The Umbrella Arts & Environment Program invites artists of all ages and experience to participate in our Earth Month Exhibit, an annual, non-juried community art show, presented in our main gallery and virtually.

Air contains two things necessary to life: carbon dioxide and oxygen. In photosynthesis, green plants take carbon-dioxide and water and use the sun’s energy to make sugar and release oxygen. In respiration, sugars and oxygen from the air turn to carbon dioxide, water, and energy. Without air, whether by drowning, respiratory failure, or persistent oppression, we cannot live. The freedom to breath unites us all, but who has that freedom?

Air, by itself, is invisible, so how can you as an artist capture its essence visually? Do flying animals—foraging birds, predatory bats, and pollinating insects — intrigue you? What about albatrosses that stay aloft for years at a time? Or Hudsonian Godwits that make a single flight from the Canadian Arctic to Patagonia? Or Monarch butterflies that make multi-generational migrations between Mexico and Canada?

What do you think of when you picture moving air: gentle breezes on a summer day? Do you visualize the tremendous destructive power of storms, hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones? What of recurring winds with their own names and personalities like Chinook, Mistral, Sirocco, or Witch of November?

Do you consider air the medium of all sound, music, and speech? What of air that carries the scents of predators, prey, and potential mates? Is air benign or a vector for sulfides, mercury, smoke, and ozone? Does your mask remind you that air is the medium through which corona viruses are transmitted? As fossil fuels drive greenhouse gases to higher levels, seas rise, glaciers melt, fires consume, hurricanes destroy, and floods submerge. Do we have time to rebalance our atmosphere? Can we make the changes needed? How can your art help?

What aspect of air speaks to you as an artist? Express your response in any artistic medium: drawing, painting, sculpture, multi-media, poetry, song, photography, video, or dance.

Guidelines for Submission
Virtual: Please submit and register by February 1, 2020. All participants must submit virtually. Please email a high resolution, well-lit photograph of the work to Caroline Provost at [email protected]. If you are submitting 3D work virtually, you may send up to three photographs of your piece. Artwork should not be sexually provocative or politically alienating.

In-person (optional): Two-dimensional work must be framed or otherwise ready for hanging with screw eyes and wire attached. Artist must place heavy sculpture. Artist must supply technology to display sound or video entries. Two copies of prose or poetry should be delivered flat in an envelope. Artists are limited to one piece.

Registration: Complete the online form, fill in the PDF form and email to [email protected], or snail mail to 40 Stow Street during regular business hours.

Delivery of Artwork: To limit gathering, artists will receive a drop off day and time. The week of February 1 will be our drop off window. Deliver artwork to The Umbrella Gallery at your designated time. All artwork must be delivered on time or we will not hang it in the gallery.

Opening and Artists’ Reception: Virtual artist reception to be announced.

Pick up Artwork: Wednesday, May 15, between 3 and 6 pm. The Umbrella accepts no responsibility for work not picked up on time without advance arrangements.

For further information: Contact Caroline Provost, Program Coordinator, The Umbrella Arts & Environment. [email protected], or 978-371-0820, x21