Once again the Miami University Art Museum offers all Miami students the unique opportunity to submit original work for the chance to have it displayed in the Spring alongside the other works in the museum, as one of their three semester long exhibitions. This juried SRE (Student Response Exhibition) accepts all forms of expression including but not limited to painting, sculpture, ceramics, prints, jewelry, photography, drawing, music, videos, computer interactives and poetry. Winners of this call for art not only get their work displayed in the museum, they also have the chance to earn cash prizes. Submissions are due by October, 15, 2018, and students are allowed to submit up to 3 works. All submissions must be completed via the provided Submission Form.
As with every exhibition the museum puts out, this students response exhibition follows its own distinct theme. This year the museum chose to focus on work that is new and avant-garde, specifically work that thinks outside the “Box.”
Below is the prompt:
According to the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs, an explanation of the idiom think inside the box is to “think in traditional fashion, bound by old, nonfunctional, or limiting structures, rules, or practices.” Merriam-Webster’s definition of the idiom think outside the box, means “to explore ideas that are creative and unusual and that are not limited or controlled by rules or tradition.”
A box implies something that is square, most often consisting of balanced proportions. In its general sense, a box is rigid and not fluid. A box conjures images of a simple form that is used to store something, or to build upon like blocks. Most children draw a box from a frontal perspective with four equal sides. As people age, the box often morphs into a three-dimensional form, such as a cube. While the representation of a box changes, the basic concept remains relatively the same.
Question: Does a box need to be so limiting in form and function? Looking beyond the generally conceived understanding of a “box,” we can see that it is not only a physical form. A box can be a metaphorical or an abstract concept.
In this fifth juried Student Response Exhibition, Miami students are called upon to present unique and diverse commentaries on what actually constitutes a “box” and what it means to think outside the box. Interpretations are subject to the student’s personal perspective, major/minor, etc. Selected works in this juried competition will be on display at the Miami University Art Museum as one of the three semester-long exhibitions (January 29-May 18, 2019). Be creative and think Outside the Box.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact:
Jason Shaiman, Curator of Exhibitions
Miami University Art Museum
801 S. Patterson Avenue
Oxford, OH 45056
(513) 529-2241
shaimaje@miamioh.edu