Call for Artists

North Valley Food Bank & KALICO Art Center

This call is closed but we invite you to cast your vote for the final winner!

We’ve narrowed our search and now we invite our amazing community to cast their vote and help us select the final winner!

The Finalists

North Valley Food Bank

KALICO Art Center has teamed up with North Valley Food Bank in Whitefish and is seeking more mural artists!

In honor of the new free grocery store at North Valley Food Bank, we are seeking a mural artist to design and complete a mural on an interior wall of their building. Successful submissions will be food related. Our goal is to welcome people to the food bank and ease barriers or stigmas revolving around walking into a food bank. North Valley Food Bank's mission is: "Building food security. Strengthening Communities." Get inspired and show us your community minded food security designs!

Selected artists will receive a paint stipend of $500. Paint will be ordered and picked up by the artist. The artist will wash and prep surface for primer, artists will be expected to apply primer. Any specialty items such as ladders, scaffold, spray paint or spray equipment must be provided by the artist.

The mural will be on the back wall in NVFB's free grocery store. It will cover the area between the windows and coolers and the side wall toward the office. The dimensions of the first wall are 10ft x 10ft with a 3ft 4in x 3ft 3in window in the middle. Back Wall Dimensions: Total Height: 10 feet, Height above coolers: 4 feet 5 inches, Width: 35 feet 6 inches.

*Award is $5,000 with a $500 stipend for paint

Murals enhance the spaces we all inhabit and create a sense of community pride and partnership. We are honored to invite local artists to elevate the aesthetic of everyday structures and initiate the connection between art and community. Together we can ensure that the natural beauty we are surrounded by is reflected in our ever-growing city and infrastructure.

As an art center for all ages and abilities, we look forward to continuing to fill unexpected places with infusions of art and culture to remind us of the hope that is available to all of us.

 

ELIGIBILITY

Proposals are open to those who meet all of the following criteria:

  • Open to artists residing in Montana (Artist is responsible for travel expenses) .

  • -Must be 18 or older.

  • -Must have experience in visual arts.

  • Must be available to paint by the end of August.

  • The design and installation of the mural must be family-friendly and not contain anything controversial, derogatory or polarizing – no nudity, sex, horror, profanity, racial slurs, innuendo, blasphemy, obscenity, violence, political or racist messaging. Murals also cannot promote any specific businesses or organizations. Final authority to allow approved designs rests with the NVFB.

  • While anyone is eligible to apply, we offer special encouragement to artists from identity groups that are underrepresented in our public spaces, and/or artists with personal connections to the Flathead Valley.

DATES

  • June 5, 2022 midnight - DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS.

  • Finalists revealed to the community during the June 10th grand opening party.

  • Selected artist will be notified of their status by
    June 15, 2022.

  • Winners will be publicly announced by the end of June.

  • Final rendering due by July 10th.

  • Murals painted in Whitefish by the end of August.

REVIEW PROCESS

Submissions will be reviewed by a selection committee that may choose to coordinate interviews with finalists. The committee is dedicated to finding the right art, artist, and message to activate unique places in this moment.