Oak Park Art League’s (OPAL) Art for Social Change programs and exhibitions present topics that bring attention to both global and local concerns through the universal language of art. In conjunction with Domestic Violence Awareness month and Illinois Arts & Humanities month in October, OPAL partners with Sarah’s Inn for an exhibition that elevates awareness to issues surrounding domestic violence.

ART FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: Behind the Wall calls on artists from across Chicagoland to submit artwork for a juried exhibition that raises awareness to journeys of conflict, pain, empowerment and peace. The working title Behind the Wall, references the isolation and suffering that victims of domestic violence experience in their private lives, as well as the healing gained in the recovery process that brings the work to the walls of the Oak Park Art League’s historic Carriage House Gallery.

In presenting this exhibition as a collective passage from conflict to recovery, cash prizes will be awarded to exemplary works – both conceptual and literal interpretations – that best convey themes of emotion that may include: conflict, pain, trauma, isolation, entrapment, empowerment, resolution, hope and peace.

INFORMATION FOR ARTISTS:
Works in all media are welcome.
The application fee for Oak Park Art League juried exhibitions is $35 for up to three images of work. One additional image will be accepted for each 3D piece at no extra cost.
All work submitted must have been created within the last 3 years and not exhibited at OPAL in the previous 18 months.
OPAL reserves the right to reject any accepted work that does not clearly represent or match the submission.
Digital images must be sized 300 DPI (1200X1800px).
Incomplete submissions will not be considered.
Submission fees are non-refundable.
Review a complete list of Oak Park Art League Juried Exhibition Guidelines at: oakparkartleague.org
To submit, go to: https://oakparkartleague.submittable.com

Juror: Charles Gniech holds a MFA and a BFA from Northern Illinois University. He has taught at various universities for more than twenty-five years, including The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago, where he also served as Curator of Gallery 180 and the Collections Curator for the Institute’s Corporate Fine Art Collection. Gniech’s traveling exhibition, Breaking Criminal Traditions, utilizes nonthreatening art objects that raise awareness to human rights issues to promote social change. He has participated in multiple panel discussions on human rights topics and presented Change Artists-Using the Arts to Leverage Change at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, 60th Session.

Sarah’s Inn services and initiatives focus on ending relationship violence through domestic violence crisis intervention, community education, and violence prevention programs for youth. Sarah’s Inn works throughout the socioeconomically diverse region of Chicago’s West Side neighborhoods and Western suburbs.

Founded in 1921, the Oak Park Art League is one of Illinois’ longest, continually-running non-profit visual arts organizations, serving Chicago’s western suburbs as an exhibition site for artists and a center for high quality art education.