Tromp l'oeil, Forced Perspectives and Other Illusions  
July 28 – September 3, 2017 (Reception and Award Presentation Sunday, August 6)
Online Artwork Submissions:  May 15-June 15 
Juror: Colleen Woolpert

Tromp l'oeil (French) is a visual illusion in art used to trick the eye into perceiving a painted detail as a three-dimensional object. Forced perspective is a technique which employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. This exhibit may include pieces which represents the literal meaning of these words or simply works which challenge us to view them, or their subject, from different perspectives.  

The purpose of this show is to convey to the viewer that we are all vulnerable to illusions and “tricks of the eye” and that things are not always as they seem. Artists are welcome to present their own interpretations of this theme. We request that artists submit a short artist statement with each piece.  ($20) Jury fee for nonmembers ($15/members)  Artists may submit up to 3 pieces for jury.  Work need not be for sale. Juror TBA. A video of this exhibit and accompanying artist interviews will be published to our youtube channel. The exhibit will be held at our space at the Cycling Salamander Gallery at 2217 US Highway 31 South, Charlevoix (7 miles south of Charlevoix)

Online Submissions April 15 - June 15, 2017.
  • Applicants may submit up to three (3) entries. ​
  • Submissions must include the following: title, dimensions, price/nfs, and artist statement.
  • Notification of the status of entries will be emailed on June 25, 2017.
  • Accepted work must be delivered between July 24 and 25.                                                  (framed pieces must be ready to hang) 
  • Awards will be announced at the reception on August 6, 2017.
  • ​RPM receives 40% commission on all works sold.
  • Artwork pick up on September 5 and 6
About the Juror
Colleen Woolpert is an interdisciplinary artist who relocated back to Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2016 after years spent on both coasts. She creates still and moving images as well as interactive objects and installations that explore the nuances of vision—from visual perception itself to abstract concepts like imagination, wonder, and doubt.

Among her projects, Persistence of Vision draws on Colleen's work with visually impaired adults to consider how we visualize the unseen and navigate the unknown. Further, based on her participation in arts accessibility efforts, she creates artworks that highlight the issues at stake and at times reverse the power dynamic of those involved (as with The Great Unknown). 

Relatedly, her TwinScope project describes binocular vision while also bringing stereographs (3D photography) to a contemporary audience and encouraging reappraisal of this marginalized photography format. Colleen produces stereograph exhibitions, public artworks and events. Her patent-pending TwinScope Viewer (inspired by her twin sister's struggle with depth perception) offers a long-standing need for an exhibition stereoscope and has been acquired by collectors and institutions across the country including the Henry Art Gallery, Nantucket Historical Association, and Hamilton College.

Recipient of both an Individual Artist Grant and a Community Arts Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), Colleen has also been recognized with Juror's Selection from Darren Ching (Klomching Gallery) in Same But Different at the New York Center for Photographic Art and a Top Knots Award from Photo District News. She has exhibited at Sla307 ArtSpace (NYC), Dumbo Arts Center (Brooklyn), Defibrillator (Chicago), Place (Portland), and Lightwork (Syracuse), among other venues, and her photographs have appeared in The New York Times, Bicycling, Martha Stewart Weddings, San Francisco Magazine, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among other publications. Colleen received her MFA from Syracuse University and BA from Western Michigan University, where she currently teaches in the Photography and Intermedia Department. She is also on faculty at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.