Looking back to a human past, the old Rome’s emergence as the dominant political, military and economic power in the Mediterranean world was a major factor in attracting skilled craftsmen to set up workshops all over the Roman Empire, and make first hearts of glass in the history of our world. Equally important is the fact that the establishment of the Roman industry roughly invented glassblowing. The glassblowing stayed in for nowadays. If we look at the art created across the world in the years-long back in the past of human history, the Western calendar reveals an incredible richness and variety of cultures. At the time of great cultural interaction, with vast areas crisscrossed by traders and adventurers who journeyed both east and west, the glassblowing allowed craftsmen to make a much greater variety of shapes. In the combination with the inherent attractiveness of glass, nonporous, translucent, if not transparent, and odorless, this adaptability encouraged modern contemporary artists to change the use of glass. If tableware or as containers for expensive oils, perfumes or medicines, were common in Etruria or modern Tuscany in Italy, what other users is out there nowadays, if not as an exceptional contemporary art piece, for the display in between the museum walls.
The USA Contemporary Craft established a $5,000 prize for excellence in the field of contemporary craft and this biennial award meant to be in conjunction with a catalog, video profile and juried the exhibition, and funded by the daughters of Elizabeth R. Raphael, the founder of Contemporary Craft and the US nationally known figure in the contemporary art scene. Prizes are selected by medium, with the designated medium changing with each biennial award. The 2022 prize will be an award for a work in glass.
The prize will be awarded to a work created between August 2021 and July 2022 that addresses the theme of “transformation.” Finalists will be notified by November 19, 2021. The prize-winning entry will be chosen from among the works submitted and the winner will be announced at the exhibition opening. All works must be prepared for sale, so make sure to submit everything that is asked for on the submission page. All finalists must submit five or six additional pieces for the exhibition if they are selected as the Raphael Prize winner. Artists themselves are organizing the one-way transportation of works to Contemporary Craft. Contemporary Craft will pay return transportation costs and insurance. The arts have to be packed securely and double boxed in reusable containers, to be re-packed in return. The competition is for all exceptionally talented artists who are in the early, mid or late stages of their career and reside in the United States or outside. For further details please email Kate at klydon@contemporarycraft.org with all questions. There is a non-refundable entry fee of $45 payable online or via check payable to Contemporary Craft, 5645 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Please go to
https://contemporarycraft.org/exhibitions/elizabeth-r-raphael-founders-prize/