Soo Visual Arts Center, founded in 2001, is a non-profit 501 (c)3 arts organization.
Mission: Soo Visual Arts Center is a nonprofit art space that connects our
community with fresh, under-represented and provocative art. Vision: Soo Visual Arts Center envisions a dynamic community in which artists and audiences challenge each other in an environment where art is
integral to everyday life.
We have exhibited over 2600 under-represented artists since opening our doors in 2001. As a leader in discovering new talent and with a strong focus on emerging artists from the State of Minnesota, SooVAC offers year-round exhibition programming coupled with educational support, artist talks, and workshops. Our curatorial focus promotes contemporary artists whose work challenges and expands conventional notions of aesthetics. Through this approach, we enable artists to explore and grow while fostering an environment that encourages artists to take risks in their artwork and to push themselves in new directions.
Take a look at our past and current shows HERE.
Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Minnesota in partnership with Soo Visual Arts Center (SooVAC) Call for Art 2025: The Suzy Greenberg Juried Exhibition is for MFA candidates, or recent grads (2023 or later) from either school.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2025 at 11:59PM. This Exhibition at Soo Visual Arts Center will take place in Mid July - August of 2025.
EXHIBITION JURORS: Prerna and Trina Fernandez
Prerna is a multidisciplinary artist born in Mumbai, India. In her most recent works she engages with familial archives and governmental documents to discern the overlapping elements of bureaucracy and superstition, arguing that they are two sides of the same coin. She is interested in her relationship to being the subject and being subjected, using the materials and language found in government buildings, airports, classrooms, and other spaces, where the body undergoes categorization and evaluation. Through these actions, images and objects blur the lines between the domestic and the institutional, the intimate and the formal, the hand and the machine. Prerna received her MFA from University of Minnesota. She has been awarded global opportunities and residencies, including the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and Artists for Artists Edition 4: Language Is Never on the Ground. Prerna has exhibited nationally at SooVAC, LUMP Gallery, SNAG Gallery, and Papa Projects. Her work has been published in The Other Way Around, a catalog of artists at University of Minnesota and Weißensee Academy of Art in Berlin, and the visual art magazine FAKE. Prerna is currently a 2023/24 Jerome Fellow.
Trina Fernandez is a visual artist and researcher from Sacramento, California exploring the edges of vulnerability and media. Graduating with a BA in Photography just pre-Instagram, and an MFA in Visual Studies during the pandemic -Trina uses satire to expose life under capital extremes. Using the many layers of current understanding, Trina comments on digital/real, personal/private, and Filipino/American dichotomies through essay and photograph. ‘Souvenir’ style ephemera takes the form of zines and merchandise, reminiscent of being a perpetual tourist looking for signs of home. Visual work and research on photography and social media has been presented at PCA/ACA, SECAC, and the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago and published by Birchwood Palace Industries and MNartists. Trina produces socially engaged and practically aware photography workshops under the Center of Photography for Non-Photographers, bringing accessibility to the medium at the intersection of social/practice. Follow her on social media: @trinatr0n
We are accepting all submissions through Submittable, an online submissions website. Click the button below to login and create your application. Contact alison@soovac.org for any submission questions. PLEASE CONTACT SUBMITTABLE IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.
1. Application Form-Fill in all of your contact information on Submittable.
2. WORK SAMPLES-EXACTLY 5 IMAGES (FOR VIDEO SEE BELOW*) Collaborative projects are also accepted but the images cannot exceed 3 total images. Digital Image Specifications: Images should be in JPEG format no larger than 1000 x 1000 pixels @ 72 dpi. Format each jpeg file name as “Artist’s last name_Artist’s first name_1.jpg,” “Artist’s last name_ Artist’s first name_2.jpg,” etc. (Ex. Nelson_Willie_1.jpg) Each JPEG may not exceed 1MB and 1000 pixels in any direction. *Video Submissions are also accepted in .mov format, no larger than 200MB and no more than 2 min clips for each video submission label the same as images files.
3. IMAGE LIST- Fill out each Image description field with the following information: List the following information for each work (make sure your image number corresponds to the label on your images): 1. Title of work 2. Date completed 3. Medium 4. Dimensions (H” x W” x D”) PLEASE INCLUDE TITLE, MEDUIM, DIMENSIONS AND DATE OR YOUR APPLICATION WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
4. ARTIST STATEMENT– doc, docx, txt, rtf or pdf format accepted. Label this document: Artist’s last name_Artist’s first name_artiststatement.doc ex. Jennings_Waylon_Artiststatement.doc. No longer than 1 page.
5. RESUME – doc, docx, txt, rtf or pdf format accepted. Label this document: Artist’s last name_Artist’s first name_Resume.doc ex. Rodgers_Aaron_Resume.doc. Please provide a website if you have one. – (No longer than 1 page.)
TIMELINE - THIS COULD BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE:
July 10-11th Work Dropoff - 11am to 5pm.
Opening Reception July 19th 6-9pm.
Last Day of Exhibition August 24th.
Work Pickup August 28-29th.
GOOD THINGS TO KNOW 1. Notification will be done by email or phone so please make sure to include BOTH on your application. 2. Information about drop off dates will be forthcoming, including information about MCAD and the University of Minnesota assisting with the transportation of large items.
CHECKLIST:The following is submitted before or on Monday, March 31st at 11:59PM:
___Application Form (Fill Out all of your information on Submittable).
___5 EXAMPLES OF YOUR ARTWORK
___IMAGE LIST (Fill out Description Fills for each corresponding image)
___RESUME (doc, docx, txt, rtf or pdf format accepted.).
___ARTIST STATEMENT 1 page (doc, docx, txt, rtf or pdf format accepted).
PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY INCOMPLETE OR INCORRECT SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
“Paramount to all of Suzy Greenberg's work is people. Lifesize, real people. When Suzy opened the doors to SooVac in 2001 she knew that she wanted a place where artists could experiment, take risks, get experience. She was one step ahead. Always. Someone would show at SooVac and the next thing you knew they were winning awards and popping up in reviews everywhere. The list of artists she worked with is a massive array of talent in all media, and an amazing group of people. Suzy’s talent, lay not only in her eye, which was impeccable, but she saw in artists things they did not yet see themselves.” -Andrea Carlson and Tamatha Perlman