Art, in its various forms, helps to define an era. For many of a certain generation the opening chords to the song “Gimme Shelter” send a chill and recall the chaos of the 1960’s.
In childhood, sanctuary can come from a fort between two chairs and blanket, or a perch in a tree. Sanctuary implies a journey, something one seeks or finds within a family or a community. We now have sanctuary cities. One’s home, a special room, a library, a house of worship, a garden, a boat on a lake or the ocean, a nature preserve, a state, region or a country can all hold the promise of sanctuary. It can also be found in a cup of tea, in candle light, a plate of food, or a letter written or received, or a tent where the thin fabric provides shelter in an ethereal form of architecture.
Artists have long sought the sanctuary of a studio or the company of like-minded peers, or in the archives of art history.
Art, whether it is a representation of the visible world or an exploration of an interior realm, becomes a sanctuary for both artists and for the audience. Art becomes a place where viewers in the distant future can behold our dreams and in them find sanctuary anew, like Cezanne’s apples and the mountains he painted.
Share with us your visions of sanctuary whether it is an actual place or an inner sanctum. Where do you seek it, where do you find it?
Journal Submission guidelines for Members Showcase:
Deadline: March 1st, 2019
We invite UMVA members to submit up to 4 JPEG or png images, (No TIFF files)
Include an image list and statement or essay in Word doc. Format, not a PDF.
Label each image file as follows: your last name_Number of Image_Title_
(if you are submitting for a group put your own last name in first.)
Label your document file names: Last Name_Title
Image list format: Artist’s Name, “Title of Work”, medium, size, date (optional), photo credit (if not included we assume it is courtesy of the artist).
—Please wait until all of your material is compiled to submit.
Size of images: Images should be JPEG files, (approximately 1000 pixels on long side, resolution 72dpi) between 500KB to 1.2MB.
Put “Sanctuary” in the subject line and submit by email to umvalistings@gmail.com by the March 1st deadline. MAJ will limit the “Members’ Showcase” section to UMVA members who have not been published in the past year.
Maine artists and arts community members can become members of the Union of Maine Visual Artists by clicking HERE. Membership helps support the UMVA’s advocacy and helps make this Maine Arts Journal: UMVA Quarterly possible. Or you can provide direct support to the MAJ via the link under “Support MAJ!” For a free subscription to the MAJ, enter your email on the side link under “Subscribe”and a link to this Journal will be mailed to your inbox.
It is the MAJ’s policy to request and then publish image credits. We will not publish images the submitter does not have the right to publish. However, it is to be assumed that any uncredited or unlabeled images are the author’s/submitter’s own images. By submitting to the MAJ, you are acknowledging respect for these policies.
Thank you,
MAJ Editorial Board
Natasha Mayers, Dan Kany, Jessica McCarthy, Nora Tryon, Kathy Weinberg, and Betsy Sholl (poetry editor)