MACC Announces Call To Artists For Schaefer Portrait Challenge 2022

Maui Arts and Cultural Center postponed the application and jurying dates for its triennial exhibition, “Schaefer Portrait Challenge” from 2021 to this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Exhibition dates for the Schaefer Portrait Challenge will be from Jan. 11 to March 20, 2022 at the MACC’s Schaefer International Gallery.

The juried exhibition includes $20,000 in awards to select artists.

Artists interested in participating in SPC 2022 are encouraged to access the “Call to Artists” prospectus and application, which is viewable and downloadable on the MACC’s website.  

The jurors for SPC22 will be Carl Jennings, Associate Professor, Arts and Humanities at Kapiʻolani Community College, Codie King, Director, Wailoa Center and Jan Sato, Baldwin High School art teacher. 

“Acknowledging the current coronavirus/Covid-19 circumstances, some of the rules for the prospective artists and their subjects have been adjusted for the 2022 exhibit to accommodate the ongoing need for social distancing according to CDC recommendations. Any further updates will be posted on the MACC website,” a press release read from the MACC.

SPC 2022 Entry Dates in 2021: 

Hawai‘i Island

• Wailoa Arts Center, 200 Piopio Street, Hilo 
• Receiving: Saturday, Sept. 25; 9:00 a.m. – noon
• Artist Pick Up: Sunday, Sept. 26; 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 am  

O ‘ahu

• Downtown Art Center, Chinatown Gateway Plaza, 1041 Nu‘uanu Ave., Unit B, Honolulu
• Receiving: Saturday, Oct. 2; 9:00 a.m. – noon 
• Artist Pick Up: Sunday, Oct. 3; 9:00 a.m. – noon 

Kaua‘i

• Kaua‘i Veterans Center; 3215 Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Highway, Lihue
• Receiving: Saturday, Oct. 9; 9:00 a.m. – noon 
• Artist Pick Up: Sunday, Oct. 10; 9:00 a.m. – noon

Maui

• Maui Arts & Cultural Center, One Cameron Way, Kahului 
• Alexa Higashi Meeting Room 
• Receiving: Saturday, Oct. 16; 9 a.m.- noon  
• Maui Jurying & Statewide Final Jurying  
• Artist Pick Up: Monday, Oct. 18; 9:00 a.m. – Noon 

The Schaefer Portrait Challenge is a statewide juried exhibition that has been held triennially since 2003, encouraging Hawai‘i artists to present the people of their island communities through explorations in portraiture. This prestigious exhibition features the carefully selected entries of artists  whose work best captures Hawai‘i’s extraordinary portrait subjects and carries two substantial cash  prizes: 

• The “Jurors Choice Award” for $15,000 is sponsored by Carolyn Schaefer Gray, selected by the jurors and presented at an artists’ opening reception. 
• The “Gene & Ruth Freedman People’s Choice Award” for $5,000, sponsored by the Eugene and Ruth Freedman Family Foundation, is based upon the popular vote of gallery visitors throughout the duration of the exhibition at MACC, with award announcement and presentation at a reception on March 13, 2022. 

The Schaefer Portrait Challenge is open to artists 18 years of age and older who are residents of the state of Hawai‘i. A broad range of interpretation and style from representational to experimental work is encouraged. Self-portraits are also accepted. All works entered must be original, one-of-a-kind, and newly created specifically for this exhibition between October 2018 and October 2021. The work may not have been previously shown in any other exhibit, gallery, venue, website, or social media. Accepted media are drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking and mixed media. Accepted printmaking processes include relief, intaglio, lithograph, and screenprint, pulled from limited editions of 20 or less. Photography and computer-generated imagery is allowed only when used as a component in a mixed media work (two or more combined mediums) based on the acceptable media listed above. With their submissions, artists must submit a statement about themselves and their portrait subject. 

The jurors for Schaefer Portrait Challenge look for portraits that communicate both visually and conceptually. Beyond technical proficiency, the artist must reveal their subject’s inner spirit or essence,  and convey that essence to the viewer. Jurying for SPC 2021 will consist of two rounds. A preliminary jurying will take place at four locations on the islands of Hawai‘i Island, O‘ahu, Kaua‘i and Maui, where the jurors will review submissions. Semifinalists will be selected at each location based on direct observation of the work by the jury. Final jurying will take place on Maui, based on review of digital images of the semifinalists’ work from all four jury locations.