MUSEA Intentional Creativity Museum presents
the ECHOES of Poe-ARTry Open Call for Art.

A call to women who identify as Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color who desire to express their creativity through image + symbol + word
Virtual Museum Exhibition

This art call is an invitation to women of color to tell their story through image, symbol, and spoken word. The story of their heritage, their Ancestors, their Curanderas, themselves…

Inviting reconnection to our heritage, collaborating with our Ancestors, restoring the ways of our Medicine Women, reclaiming ourselves.

About the
ECHOES of Poe-ARTry
Open Call for Art

MUSEA Intentional Creativity Museum is honored to be hosting the ECHOES of Poe-ARTry Open Call for Art. We are inviting mixed media submissions of art on 12×12 inch canvas or board that show powerful images of women in their intimate and natural being-ness — images which energize, catalyze, and empower women to continue the rituals and practices of the medicine women of their heritage and culture. 

In addition to the artwork, each submission must be accompanied by a recording of the artist performing an original spoken word poetry selection that was written for the artwork submitted. The poetry performance must be no longer than 3 minutes and the artist must be standing in full, clear view of the artwork. This is not a juried art call. This is a showcase of art and poetry. We are accepting up to 2 submissions per artist in order to keep the showcase to a reasonable length. This art call is open to both our Sacred ECHOES of the Well Circle and non-members who identify as women of color. We will host a complimentary public Museum Show and Opening for the ECHOES of Poe-ARTry Art and Poetry Exhibit LIVE online on August 17, 2022. This Museum Show will be hosted by MUSEA Curator, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, Curatorial Director Amber Samaya Gould, Art and Poetry Exhibit Visionary Sumaiyah Wysdom Yates, and the Musea CoCurators Team. At the virtual presentation, we will share the ECHOES of Poe-ARTry Art and Poetry Showcase – a celebration of the artwork and poetry from women who identify as Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color.

The ECHOES of Poe-ARTry Art and Poetry Exhibit was envisioned by Sumaiyah Wysdom Yates, a Mixed Media Artist, published author, active Intentional Creativity Guild Member, and part of the leadership team for the Sacred ECHOES of the Well Circle. Her vision is to bring the freedom of mixed media and the power of the spoken word together in a union of history, heritage, and traditions found in the ancestry of women of color. Oral traditions, an integral part of many cultures, were often passed down to each generation through poetic verse, using parables and verbal imagery. The ECHOES of Poe-ARTry art call is a marriage of the imagery invoked by the spoken word and the faces, textures, and colors of powerful women of color depicted through the mixed media artwork.

Through this vision, women of color are invited to weave the potency of art-as-medicine into their mixed media works while honoring the powerful women in their lives and their ancestry who also carry the torch of the Medicine Woman. The image can be of the artist herself, as she is causing and creating powerful healing salves for her soul by not only using art intentionally in this process of honoring the Curanderas, but also by adding the power of spoken word to the balm, thereby echoing the message of healing to all. Musea invites women of color to submit to the ECHOES of Poe-ARTry art call even if they are not members of the Sacred ECHOES of the Well Circle. The Sacred ECHOES Circle welcomes all women of color to share the power of their heritage and their voice through this art call.

Medicine Woman, Curandera, Hedge Witch, Shaman…

These are just some of the names of the women in different cultures whom bring healing first to themselves and then as an extension of themselves to others. This art call focuses on the power of women — the healing power which they possess. Musea’s Curator, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, says it best in her poem Medicine Woman:

Medicine Woman holds tools for healing in her magic basket.

She dances in the moonlight and sings her prayers.

Medicine Woman knows herbs and signs, stars and sums.

She is between maiden and mother, mother and crone.

She is a the part in each of us that knows deeply.

That sees clearly. That listens between worlds.

Medicine woman cannot be domesticated, at all, ever.

Even when we don’t recognize her, she is always here.

She has butterflies and red roses in her hair

and golden cowgirl boots.

She can be seen at the movies with teenage girls on Friday night.

She may get a tattoo of the Guadalupe on her bicep in the

Mission, or the sacred heart of Jesus on her right shoulder.

You may catch of glimpse of her as she roller skates

through Central Park.

She may teach a workshop on right brain left brain

or the geometry of accounting or raw food or revolution.

She makes potions, jams, sopa and lotions.

She definitely runs with wolves and wolfey women.

She is fierce about many things.

She is compassionate about almost everything.

She plays hard. She takes action. She tree sits.

She runs businesses and believes in abundance.

She pays for everything with cash.

She may paint glitter on her toe nails. Red.

Just don’t think you have her figured out.

She will always surprise you.

She is mystery in breathless red dress.

She is a mother, holding everything and letting it all go.

She may let her armpit hair grow, and her mustache too.

She is the place within us that wants it all. And wants to give it all up.

She swims naked in the ocean. She rides motorcycles up the coast.

She paints, writes, dances, dreams and has multiple income streams.

She is medicine woman. She heals the unexpressed in us.

She asks the question – Who are you not being?

If you want to find her – she is always at Market Place

in the early morning with her baskets of goods.

Hawking her wares. Like Wisdom she calls out into the streets.

Her life is her own. She is on her own. And she likes it that way.

Shiloh Sophia McCloud © 2007-2010

ART MEDIUM AND THEME:
We are inviting women of color to submit digital images of mixed media artwork depicting a powerful woman (could be a picture of yourself), which expresses their intimate connection with healing through creating intentionally. To accompany the artwork, there must be a video of the artist with the artwork reciting a spoken word piece (poetry) that they have written about the displayed artwork. The incorporation of  elements which give lots of dimension and texture are ideal. Artwork is limited to 12 x 12 inches and can be on canvas or board (canvas board, wood cut to size, etc.).  

Thematic elements should include an image of at least one woman, and may include, for example:

• Symbols from your heritage (ankh, cowrie shells, drums, feathers, etc.)
• Dimensional flowers
• Beads/Stones
• String/Chain
• Clay 
• Collaged papers

SUBMISSION FEE:
$20 per submission – maximum of 2 submission

OPEN TO:
Self-Identified Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color

MEDIUM:
Mixed Media, digital submission of any artwork that reflects the ECHOES of Poe-ARTry theme.

SPOKEN WORD COMPONENT:
As MUSEA has a philosophy rooted in the power of Art + Story, each participant must include a video of themselves reciting a short poem or writing (3 minutes or less) that reflects the ‘story’ of their submitted image.  *required*

DATES:
Submissions open: July 1, 2022

Submissions Close: August 1, 2022

Museum Show and Exhibit Opening (live online): August 17, 2022 at 4 pm PT

The Benefits of Participation

Being included in a museum exhibit is something you can add to your Artist Portfolio, and share with your friends, family, communities and beloveds. We will also be providing you with an official Artist’s badge of Inclusion in our Musea Intentional Creativity Exhibit that you can showcase on your websites and any place you wish to share it! You will be provided with media for promoting the live Museum Show and inviting guests to attend.  

The show will be featured on our iMusea Museum site as a unique Exhibition Page, and shared broadly with our 10,000+ international community, Membership, and Guests. The Museum Show will be shared over our Social Media channels and housed on our Musea YouTube Channel. 

Your participation in our open call for art is a wonderful way to collaborate with our museum in support of women of color!

Required Supplies

12×12 Canvas or Board
Image of a Woman

Suggestion Supplies

Flowers (paper, plastic, fiber, etc.)
Decorative Papers (scrapbook paper)
Tissue Paper (decorative)
Acrylic Paint
Ink Sprays
Modeling Paste
Crackle Paste
Texture Gels
Beads
Baubles from Broken Jewelry
Cabachons
Rhinestones
Glitter
Air Dry Clay (Paperclay, Sculpey)
String
Chains
Burlap
Cowrie Shells
Feathers
Fabric
Heavy Gel Medium (to adhere dimensional bits)
Glue (Mod Podge, fluid gel medium — to adhere paper/tissue)
Gesso

Whatever you have on hand that will add to the beauty, depth, and dimension of your artwork!