--- title: "Backwards/Forwards: A Call for Handmade Prints" description: Juried exhibition of handmade prints at Light Art Space, Silver City, New Mexico, on time, memory and inheritance. Juried by Terran J. Last Gun. $35 entry for three pieces. url: https://www.artsume.com/programs/236340d1-cf14-41f0-8b95-47484e26700e type: program status: closed createdAt: "2026-09-03" updatedAt: "2026-09-14" programType: Exhibition organization: Light Art Space organizationUrl: https://www.artsume.com/o/light-art-space deadline: "2026-09-13" entryFee: 35 USD location: Light Art Space, Silver City, NM, United States isOnline: false disciplines: - printmaking - photography - silkscreen - letterpress - calligraphy - etching - woodcut - lithography - linocut - drypoint - mezzotint - monoprint - cyanotype - photogravure --- # Backwards/Forwards: A Call for Handmade Prints **Hosted by:** Light Art Space **Type:** Exhibition | **Location:** Light Art Space, Silver City, NM, United States | **Deadline:** September 13, 2026 | **Entry fee:** $35 ## About This Program > "Time as material: memory, pressure, inheritance, repetition, rupture, and possibility" **Backwards/Forwards** invites artists to submit handmade prints that consider time as material, memory, pressure, inheritance, repetition, rupture, and possibility. Time may be experienced as linear, circular, layered, transparent, opaque, fragmented, geological, ancestral, intimate, political, or otherworldly. This exhibition asks artists to look both backward and forward: toward histories that shape us, futures we imagine or fear, and the present moment where those forces meet. As artists, how do we come to terms with our cultural past? What do we inherit, repeat, revise, resist, or transform? How do personal and collective histories surface through mark, matrix, impression, edition, erasure, pressure, layering, and touch? Possible Approaches: - Memory, ancestry, archive, family history, migration, or cultural inheritance - Environmental time, extinction, regeneration, seasons, land, weather, or geological change - The body over time: aging, healing, loss, endurance, repetition, ritual, or care - Political and social histories that continue to shape the present - Speculative futures, imagined worlds, warning signs, hopes, omens, or portals - Print processes that reveal sequence, layering, reversal, pressure, transfer, or trace **Submission Requirements** All entries must be handmade prints created by the artist using traditional printmaking and/or photographic processes and produced within the last 5 years. 3D and experimental work is encouraged. Any combination of processes may be employed including but not limited to silkscreen, letterpress, calligraphy, etching, woodcut, lithography, linocut, drypoint, mezzotint, monoprint, polymer plates, silver gelatin prints, photopolymer gravure, copperplate gravure, cyanotype, vandyke, gumbichromate, palladium, platinum, carbon, salt, chemigram, lumen, argrotype, oilprint, chlorophyll, instant transfers, and lifts. Digital processes may be included when they are meaningfully integrated with handmade printmaking methods. AI-generated and purely digital prints are not eligible. Work needs to arrive at the gallery ready to hang, but framing is not required. Magnets, clips, and other methods can be used. **Location:** Light Art Space, 209 West Broadway, Silver City, NM 88061 ### 2026 Timeline - **October 8th – November 7th, 2026** - Exhibition Dates - **September 13th, 2026, midnight Mountain Time** - Submission Deadline - **September 16th** - Notification of accepted entries - **September 30th** - Accepted works must be received - **October 8th** - Backwards/Forewards opens - **October 9th, 5 - 7 pm** - Public Reception - **October 9th - 12th** - Southwest Print Fiesta - **November 7th** - Exhibition closes - **November 9th - 13th** - Return shipment of unsold work ### Juror Biography Terran J. Last Gun, Saakwaynaamah'kaa (Last Gun), (b. 1989, Browning, MT) is an enrolled Piikani citizen and visual artist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Piikani Nation (Spotted Robes) of Montana, also called the Blackfeet or Amskapi Piikani (Southern), are one of the four nations that comprise the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy; Siksika, Kainai, Piikani or Apatohsi Piikani (Northern) nations are each located in Alberta, Canada) and are collectively known as the Blackfoot People or Niitsitapi (Real People). Born and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation, Last Gun's work centers around the process of color exploration and visual documentation of nature, cosmos, cultural narratives, and personal experiences. Often employing geometric aesthetics, he is contributing to an ancient Niitsitapi North American narrative. He has exhibited at venues including the SITE Santa Fe (Santa Fe, NM), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM), Glacier Art Museum (Kalispell, MT), Missoula Art Museum (Missoula, MT), Bates Museum of Art (Lewiston, ME), Newberry Library (Chicago, IL), Museum of the Plains Indian (Browning, MT), Contemporary at Blue Star (San Antonio, TX), Zimmerli Art Museum (New Brunswick, NJ), and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass Village, CO) among others. Last Gun received his BFA in Museum Studies and AFA in Studio Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2016. He has received awards from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation 2024 Biennial Award, First Peoples Fund 2020 Artist in Business Leadership Fellowship, and the Santa Fe Art Institute 2018 Story Maps Fellowship. Last Gun was named one of the 2022 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now in Southwest Contemporary, and most recently was named one of the Art in America 2026 New Talent 20 Artists to Watch. ### Application Requirements Upon submission, the artist agrees to fulfill deadlines and cover return shipping costs and labels. FedEx is our preferred shipping method, and double boxing is recommended. No peanuts, please. **Fees & Shipping Entry fees:** $35 for three pieces. Additional pieces $10 per piece. 10 images maximum. Full-time Student discount: $20. Use code Student. For entries selected for the Backward/Forewards exhibition, the artist is responsible for shipping and insurance of the accepted work to and from the exhibition. The artist will supply installation materials if a unique installation is required. Hand delivery and pickup are also accepted by appointment. Shipped works must be sent in an easily reusable container/packaging **and must include prepaid return shipping and insurance**. ### Eligibility Criteria - The Exhibition is open to all artists 18 years and older, residing in the United States and internationally. - Accepted entries must remain in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition. Light Art Space retains 50 percent of the total sale price. - All works must have been completed in the last 5 years. ## Eligibility & Requirements - **Geographic Eligibility:** International - **Disciplines:** printmaking, photography, silkscreen, letterpress, calligraphy, etching, woodcut, lithography, linocut, drypoint, mezzotint, monoprint, cyanotype, photogravure - **Age Requirements:** 18+ years old - **Note:** The Exhibition is open to all artists 18 years and older, residing in the United States and internationally. All works must have been completed in the last 5 years. All entries must be handmade prints created by the artist using traditional printmaking and/or photographic processes; digital processes may be included when meaningfully integrated with handmade printmaking methods, but AI-generated and purely digital prints are not eligible. Accepted entries must remain in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition, and Light Art Space retains 50 percent of the total sale price. ### Additional Requirements Submit 3 to 10 images of handmade prints created by the artist within the last 5 years. Entry fee $35 for three pieces, $10 for each additional piece, 10 images maximum. Full-time student discount $20 with code Student. Upon submission, the artist agrees to fulfill deadlines and cover return shipping costs and labels; shipped works must be sent in an easily reusable container/packaging and must include prepaid return shipping and insurance. FedEx is the preferred shipping method and double boxing is recommended; no peanuts. ## Compensation & Benefits Light Art Space retains 50 percent of the total sale price on works sold. The artist is responsible for shipping and insurance of accepted work to and from the exhibition, and must include prepaid return shipping and insurance. ## Timeline - **Opens:** July 9, 2026 - **Deadline:** September 13, 2026 - **Program Start:** October 8, 2026 - **Program End:** November 7, 2026 ## Contact **Email:** karen@lightartspace.com **Phone:** 575-574-8444 ## How to Apply Apply at: https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=17855