Confluence Gallery presents: Shifting Baselines: “The New Normal”
Curated by Dan Brown, Michael Azzano and Jennifer Molesworth: 
Our world is under constant change. One human tendency, however, is a short sightedness of the severity of this change. Both environmentally and socially, we see the world through the eyes of a single generation. While we reminisce of the “good old days”, pass down family knowledge and tradition, the majority of us only really see what’s right in front of us. Our baseline for “normal” has shifted to our current viewpoint.
The term shifting baselines refers to the comparing of a current state to a previous baseline which may or may not have been the proper baseline. For example fishery managers have been able to double the population of salmon in the Columbia River system since the 1930’s. The problem is that 1930’s population of salmon was only about 10% of the 1800’s population. What we see in our lifetime is our new normal, but may be a situation worse than the past or better than the past. The concern is that we come to consider the situation in our lifetimes as normal and the next generation does the same and a slow steady degradation is allowed to occur.
The Main Street of our childhood may have been quite different from today. Dominated by Mom and Pop shops, Main Street was the place of pet stores, hardware stores and bakeries. Today our children see a very different version of this small town icon. Much of Main Street has been abandoned to capitalize on highway traffic, big box stores and fast food chains dominate the landscape. Starbucks is the neighborhood coffee shop and media is consumed via wifi, twitter, facebook and hashtags. While not all variety is gone – our children perceive a very new normal.
Another thought: The last passenger pigeon died in 1914 – down from numbers that once darkened the sky. It is hard to imagine so many birds in the sky at once.
Dear Artists;
We hope you will take this opportunity to create work that represents shifting baselines and the new normal. Please write a short paragraph about the change you have observed, what baseline you are using, and if you perceive the change as positive or negative. Perhaps make suggestions for improvement. These will be included as part of the show and displayed by your work.
Possibilities for the art include: The Methow Valley , then and now. This can apply to any of your favorite places. Apply it to wildlife, plants , or our human population. It could apply to modes of transportation or communication. Feel free to reflect on personal, cultural and/or environmental change – what was, what is, and what could be.
We invite you to submit up to 5 original pieces in any medium, any size. However, please note the curator(s) have the right to refuse work , even after work is delivered to the gallery, if it does not contribute to the direction, cohesiveness, or available space of the show. We are looking for high quality execution and thoughtful content that contribute to the vision of the show as stated above.
**Each piece will require a paragraph explaining the piece and it's relation to the theme of the show or it will not be hung.**
Requirements:
Contact us with intent to exhibit by December 1, 2014
Submit high quality Jpegs of work or work in progress by March 1, 2015 (for marketing materials)
Email Artist Statement for EACH piece (include title) by March 15(in email or word doc only, no pdf's or handwritten statements please).
Submit Completed works, Bio, Inventory Sheet and Confluence Gallery Contract by Sunday, April 11, 2014
All works must be for sale.
All submissions must be your original works (you may submit prints for sale as long as they accompany the original work) and never previously shown in the Methow Valley area.
Please feel free to email us directly at salyna@confluencegallery.com or call the Confluence Gallery at (509) 997-2787 if you have any questions about the show or the requirements. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
No comments:
Post a Comment