(via NCECA email)
“Now is the Time! If you have an idea for an exhibition that you would like to share with the NCECA audience and the communities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida, the Call for 2011 Concurrent, Independent Exhibition (CIE) Proposals is NOW OPEN! The deadline for the 2011 NCECA Concurrent, Independent Exhibitions is December 1, 2009. We need your proposals to develop a vital ceramics exhibition program for our conference.
The conference theme, Tidal Forces: the Next Wave, examines and exposes the unbroken arc spanning our deepest tradition and the most contemporary emerging work. A tidal wave can work to teardown walls between old and new while unearthing what is hidden beneath the surface. We hope to help artists look beyond what is conventional while remembering the roots of this powerful and multi-faceted art form. The 2011 conference will both celebrate the new works being created while also examining the power of traditional art.
The art scene in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area is rich, varied, and offers great opportunities to our members. The Tampa Bay area is very supportive of the arts and offers venues for every aspect of ceramics from pots to installations. The On-Site Conference Liaisons and their local committee would like to see proposals for exhibitions with themes that have been underrepresented in the past. The idea of Florida as the gateway to points south and the rich cultures found in Central and South America, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, etc. are particularly of interest. New approaches and installations are of interest to some of our venues. They also know there are collections of cutting edge ceramics as well as traditional decorative arts that could gain some exposure at the available venues.
The details and Online form may be found at the link below. We need your explanation of the concept behind your proposed exhibition, a list of the artists involved, some digital images of the type of artwork that would be exhibited, resumes, artist statements and the nuts and bolts of what you need to see your idea come to life.
The process of citing the exhibitions has already begun. The Tampa/St. Petersburg On-Sites, their local committee and I have been visiting spaces and enlisting their support, even some area museums are saving us spaces! The NCECA sponsored exhibitions are sited, our 2011 Biennial is being hosted by the new Tampa Museum of Art and the University of Southern Florida is hosting our NSJE. We have a jury that will review the proposed exhibitions, select, and then rank the proposals. The On-Sites will work with their community art leaders to match the top proposals with venues. We offer our accepted exhibition proposals to interested area venues and encourage them to select the exhibition that best suits their audience and interests.
If you have already organized and found a venue for your exhibition in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, you can run it through our CIE jury process and it will be considered for an official NCECA Concurrent Independent Exhibition or you can skip that step and do the marketing yourself. If you would like to be included in our Gallery Guides as a “local exhibition,” you will need to notify the On-Sites, Anne Calluori Holcombe or Brian Ransom with the vital statistics. We hope to have a complete slate of exhibitions in place a year from now.
Get involved! NCECA is your ceramics organization and the quality of the exhibitions is up to our members and associates. We appreciate the energy and effort it takes to submit a proposal and thank you in advance for contributing your time and talent to making the 2011 Tampa/St. Petersburg conference an inspirational event to be remembered.”
Linda Ganstrom
2008 – 2011 Exhibitions Director
Link to the 2011 CIE Proposals details and Online Submittal form 
