale of artwork; however, work does not have to be for sale if selected for the exhibition. Hill-Stead will not deduct a commission for any sale of work in the exhibition. Hill-Stead will not serve as a third party for sales; we will provide artist contact information to any individuals inquiring about purchases.