the open west
is an annual open competition and exhibition inviting work from
national and international artists practising contemporary and
conceptual art. Work submitted can include painting, installation, film
and sound, textile, photography, ceramics, drawing and print,
performance, sculpture, glass, metal and plastics. 
Continuing
an exploration of fine art forms, the selection of work for 2013 will
also examine the skills of the contemporary maker and include
experimental and digital technologies together with traditional
processes.
The
first exhibition will be at the National Trust’s Newark Park, an
unusual and atmospheric Tudor hunting lodge set in rural south
Gloucestershire which houses an eclectic collection of art and objects
within its architecture and is set in a dramatic landscape.
 
The
second exhibition will be held in Cheltenham (full venue details to be
announced shortly). This area holds a nationally important collection of
the Arts & Crafts Movement in Britain.
Two distinctly different environments will allow the open west
to curate an exhibition of two parts, exploring the crossover of
disciplines between craft and fine art; curating works in surprising
spaces to create new contextual layers. Selected work will resonate with
a different meaning at each site.
Up
to 40 artists will be included in the exhibition, each with the
possibility of showing more than one work at each venue during the three
month exhibition period.
panel – curators Lyn Cluer Coleman and Sarah Goodwin with guest selectors Dr Justin Marshall and Emma Critchley 
deadline • 2 April 2013  
venues Newark Park
6 July to 18 August
  • Cheltenham
25 August to 22 September
downloads application form  
  conditions of entry