Theme: Art in Balance

Yin and Yang come to mind as the go-to image for balance. That ancient symbol of dark and light is a pairing of opposite or opposing forces that achieves equilibrium. These interconnected energies are the dynamic force that drives all things; without one there is not the other. But—sound of a needle scratching across a record— perhaps you feel the razor’s edge with the restrictions of time and multiple demands. Maybe the eye of a hurricane, a three-ringed circus, or a juggling act, might better describe your daily routines.

How do you make, find, and sustain the time for your art? What do you give up to get there?

How do you navigate the various webs an artist moves through as you negotiate responsibilities to your family or community? How do you shift from your personal to more public relationships?

This balancing act that a life as an artist demands is different for each individual. How do you see yourself, or, how might you be seen, by your family, or your friends?

Show us your work, made from hard won time, whether in process, incomplete, from a stuck place, or finished despite great odds.  Bring us in to your space or describe your orbit, dodging limited room, high rent or the list of “if onlys” that would enhance your work. Is there an artist who is a model for you as a mentor or a warning? Tell us about your connections or fallouts.

Share with us the toll taken or benefits received by your lifestyle in the arts.

Deadline: June 1st, 2019

Journal Submission guidelines for Members Showcase:

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_

Please, no spaces, special characters, commas…

(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 (this should be how it will appear below your image):  Number of image. 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 2800 pixels in width, resolution 72dpi) between 500KB to 2MB.

Put “Art in Balance” in the subject line and submit by email to umvalistings@gmail.com by the June 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.

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 Myer, Nora Tryon, Kathy Weinberg, and Betsy Sholl (poetry editor)