Growing a Fantasy: Call for Art
ARC Gallery | Open call, juried exhibition | February 2027
Juried by Mia Capodilupo
I don’t want to have the terrible limitation of those who live merely from what can make sense. Not I: I want an invented truth.
– Clarice Lispector, Água Viva
Fantasy often carries a negative connotation when accused of being an escape from reality. For Lispector it is essential fierce and daily work. In Água Viva, she stakes out the boundries of her invented truth, then must live within it to keep it fed and thriving.
Growing a fantasy starts small. It needs coaxing, a little attention, and someone willing to linger over it. Under the right conditions, it spreads to create a new possible world. That act of creation is no coincidence. It requires sustained work and just a little faith that what is imagined could actually, under the exact right circumstances, come true.
Advertising and technology grow fantasy on an industrial scale: shiny, colorful worlds designed to make us want and perfect. Science fiction grows stranger ones, inside futures we can only half imagine. The world within the art studio is slower. Fantasy is built from found objects, ceramic, plastics, paint, fabric, and plaster. New pathways made are limited only by the reaches of the artists' mind combined with cycles of invention, action and time left alone.
We are looking for artists who build worlds with urgency and ritual, and who need their worlds to be true and act as if they are. Bring us the one you have been growing in secret, and show us what it does once it has room to be grow.
We welcome work that explores:
Invented landscapes and what lives there
Intuitive truths and private mythologies
Hybrids of the natural, the industrial and the technological
Unexpected combinations of material
Visual ideas that crystallize, spread, and keep growing
The promises of advertising and technology
Science fiction you would like to live in
Hidden gardens and locked rooms
Desire, pleasure, and the fantasies you keep to yourself
Media
All media welcome: sculpture, ceramics, collage, painting, drawing, fiber, print, paper, photography, video, installation, sound, and performance. We have a soft spot for found and fabricated materials.
Important dates
• Submission deadline: Tuesday, December 15, 2026
• Artists notified: Monday, January 4, 2027
• Artwork due at ARC Gallery: Thursday, January 28, 2027
• Opening night: Friday, February 5, 2027
About the juror
Mia Capodilupo is a sculptor and installation artist originally from Boston, MA. She received a BA from University of Chicago, studied sculpture at Massachusetts College of Art and received an MFA in Sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has participated in solo and group shows and residencies in museums, galleries and alternative spaces around the US and Europe. She received grants from the City of Chicago, was a recipient of an individual arts grant from the City of Urbana, IL and received a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.
Mia has worked in a wide variety of materials including large-scale metal sculpture, bronze, glass, plaster, food, video and fabrics. Mia builds sculptures and installations out of hundreds of found, cast and fabricated parts using fabric, rubber, metal, plaster, foam and plastics. She completed a large public project for the City of Chicago, and was commissioned to create semi-permanent installations for the Indianapolis Art Center and the cities of Atlanta, GA and Bellevue, WA as well as permanent commissions for the Ragdale Foundation and Bally’s Casino Chicago.
Opening Reception, Friday, February 5th, 5:00-8:00pm
Exhibition dates: February 5-26, 2026
Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Submission Instructions
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STEP 1: Upload your images
• Decide which images you will submit. Ideally, the art should have been completed in the last 5 years.
• Label each image with: Last name, Item # of the image, Title of work, Medium, size and date. Separate with a dash. Example: daVinci-1-Mona Lisa-30x21x2”-1503. Number the images consecutively.
• Images must be submitted in JPG /JPEG format
• Limit the number of images to the amount you chose to pay for. ARC will only review the number of images you pay for. (standard fee is $40 for 3 images. $10 for each additional image. Students pay $25 for 3 images, with $10 for each additional)
• If you are a student, also upload a photo of your student ID along with your images.
• Please note that images of accepted work will become the property of ARC Gallery and may be used for publicity.
• Upload your images. They will go to a Dropbox file for juror’s review.
• When you are finished uploading files, go to the top of the screen and close this window. It will take you back to the original application form
• Complete the 1st dropdown box: Click on either “standard” or “student” application
• Complete the 2nd dropdown box: Highlight the number of images you are submitting
• Make sure there is a “1” in the Quantity box. (If you click another # it will multiply your fee by that #)
STEP 2: Fill out the application
• Now, click on “Pay Fees”. This will take you to a page where you can enter your application information.
• Check the small box at the top indicating which show you are applying to. (this is easy to miss, but your application will not go forward if you don’t check it).
• Complete: name, email, phone, website (if you have one) and address (be sure to enter your country or it won’t go forward)
• Enter you artist statement. Write a brief statement addressing your work and/or your images. Please limit your statement to under 125 words. Do not include your name (jury is anonymous) and do not try to make it a resume—ie don’t include education details or a history of past shows.
• Click on the box” “I uploaded my images”
• Now enter the label info for each of your images. Each should include: (a) item number; (b) title, (c) dimensions: height x width x depth, (d) mediums / materials, (e) date produced, and (f) price. Make sure you itemize your list to correlate to the #s on the images you submitted.
• Click on the black “pay fees” button at the bottom.
STEP 3: Pay fees
• Click: “sign in”
• Click either: “Apple pay” or “credit card”
• Enter requested information
• Click “continue”
• Review information and click “Purchase”
• Your application will not go through until you have clicked purchase.
• If you have any payment issues, send an email message to the gallery: info@arcgallery.org. We will sort it out for you. (Also we can refund payments that have gone awry, so don’t panic!).
• An email receipt will be sent by ARC Gallery after application and payment is completed
• Submissions will not be reviewed until payments are received
Questions?
Please feel free to email the gallery with any questions. We are here to help. Our email address is: info@arcgallery.org.
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Eligibility
Original works created within the last 5 years. All mediums and materials will be considered in addition to video and performance based arts. No projections or media installations will be accepted for this show due to space limitations. Open to all artists, national and international.
Exhibition and Delivery Requirements
Work must arrive by scheduled dates or will not be hung.
A label must be attached to the back/bottom of each work with name, title, medium and price.
Work must be presented in a manner appropriate to the artwork and be equipped for presentation. If work isn’t shown in the traditional gallery sense; it should still able to be displayed in a professional manner by gallery installers per artist specifications.
Absolutely no Peanuts in shipping boxes!!!!
Work must be able to remain in exhibition through exhibition dates. No work can be retrieved early.
If work is shipped, use either UPS or FedEX and include a prepaid return shipping label with your package.
No work which was not originally selected by juror will be hung.
Sales
Works will be for sale unless noted as NFS (not for sale) on the entry form. ARC will act as a liaison for sales of the artists' work. However, any work sold and paid for via Paypal will have the small fee deducted from the sale amount. ARC will deduct a 20% commission from the selling price of the work in group shows, with the artist retaining 80% after any Paypal fees if applicable. Please price accordingly.
Insurance
ARC exercises professional care when handling submitted work. We do not assume responsibility or liability including but not limited to accidents, damaged work, or forces of nature. Artists who feel their work is fragile should consider carrying their own personal property insurance. Again, the gallery will not assume liability for damage.
Accepted Work: Shipping and Delivery Return
With the exception of hand-delivered and picked-up work, all work shipped to and from the gallery must be paid ahead-of-time by the artist.
ARC will pack and make ready for return all shipped work and schedule the pickup. However, ARC will not make any payment or handle work that has to be dropped off for return. Please enclose A PRE-PAID return shipping label with the work. This should be, and can easily be, obtained online at UPS or FEDEX websites at the time work is being shipped to gallery for exhibition.
Upon close of show, ARC will alert the chosen shipper that the work is ready for pick-up. Any checks for return shipping made out to ARC will not be accepted nor will handwritten Fed Ex shipment labels. All acceptable pre-paid labels will need a barcode for scanning purposes.
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Please feel free to contact the gallery via email (info@ARCgallery.org) should you have any questions re: the exhibition, submitting work, or the prospectus. Email messages are checked daily. If you contact the gallery by phone, please call only during hours when the gallery is open.
ARC Gallery and Educational Foundation
Gallery Hours: Open Thurs & Fri - 2-6pm, Sat & Sun - 12-4pm; Closed Mon-Wed.
1463 W. Chicago Ave 1st floor
Chicago, Illinois 60642
312 877-5760
Before you begin, read our Submission Instructions (PDF) in the Call for Entry you are responding to. Click here to browse Calls for Entry.
Please Note: ARC takes a 20% commission fee on works sold. So please price your work accordingly
STEP 1: Upload your images
Decide which images you will submit. Ideally, the art should have been completed in the last 5 years.
Label each image with: Last name, Item # of the image, Title of work, Medium, size and date. Separate with a dash. Example: daVinci-1-Mona Lisa-30x21x2”-1503. Number the images consecutively.
Images must be submitted in JPG /JPEG format
Limit the number of images to the amount you chose to pay for. ARC will only review the number of images you pay for. (standard fee is $40 for 3 images. $10 for each additional image. Students pay $25 for 3 images, with $10 for each additional)
If you are a student, also upload a photo of your student ID along with your images.
Please note that images of accepted work will become the property of ARC Gallery and may be used for publicity.
Upload your images. They will go to a Dropbox file for juror’s review.
When you are finished uploading files, go to the top of the screen and close this window. It will take you back to the original application form
Complete the 1st dropdown box: Click on either “standard” or “student” application
Complete the 2nd dropdown box: Highlight the number of images you are submitting
Make sure there is a “1” in the Quantity box. (If you click another # it will multiply your fee by that #)
STEP 2: Fill out the application
Now, click on “Pay Fees”. This will take you to a page where you can enter your application information.
Check the small box at the top indicating which show you are applying to. (this is easy to miss, but your application will not go forward if you don’t check it).
Complete: name, email, phone, website (if you have one) and address (be sure to enter your country or it won’t go forward)
Enter you artist statement. Write a brief statement addressing your work and/or your images. Please limit your statement to under 125 words. Do not include your name (jury is anonymous) and do not try to make it a resume—ie don’t include education details or a history of past shows.
Click on the box” “I uploaded my images”
Now enter the label info for each of your images. Each should include: (a) item number; (b) title, (c) dimensions: height x width x depth, (d) mediums / materials, (e) date produced, and (f) price. Make sure you itemize your list to correlate to the #s on the images you submitted.
Click on the black “pay fees” button at the bottom.
STEP 3: Pay fees
Click: “sign in”
Click either: “Apple pay” or “credit card”
Enter requested information
Click “continue”
Review information and click “Purchase”
Your application will not go through until you have clicked purchase.
If you have any payment issues, send an email message to the gallery: info@arcgallery.org. We will sort it out for you. (Also we can refund payments that have gone awry, so don’t panic!).
An email receipt will be sent by ARC Gallery after application and payment is completed
Submissions will not be reviewed until payments are received
Remember: ARC takes a 20% commission fee on works sold. So please price your work accordingly
QUESTIONS: Please feel free to email the gallery with any questions. We are here to help. Our email address is: info@arcgallery.org.
Please note that images of accepted work will become the property of ARC Gallery and may be used for publicity.
