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2024 Season at Salem Arts

Salem Arts Association is excited to offer the following exhibition opportunities at our galleries. 

Please review our full exhibition guidelines and procedures

Retail Shop Inventory

All artist members of Salem Arts Association whose membership is current are invited to offer items for sale in our curated artisan shop. Items in the shop floor are separate from the exhibition inventory and available for sale. The shop is a great opportunity to offer your custom made items including fine art, ceramics, housewares, jewelry, cards, publications, fashion accessories, and gift items. 

Retail shop items may be dropped off during any scheduled gallery exhibit take in dates. 

Please review the retail shop guidelines and procedures 


Solo Show Opportunities at Salem Arts 


Salem Arts Association invites member artists to submit applications for solo exhibitions in 2024. Interested artists must submit an online proposal to be considered. Your proposal must include a detailed exhibition proposal. Artist bio and background, and examples of the work to be displayed. Selected artists will be featured in one of our exhibition galleries during one of our scheduled exhibitions. 

Apply Here


Exhibitions at Salem Arts 

Please review the call for art details and theme carefully. Selected exhibitions will be open to both members and non-member artists.

Master Circle Artist Members are able to submit one item free for each exhibition and will be featured in our year-end showcase exhibit. 

MARCH / APRIL

Call for Art: Spring Member Showcase

Welcome to a new year and a fresh perspective to all of our member artists!  The Spring Member’s Showcase is around the corner, and this is your chance to exhibit the projects and pieces you’ve been working on during our winter break.  This show is open themed - submit your best work and put that fresh face forward as we move into spring!

Eligibility: Artist Members Only

Submission Fee: $10 per item, Submit up to 3 items per artist (First item free for Masters Circle Members)


Take In: Sunday, February 25, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, March 1, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM
Exhibition Dates: March 2 – April 6, 2024
Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, April 7, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM


APRIL / MAY

Our Time on Earth

Call for Art: Our Time on Earth - 17th Annual Inspired by PEM Exhibition

Our 18th Annual PEM Inspirational Exhibition invites artists to take inspiration from the PEM exhibition “Our Time on Earth, on view at the Peabody Essex Museum February 17 through June 9, 2024.  From the PEM, “Part of PEM’s Climate + Environment Initiative, this traveling exhibition from the Barbican Centre in London celebrates the power of global creativity to transform the conversation around the climate emergency.”

 https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/our-time-on-earth 

We challenge our artists to really consider the materials used in pieces created for this exhibit - think about the environmental and climate impacts we make when we create our arts, and ways that we can lift the conversation around climate change and collapse. 

“This exhibition invites us to imagine ways that art, design and science together can help us envision a positive future for our planet,” said Jane Winchell, the Sarah Fraser Robbins Director of PEM’s Dotty Brown Art & Nature Center.

All local artists are invited to submit artwork for this exhibition that explores the themes of our harmonious coexistence with science, nature, sustainability, and the world around us.


Eligibility: Open Exhibit - Salem Arts Association Artist Members and Non-Member Artists.


Submission Fees: 

Salem Arts Members $10 per item (First item free for Masters Circle Members)
Non-Members $15 per item

Submit up to 3 items per artist


Take In: Sunday, April 7, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, April 12, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM

Exhibition Dates: April 13 – May 18, 2024

Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, May 19, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

APRIL / MAY

Call for Art: Minimalism

A form of abstract art that came about in the 1950’s in the US and spread worldwide, minimalism was best described as art with no subtext or, “What you see is what you get.”  Salem Arts Association invites our artist members to present the essence of their expression, to strip down their creative process to concepts that represent a world of simplicity where less is more, and to explore and play with the idea that art doesn’t necessarily have to represent a deep thought or evoke emotion - sometimes, it can just… be. We invite artists to contemplate the minimalist aesthetic and let their artistic expressions speak volumes through the power of minimalism in any medium or creative process.

Eligibility: Salem Arts Association Artist Members.


Submission Fees: 

Salem Arts Members $10 per item (First item free for Masters Circle Members)

Submit up to 3 items per artist


Take In: Sunday, April 7, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, April 12, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM

Exhibition Dates: April 13 – May 18, 2024

Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, May 19, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

MAY / JUNE

Call for Art: Acceptance / Alienation

It has been said by critics of abstract art that abstract works are alienated from reality, rendering them incomprehensible to the viewer.  Similarly, many famous artists have expressed alienation through their works, both abstract and not.  In today’s post-pandemic world, the social condition places individuals on a spectrum between being an outsider or accepted within a variety of boundaries. As artists we create inside the lines and beyond our limits. Salem Arts Association invites our artist community to explore our feelings of belonging and exclusion, consider our place in and around our community and what community means to us, and to express forms of acceptance or alienation in ways that truly embody their voices.

Eligibility: Salem Arts Association Artist Members.


Submission Fees: 

Salem Arts Members $10 per item (First item free for Masters Circle Members)

Submit up to 3 items per artist


Take In: Sunday, May 19, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, May 24, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM

Exhibition Dates: May 25 – June 22, 2024

Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, June 23, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

JULY (Two Exhibits)

Call for Art: Journey Into Self

While we may often think of art as a means to convey our message to the viewer, as artists, we are also looking within ourselves to find that expression, emotion, joy, or pain that emerges onto our chosen canvases, or through our lenses.  Salem Arts Association asks our artist members to take a deep dive within, and to really explore our own inner world and express that in our chosen medium.  Let your art tell your story, perhaps even betray your secrets, let go of those things you’ve pushed down and held on to so tightly.  Art should be cathartic - let this be your permission slip to let go into that experience.

Eligibility:Salem Arts Association Artist Members.


Submission Fees: 

Salem Arts Members $10 per item (First item free for Masters Circle Members)

Submit up to 3 items per artist


Take In: Sunday, June 23, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, June 28, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM
Exhibition Dates: June 29 – July 27, 2024
Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, July 28, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

 

Call for Art: Written Word

Think of a word, any word.  Or think of many, many words.  Write it out, write it down, and create a piece in any medium around what you’ve written.  We invite our member artists to use your written word as your artistic muse for this exhibition.  Your submissions should be accompanied by your writing, either on paper (up to, but no larger than letter size (8.5x11)), or by your writing having been visibly incorporated into your artwork.

Eligibility: Salem Arts Association Artist Members.


Submission Fees: 

Salem Arts Members $10 per item (First item free for Masters Circle Members)

Submit up to 3 items per artist


Take In: Sunday, June 23, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, June 28, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM
Exhibition Dates: June 29 – July 27, 2024
Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, July 28, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM


August (Two Exhibits)

Call for Art: Heroes and Legends

From Giglamesh to Cú Chulainn, Odysseus to King Arthur, from the ancient mists of time to our modern day, humans have held up and passed on the stories of our heroes and legends.  Whether those figures are more myth and legend, or true dyed-in-the-wool heroes of the modern day, their stories have stood the tests of time and serve as inspiration and guides to each of us.  But a hero doesn’t have to be well known to be a hero, and a legend doesn’t have to be taught in a classroom or even written down to exist.  We invite our member artists to reflect on the heroes and legends who have inspired their own lives.  Were they found in the pages of a comic book or a history book, or are those heroes and legends part of the fabric of your family history or chance encounters in your own life?  Whoever they are (or were), let them inspire you once more as you create an artistic tribute to them, or to their messages to you, in any medium.  Let’s keep their stories alive!

Eligibility: Salem Arts Association Artist Members.


Submission Fees: 

Salem Arts Members $10 per item (First item free for Masters Circle Members)

Submit up to 3 items per artist


Take In: Sunday, July 28, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, August 2, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM
Exhibition Dates: August 3 – September 7, 2024
Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, September 8, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM


Call for Art: Impressions

Life is less like a box of chocolates and more like an neverending series of impressions made upon us, like finger marks in wet clay.  As artists, not only do we visualize and bring to life the impressions that have been made on us by sights, sounds, scents, interactions, dreams, and ideas; we also leave impressions on everyone who sees our work.  For this exhibition, we ask our member artists to consider the impressions you’re left with long after a thing has passed, to consider the impressions that we leave in our passing, and to bring those impressions to life, using any medium. 

Eligibility: Salem Arts Association Artist Members.


Submission Fees: 

Salem Arts Members $10 per item (First item free for Masters Circle Members)

Submit up to 3 items per artist


Take In: Sunday, July 28, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, August 2, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM
Exhibition Dates: August 3 – September 7, 2024
Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, September 8, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM


SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER

Call for Art: Artoberfest


Salem Arts Association celebrates October in Salem each year with this seminal exhibition.  This year, we ask our members and the artist community at large to take a deep dive into the season and into Salem’s history, exploring the themes of witchcraft, the occult, autumn, and Halloween.  This open call for art welcomes artists in the region to submit their work around these themes, in any medium.  From cute to creepy, serious to spooky; from the tragedy of history to the bawdy revelry of October in Salem today, what does this time of year stir in your soul?  By bringing your diverse takes on October in Salem together, we create a collective vision and understanding of what this time of year represents for us.


Eligibility: Open Exhibit - Salem Arts Association Artist Members and Non-Member Artists.


Submission Fees: 

Salem Arts Members $10 per item (First item free for Masters Circle Members)
Non-Members $15 per item

Submit up to 3 items per artist


Take In: Sunday, September 8, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, September 13, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM

Exhibition Dates: September 14 – November 9, 2024

Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, November 10, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM



NOVEMBER / DECEMBER


Holiday Member and Masters Circle Showcase

Call for Art: Holiday Showcase - Members and Masters

Let’s close the exhibition year at Salem Arts Association with our very best!  For this last show of 2024, we invite all of our member artists to submit their best work in celebration of a creative year well done.  This is your chance to show off your artistic voice and vision, in your medium of choice, to add to the beautifully diverse and rich tapestry of art here at Salem Arts.


Eligibility: Artist Members Only

Submission Fee: $10 per item, 

Member Artists may submit up to 3 items

Masters Circle Artists may submit up to 6 items

(First item free for Masters Circle Members)


Take In: Sunday, November 10, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM

Reception: Friday, November 15, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM

Exhibition Dates: November 16 – December 15, 2024
Pick Up of Artwork: Sunday, December 16, 2024, 12:00-4:00 PM


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159 Derby Street, Salem MA 01970