All Media accepted // We encourage work that demonstrates techniques in contemporary art practices that move us forward. // Open to all US residents 18 yrs and older

About the Juror: Chester Arnold is a teacher and nationally exhibited painter whose works explore the contemporary landscape. He says: “The general museum-going public is still looking for art that is beautiful, that they can hang on the wall. But I feel painting could be more than that. It should raise questions; raise the hairs on the back of your neck. It can be used to explore issues that are more troubling than reassuring. If one would just stop and ask ‘Why would anyone do something like this?’ It would be satisfying. Finding a moment of contemplation is one of the great challenges of our time. We become so bound up in what we’re doing that we cease to see the world objectively, and I think that’s one of the great values that art can have, that nature can have, that moments alone can have.” Chester is focused on the ability of a painting to convey some of the layers of the human psyche. His compositions often present skewed linear perspectives that place the viewer at a remove, above and/or beyond an unfolding narrative. His most recent exhibit was at the John Natsoulos Gallery February 1 – March 11, 2017 in Davis, CA.