A Place I’ve Never Known

A Place I’ve Never Known invites artists to explore the spaces we carry within us,
places shaped as much by memory and longing as by geography. These may be
interiors, landscapes, or environments drawn from lived experience, imagined safe
places, fractured recollection, or defiance.
We are interested in art that interrogates why a place is created or reinvented. What
does it mean to invent a place? To dismantle one? To rebuild it from fragments of
memory, desire, or necessity? A Place I’ve Never Known will feature works of art that
look beyond the surface of traditional landscape or still life and ask why a place is
constructed or reimagined. Is it an act of protection? A rewriting of history? A way to
survive, to heal, or to challenge what is given?The exhibition will center on environments that are fabricated, altered, and psychologically
constructed or reshaped by narrative. We welcome interpretations that expand and
complicate the idea of “a place I’ve never known”.

Call to Artists
A Place I’ve Never Known

A Place I’ve Never Known invites artists to explore inner geographies shaped
by memory, longing, and imagination rather than fixed terrain. These spaces
may appear as interiors, landscapes, or environments drawn from lived
experience, imagined refuge, fractured recollection, or acts of resistance.
We seek work that questions why places are invented, dismantled, or rebuilt.
What does it mean to construct a place from fragments of memory, desire, or
necessity? The exhibition looks beyond conventional landscape or still life to
consider place-making as an act of protection, revision, survival, healing, or
defiance.
The exhibition centers on fabricated, altered, and psychologically constructed
environments shaped by narrative. We especially welcome interpretations that
complicate the idea of “a place I’ve never known,” including perspectives
informed by displacement, instability, reinvention, and the creation of imagined
spaces of safety and possibility.
Media, including painting, sculpture, photography, textiles, mixed media, and
interdisciplinary practices, are welcome. Preference will be given to work that
reveals the artist’s hand through touch, material exploration, process, and
transformation. Submissions that align with the exhibition concept and offer
visually compelling, unexpected approaches to space, hovering between reality
and invention, illusion and truth, are strongly encouraged. If your work
fabricates, reconstructs, questions, or redefines the idea of place, we invite you
to submit.
 

Juror:

Shelley Barry
Biography
February 15, 2026
With an early career in sales and marketing for multinational companies,
Shelley Barry brings more than 25 years of experience in the art world to her
work as an art advisor and co-founder of SLATE Contemporary Gallery + Art
Consulting, based in Oakland, California. Over the course of her career, she has
developed and managed comprehensive fine art programs for corporate,
healthcare, multi-family housing, and senior living environments across the
United States and internationally. Thirteen of those years were spent as the
sole proprietor of Artful Solutions, a boutique corporate art consulting firm she
founded and led.
Today, Shelley leads business development for SLATE Art Consulting, where
she also curates custom art programs for SLATE’s key technology clients. In
addition, she provides independent consulting services through Shelley Barry
Art Advisory. Drawing on her background in marketing and her experience
across both commercial and nonprofit sectors, she is known for developing
brand-driven art collections that reflect her clients’ culture and values while
cultivating meaningful connections with the communities they serve.
An active and respected member of the Bay Area arts community, Shelley
frequently serves as a juror and panelist for exhibitions and public programs.
She is also committed to supporting artists through portfolio reviews and
mentorship. Her leadership extends to numerous board roles, including the San
Ramon Arts Foundation, the Sandra J. Wing Healing Therapies Foundation,
and the Contra Costa County Arts and Culture Commission (AC5). She recently
completed her second term on the City of San Ramon’s Arts Advisory
Committee.

Important Dates:
Submission Deadline: April 19th,2026

Notification: April 26th, 2026 
Delivery of Artwork by: May 15th 2026
Show Dates: May 30th – June 28th

 Opening Reception: May 30th, 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Awards:

- First Place Solo Show at the Epperson Gallery

- Second Place Prize: $1,500

- Third Place Prize: $750

People’s Choice Award $250

 Gallery Commission is 50%

All work must be for sale.

Applicants must apply using the online application form, available through the Callforentry.org website.
There is a $45 fee for all applicants. Up to 2 additional images can be submitted for an extra $10/image.

We accept original 2D and 3D artwork created in the past three years that has never been shown in the Epperson Gallery. No giclee or offset lithographs. Lithographs and etchings must be pulled by the artist's hand and must be numbered, dated, and signed. Sculpture and three-dimensional pieces must be one-of-a-kind originals. We are not accepting any digital art. Photos must be signed and numbered.

Please capitalize the first letters of all names, titles, and medium in application. This is important as the labels for the exhibition will come directly from this form.

 Image specifications: 
■ Between 1mb and 3mb in size 
■ Minimum of 1200 px on one side 
■ Images must be in JPG format. 

Eligibility Criteria
   •    Open to artists 18 years and older residing in the USA.
   •    All wall-hung artworks must be ready to hang with appropriate hardware. All wall-hanging work must have a wire installed before delivery. NO SAWTOOTH HANGERS. Artwork on canvas must be gallery-wrapped or framed.
   •    All artwork must be for sale.
   •    No accepted entry may be withdrawn or sold outside of the exhibition before the closing date. Epperson Gallery handles all sales transactions and receives a 50% commission from all sales.
   •    Size limitations, width 60 inches.
   •    The artist is responsible for paying for all shipping and should have a prepaid label from FedEx or UPS  for the return of artwork.

 A Juried Exhibit @ Epperson Gallery, open to all artists 18 and over residing in the USA.

Submissions must have been created within the last three years.