C4W:2023 The Periphery of Power

Our annual Call-4-Work exhibition is not a show that influences what art should be. Instead, the chosen guest curator brings their unique perspective and interpretation of the submitted works ranging the full “Gamut” of visual media. When Esther Callahan accepted the invite to curate this year’s C4W:2023, she went in as a blank canvas and let the artwork choose her, empowering the 254 artists to lead the way through all 1,076 submissions. Through our guest curator’s lens and perspective, this body of work presented the theme, The Periphery of Power.

This year’s group exhibit will feature 45 artworks from 44 artists, 33 of which have never been exhibited at Gamut Gallery. The pieces Callahan chose convey her vision of art as a vehicle of agency and power.

Art invites us to experience both the relatable and the unrelatable. It offers us a space to break down the confinements of expectation and it lives alongside, and informs, the intersections of daily life. Art opens the world of exploration – of the self, of our shared spaces, of our shared futures – and is a consistent truth-telling experience.

“Collectively the works are joyous and fierce, honest and intimate, encouraging a crowd-shared consciousness to sew together multiple narratives and channel a bit of revelry and reflection. Inspired by the importance of creating a space that originates from a need to delve into all sorts of wide-ranging, hot-topic issues, this exhibition references The Periphery of Power through love, social mores, gender, intimacy, beauty, materiality, maternity, and more.”

“This exhibition covers a range of artistic mediums, from highly detailed paintings rendered in acrylic on panels – paintings that complicate the relationship between artist and subject; beautifully emotional digital photography that denote resilience and resistance; to high fire stoneware ceramics whose visceral context embraces transformation in both the material and the conceptual.”

“Each selected piece is part of the fearlessly celebratory nature of the exploration of beauty, autonomy, representation, and desire, and serves as an homage to all the fragmented pieces of human beings and the central note that art has played within our collective history.” – Esther Callahan 

OPENING NIGHT:
Saturday, July 15th // 6-9pm
• $10 pre-sale, $15 door
• Pre-sales available and recommended
• FREE for Gamut Members
Featuring 44 local and national artists, Icy Icy Baby Shaved Ice Truck & DJ Ramses

• Entry will be available at the door
Returning this year, there will be two “Best in Show ” awards. One will be selected by the guest curator and the other by opening night attendees. Both winners will be awarded $100 cash and Platinum Memberships to Gamut Gallery ($400 value). You will not want to miss the opportunity to help one of these artists take the “Best in Show”!

The Periphery of Power ARTIST TALK
Thursday, August 3rd // 7pm
• $5 pre-sales, $10 door
• FREE for members
• Pre-sales coming soon!
• Entry will be available at the door

C4W guest curator, Esther Callahan, moderates a conversation with CL Martin, Henry Tyson, Perci Chester, and Jessica Eckerstorfer; four artists featured in this year’s C4W:2023 exhibition, The Periphery of Power. Join us to learn about their processes, ideations, and perspectives on their bodies of work, and art as a whole.

Summer Markers Market
Saturday, July 29th // 1-4pm • FREE
Celebrate a summer day in our courtyard with amazing Twin Cities makers Alicia Speich, Jake Speich, Rock Johnsen, SNEW Ceramics, Third Daughter Restless Daughter, VCKSZ and more! From functional glass art and cross-stitches, to ceramics and home goods, we guarantee you will not leave empty-handed.

Esther Callahan is an independent curator, arts organizer, and feminist scholar with roots in Minnesota. Over the past 20+ years in the Twin Cities, she has created and co-created various platforms for cultural production rooted in interrogating the impact of racial and gender equity. She is the former Co-Director of the Emerging Curator Institute (ECI), a Minnesota-based nonprofit designed to build the individual practices of emerging curators from diverse backgrounds. In addition to ECI, Callahan was a Curatorial Fellow at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), where she co-founded the Curatorial Advisory Committee that embraces all departments in Mia, from facilities, security, accounting, visitor services, and curatorial, as a model to help inform Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion practice in curatorial work.

Some notable exhibitions include co-curating the exhibition Mapping Black Identities at Mia, an exhibition championing the diverse experiences of artists from America, Africa, and the diaspora; Stand Up Prints at Highpoint Center for Printmaking showcasing contemporary printmakers working to amplify the messages of people and communities who demand racial and social justice in America, and These Things are Connected, a part of the FotoFocus Biennial in Ohio, where the theme of connection for artists and opportunities was represented. Besides curating for commercial spaces she is sought after as a speaker, moderator and panelist at various universities, galleries, and museums, among others.