The Call for Artist Entries is now open for FUNERIA's 5th biennial international Ashes to Art® competition to present the most original and superbly crafted contemporary funerary urns and personal memorial art being made by artists and designers today. The exhibition opens with a catered reception under a full moon on Saturday, October 23, 2010 at Art Honors Life®--FUNERIA's Northern California gallery. The exhibition will also be presented online to engage registered site visitors in voting for a People's Choice Award-winning work.
Gallery & Online Exhibition Opens: October 23, 2010
Gallery Exhibition Closes: December 18, 2010
People's Choice Award Announced: December 19, 2010
Online Exhibition Concludes: October 23, 2011
Venue: Art Honors Life® | The Gallery at FUNERIA
Graton, Sonoma County, California
Download Prospectus & Rules of Entry
The competition is open to artists and design teams worldwide working in all sculptural media. Eminently qualified jurors will choose finalists from digital entries that demonstrate new, original, evocative, beautifully crafted objects that are intended to contain all, or a portion, of an individual's cremated remains, or that can otherwise be used to celebrate a unique life. A Best of Show cash award, additional cash and non-cash prizes will be selected. A printed catalogue will be available. Additional rules and opportunities are described in the downloadable Prospectus. The entry processing fee is $45 for 1-3 entries. Two additional detail images per entry are allowed at no cost. An online entry process will be added to FUNERIA's website in the next several weeks. Mail-in entries can be posted anytime up to the August 9, 2010 deadline. Questions should be emailed to arthonorslife@funeria.com.
The pioneering funerary arts agency and "the nation's first art gallery dedicated to cremation urns and personal memorial art" (NY Times, 1/18/07) have been featured prominently in The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Financial Times, The New York Times, on CNN, NBC, on KQED public television's "California Report" and in additional print, broadcast and online media from Australia to Belgium since the first Ashes to Art® show opened in 2001 at San Francisco's historic Fort Mason Center. Art Honors Life® is located 1 hour north of San Francisco in the midst of Northern California's premier vineyard region and 20 minutes inland from the spectacular Pacific coast.
FUNERIA continues to inspire and pioneer an expanding contemporary funerary art movement
FUNERIA's Ashes to Art® competitions and exhibitions have established a special niche in contemporary funerary art since their 2001 debut. They are credited with redefining the role and aesthetics of what have typically been uninspiring urns to contain cremated remains. They have opened new opportunities for artists to show and sell their work and they've helped the public broach a difficult subject in the most gentle, often charming, frequently provocative and always meaningful way. Through its exhibitions and leadership in a still-emerging contemporary funerary art genre, FUNERIA engages artists in issues that are timely and compelling.
Apart from asking artists to fashion beautiful, original and finely crafted work, Ashes to Art® exhibitions also present artists working in all media--clay, metal, glass, wood, stone, fiber, mixed media, biodegradable and innovative materials--with an opportunity to consider their larger role in contemporary culture by responding to questions such as these:
* We know something about early cultures because we've studied their burial sites. How long is an urn expected to hold its contents before disappearing into the earth, water or air? What will our personal memorials and end-of-life practices tell future generations about us? If we want our bodies and ashes to dissolve into the natural environment over time in a biodegradable medium, is there one unique and artful object that will remain to stand in for us when we're no longer here to speak for ourselves?
* More than 50% of all cremation urns are kept at home, at least for awhile. Nearly 60% of respondents age 55 and older in a new funeral industry survey said that they will choose cremation for themselves. An older survey revealed that nearly 40% of respondents would like their ashes scattered. What kind of beautiful objects can survivors use in performing this task comfortably, and in a meaningful way?
* While many cremation urns will be buried or placed in a columbarium niche, what if there is no site to visit, or surviving family and friends are far away when it's time to celebrate, honor and memorialize ancestors and loved ones? What ritual objects and interactive processes can artists create or interpret in fresh and mindful ways that will help individuals and families connect with their past, present and future?
ABOUT FUNERIA®
FUNERIA was founded in 2000 and remains the only arts agency and exhibitions organizer of its kind. It is the world's leading resource for original, contemporary, museum-quality funerary urns, vessels and personal memorial artworks made by established and emerging artists. FUNERIA® artworks are promoted and sold through its website, retail gallery, wholesale showroom, and forward-thinking funeral service providers worldwide. FUNERIA is the founder and organizer of the precedent-setting and highly acclaimed Ashes to Art® juried exhibitions of funerary artworks that continue to set new quality and aesthetic standards in how we honor a life well-lived.
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