COOS HISTORICAL AND MARITIME MUSEUM CALL FOR ARTISTS

SUBMIT IMAGES OF FIVE WORKS, AS A PORTFOLIO, BY APRIL 25, 2014. DETAILS BELOW.

Major construction of the new multi-million-dollar waterfront Coos Historical & Maritime Center is in progress in downtown Coos Bay, Oregon, on Coast Highway 101.

This museum will be a cultural gathering place, presenting local history as a key to modern times through exhibitry, programs, and partnerships with other community groups. In its main Exhibit Hall, visitors will see exhibits continually created by museum staff and the community, working together to illuminate the fascinating, sometimes-hidden history of Oregon's South Coast. It will also be a hub for public and private events, and an engine for waterfront economic development.

Our goal is to represent South Coast history and community in an engaging, provocative, and honest way and, in so doing, create a contemporary and nationally recognized museum.

Visual artists of all disciplines are encouraged to join in our mission to create an experience for our community and visitors through creative works within and part of our planned exhibits (i.e., backdrops, photography and portraiture, videography, work depicting natural elements or people, sculptural objects, models and miniatures, glassworks, woodworks and carving, banners, pathways, weavings, artifact replications, etc.)

Works we will use may be realistic or representational, two-dimensional or sculptural, large or small. Your creative ideas and work could potentially fuel some of our design and exhibit ideas.

Selected artists will be working cooperatively with D. Jensen & Associates, an award-winning design team from Vancouver BC, and the Coos County Historical Society exhibits team, to help tell our stories in a visually stunning, creative, and moving way.

All work chosen will be commissioned. We consider this a major project and are prepared to devote substantial resources to it. Current budget for all commissioned artwork and production of artistic visual effects is $50,000 out of a $560,000 total current exhibit budget.

Final artwork in the exhibit will somehow reveal Oregon's South Coast. Artists will be short-listed based on the quality and thoughtfulness of their work and its potential for use in exhibitry.

Send, by April 25, 2014, a portfolio of five images of your work via mail (Coos County Historical Society, 1220 Sherman Ave., North Bend, OR 97459), or email (franksmoot@gmail.com) (25mb limit). If you have a website, we would love for you to provide the link; however, please also directly provide (by mail or email) five images that represent your work.

We will contact artists as we develop our content and find need.

All portfolios will be kept by the museum, as exhibits will change regularly to reflect our ever-changing community, and its relationship to our past, in a state-of-the-art manner.