Queens Rising Announces Open Call For Submissions June Gallery Show Featuring Queens Artists

Queens Rising is holding an open call for Queens-based visual artists to present work in a month-long gallery show entitled Queens Seen: What Artists are Creating in the World's Borough. In partnership with Culture Lab LIC, this gallery show will highlight a variety of work intended to show the brilliance, creativity, and beauty of some of the visual art happening in Queens.

Submissions are open to anyone who lives or works in Queens. Works will be judged by a jury consisting of Phil Ballman, Louise Weinberg, and Ann Margaret O'Connor. The show will be curated by Queens artist Karen Dimit. Bios included below.

"After launching Queens Rising last year, we received feedback that Queens visual artists were looking for more opportunities to show their work and highlight their Queens identities. We are very grateful to Culture Lab LIC for helping us to make this gallery show a reality - we can't wait to show off the work of the wonderful visual artists that live and work in Queens as part of our June initiative to uplift and highlight the arts and culture Queens has to offer this June," said Queens Rising Project Coordinator Mike Faba.

To apply, visit https://queensrising.nyc/ and click the link for Open Call - Visual Artists!

Karen Kettering Dimit, Curator, co-founded the LIC Arts Open, a multi-day arts festival in Long Island City, Queens. In addition to curating many exhibitions for the festival over its 10 years, she has curated and juried large multi-media national exhibitions for galleries, colleges and organizations. Most recently, Ms. Dimit co-curated the Sculptors Guild group show at CultureLab in LIC, Queens. Ms. Dimit was also the Chair of the Sculpture Division at the Pen and Brush for many years, curating shows and jurying new members.

In her art practice, Ms. Dimit's artworks have been juried into many New York City, national and international exhibitions. Her mosaic and stone sculptures have received the "Best in Show Award" in several national and international shows, and she was honored with the Contemporary Innovation Award at the Mosaic Arts International juried exhibition, and the Local Legend Award from the LIC Arts community. www.kkdimit.com

Ann Margaret O'Connor, Jury Member, is locally grown in Queens. As a lifelong Queens resident, Ann has advocated for and advanced local art, talent, wellness initiatives, environmental conservation and adult and youth education/interventions. As a founding board member of the Hunters Point Parks Conservancy, Ann utilizes her wide array of contacts and inventory to identify community needs to curate hundreds of vibrant family-friendly (and pet-friendly) events.

Ann is passionate about building community and engaging local businesses, leaders, New Yorkers and visitors with all that the park, waterfront and City has to offer. She is committed to raising the profile of Queens as "The World's Borough" by seeking the very best talent and work that represents the many cultures and flavors of her hometown and is grateful for this opportunity to serve the people of New York City. Ann is also a founding board member of The Blue Bus Project, 34 Ave Open Streets Initiative/Paseo Park, and formerly, a founding board member of Queens World Film Festival.

Louise Weinberg, Jury Member, is a seasoned visual art professional with over thirty years of experience. As a museum director, curator, educator, and artist, she brings her experience to curatorial and artistic projects of great diversity and breadth.

Since 2019, some recent projects for Godwin-Ternbach Museum include The Gift: Queens College Collects, Wunderkammer I: Material Pleasures, Human Nature: Portraits from the Collection, Migrations: A Study of Arts & Identity, Passages: Sculptures by Liu Shiming, Tiny Pricks Project, Getting There: Works by Andrew Ellis Johnson & Susanne Slavick, Remember This: A 9/11 Anniversary Memorial Exhibition, Pages from the Photography Collection: Feininger, Genthe, Gibson, Schwarzenbach, and Warhol, and Hope is the Thing with Feathers: Art of the Natural World.

Weinberg was also at the Queens Museum where she organized and curated many shows.

Additionally, Weinberg organized eight exhibitions for Flushing Town Hall from 1999 - 2013 and organized eleven exhibitions for Art-O-Mat Gallery, Long Island City, from 2005 - 2008. Weinberg has also organized exhibitions for Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY; Atrium Gallery, LaGuardia Community College; Art Gallery, The Dalton School; Soho20 Gallery; and Hunters' Point Artist Community.

Phil Ballman, Jury Member, is the Director of Cultural Affairs and Tourism for Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and an internationally recognized creative, innovative cultural leader, entrepreneur, and artist, with over two decades of proven success in non-profit organizations, government, higher education, and the performing arts.

At the New School for Jazz in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, Ballman produced educational programs, artist master classes, public performances, and other cultural events, coordinating all aspects of public programming for the internationally recognized institution of musical higher education. He also created ongoing partnerships and public programming with external organizations including City Parks Foundation, Make Music New York, Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, The New Museum, World Music Institute, Lincoln Center Atrium, Union Square Partnership, The Morgan Library, NYC Winter Jazzfest, and others.

In 2006, Ballman co-founded Mondo Mundo, a trend-setting international booking agency, building a roster of over forty established and emerging global musical artists from North America, Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and South America.

As a drummer, Ballman is best known for his five-year tenure with the Grammy-nominated pioneering afrobeat band, Antibalas, and has performed, recorded, and toured extensively, appearing at world-renowned venues and major festivals in more than twenty countries. In addition to drum set, he specializes in Brazilian samba percussion and has done field research on Vodou drumming in Port au Prince, Haiti. Ballman has also served as a band and tour manager, educator, guest lecturer, publicist for multiple New York City music venues, radio broadcaster, record label executive, and DJ in an extensive and wide-ranging music career spanning nearly two decades.