Freeport Art Museum 21st Regional Juried Show > Register & Apply

CALL FOR ARTISTS

21st Regional Juried Exhibition

Freeport Art Museum - Freeport, Illinois

  • Exhibition Dates: May 10th, 2025- July 19th, 2025
  • Opening Reception: Saturday, May 10th, 5 - 8 PM
  • Applications are due March 3rd, 2025
  • Acceptance Notification March 20th, 2025
  • Up to four artworks may be submitted by each artist. ($45 for up to four works. $35 for museum members)
     

This annual competition is open to artists living in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The Freeport Art Museum's annual Regional Juried Exhibition (RJE) mission is to offer established and emerging artists the opportunity to debut work created in the last two years. Opening on Saturday, May 10, 2025, the show runs through July 19, 2025. As FAM has gained a distinguished reputation for displaying a wide range of contemporary art, this exhibition has become a visitor's favorite. Each year, FAM invites a new juror to select approximately 50 artworks for inclusion, and to give awards for first, second, third place, and honorable mention. Award winners are announced at the opening reception. The awards are 1st place $300, 2nd place $200, 3rd place $100, and honorable mention.
The museum retains 10% of the sales price of work sold while on exhibit during the Regional Juried Exhibition. 

This year's juror is Rodrick Whetstone.

Rodrick Whetstone (he/him/his) is a small-town guy from, northern Illinois, who resides in St. Louis, Missouri. Born in 1977, he grew up the eldest son of five siblings. Rodrick studied and earned a Master of Fine Arts from The University of Iowa in 2012. Rodrick is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design teaching in the Department of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Rodrick is a lover of the arts in many of its mediums. Even though he is a graphic designer, his endeavors reach out to fine art, letterpress, silk-screening, animation, and abstracted art made by a wearable movement tracker.

Currently, he is pushing boundaries beyond his comfort level of design to bring attention to social issues. He does this by focusing his concentration on a series of 24 x 36 posters that help bring awareness to police brutality against people of color. Rodrick encourages the public to challenge their preconceived notions, provoke thought, and engage in dialogue. His approach features a combination of striking visuals and bold lettering that communicate the message clearly and effectively. Working closely with his student protégé, Rodrick hopes to have meaningful dialogue on this sensitive issue and stir thought and conversation. He looks forward to continuing to create projects that highlight challenging topics with intentional and powerful visuals.

IF YOUR WORK IS SELECTED:

Acceptance Notification March 20th, 2025

Delivery Dates: Thursday, April 17th, 2025 - Saturday, April 26th, 2025 during regular museum hours.

Pickup Dates: July 23rd - July 30th during regular museum hours.

  • All works must have been completed within the last 2 years.
  • Works previously exhibited at the FAM are ineligible.
  • Accepted works must remain on display for the duration of the exhibition.
  • Works not-for-sale will be listed as NFS, but they must still include a value for insurance purposes.

 

EXHIBITION SPECIFICATIONS

  1. Artwork is installed by FAM staff. Works requiring special installation, including 2D larger than 5ft. and 3D over 100 lb., are welcome but must be approved before they are submitted.
  2. 2D work must be ready to hang. Works on paper must include an appropriate hanging device. Do Not Use Sawtooth Hangers. Non-traditional forms of presentation must be communicated to the director of exhibitions and accompanied by detailed instructions.
  3. FAM will insure the selected works at fair market value while on the museum premises, beginning from the delivery dates throughout the pickup dates.
  4. Artists are responsible for insurance while the works are in transit. SHIPPING AND DELIVERY
  5. Artists are expected to include a typed label identifying the Title, Artist’s full name, and Media. All packaging must also have labels to match the artwork it belongs to.
  6. Artists who are notified of their acceptance into the exhibition will receive an exhibition contract with their notification email. This contract must be completed and presented to museum staff when the work is delivered.
  7. Accepted works may be delivered or shipped to FAM in order to arrive between April 17th and April 26th during regular museum hours. (See museum hours)
    Shipped works must arrive in a reusable shipping container. A pre-paid return shipping label and the completed exhibition contract must arrive with the work.
  8. Accepted works must arrive by 5 pm on Saturday, April 26th, 2025 unless pre-approved by FAM Staff.
  9. All shipping and or transit costs are the artist's responsibility.
  10. Please contact FAM with questions or concerns.


Applications for RJE21  are due March 3rd, 2025

Steps To Get Started

  1. Click “register” at the top right corner to create an account on ArtCall. Fill in all specified information including your first and last name, email, and password. Once you have registered, click “login” to submit entries to our call.
  2. Log in to your account and you will see a button that says “add new application.” Click to add. Remember: you will need to add a new application for each piece of work you plan on submitting. Think of applications as individual submissions.
  3. After adding a new application, you will see several blank fields that say “category, sub-category, title, and dimensions.” Using the drop-down menu for “category” and “sub-category”, choose the categories that best describe your artwork. Each category will have at least one sub-category. You may only select one sub-category per entry. If there is only one sub-category, please select that sub-category. In the field that says “title”, please put the title of your work, your last name, and RJE21 as in the following example: A Long Way Home_Jones_RJE21
  4. Below the blank fields, you will see a box where you can add images of your artwork. You may submit four artworks. (Again: Each submission is a new Application.) Please submit no more than 1 image of each 2D artwork and 2 images of each 3D artwork. Submission attachments must be under 4mb and a maximum of 4800px on the longest side. All artwork must be original and completed within the last two years.
  5. Once you have filled in all information and added images of your artwork, click “submit.” Please only give title, dimensions, and media. You will have the ability to edit your application after submission until the due date, March 3rd, 2025.
  6. Once your application is submitted, it will be blind juried by a juror chosen by the staff of the Freeport Art Museum. You will receive a notification email after final decisions have been made on March 20th.

User Entry Process Tutorial

Here is a tutorial that takes you step-by-step through the application process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7QnOh5WBhM&t=7s

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the application process or your application, please contact the Freeport Art Museum at (815)235-9755 or email us at info@freeportartmuseum.org.