For our October 2026 exhibit, we invite artists to respond to the four themes in the traditional Victorian rhyme, "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue". The origin of this familiar wedding poem represented a source of magical charms used to ward off evil and protect future generations. What could these words possibly mean right now - in a world of cultural recycling, generative AI, overwhelming tech capital, political and ecological anxiety, loneliness, isolation and the existential fear of the future?
OLD: History, tradition, nostalgia, forgotten / rediscovered stories, memories that reemerge, objects that reappear from the past. NEW: An experiment. A new medium to work in. A new approach, a new way of thinking, a new collaboration, "a new path to the waterfall".* BORROWED: Found material, borrowed identities, inspirations from channelled entities, ideas inspired by cultural interactions, imagining art created by one's alter ego.
BLUE: The color itself, sadness, longing, distance, water, sky, bruises, dreams, loss, hope. Whatever blue means to you. We look forward to seeing your response to one or all of these categories with your new or existing work. We are especially interested in work that is personal, strange, uncomfortable, beautiful, experimental, craft or concept oriented (or both) or simply difficult to categorize. *Raymond Carver. Winner will receive a cash award of $300. Two additional artists will receive honorable mentions from the juror.