Call to Artists: Ela’s Forest Outdoor Sculpture
“A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. “
— Herman Hesse
The Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art (The AGB) at Florida Southern College invites proposals for artists to create a new work of outdoor sculpture honoring the memory of Ela Friedman, a radiant little girl whose life was cut short by an act of domestic violence. Ela’s love of nature inspired a global community to plant Ela’s Forest. This living tribute of trees and rocks inspired The AGB’s 2019-2020 exhibit of the same name. Ela’s Forest in all its forms serves as a testament to the power of love, shared grief, and mutual support by symbolizing the resilience and beauty of Ela and her community.
Guiding Vision: This call for proposals continues the work of Ela’s Forest by inviting artists to create a new work of sculpture that embodies playfulness and wonder while acknowledging the profound loss that inspired the planting of Ela’s Forest. Art often serves as a response to injustice or a corrective to power, providing a vital reactionary function. However, while the tragic ramifications of domestic violence and injustices of the legal system should not be forgotten, this project seeks to expand possibility.
As poet and author Ocean Vuong expresses, art can be a catalyst for change by speaking first – not in reaction to power but by imagining new worlds altogether. This call for proposals asks artists to center imagination and childlike delight as a generative force. We invite artists to explore how curiosity and playfulness might illuminate the tensions and relationships between darkness and light.
The sculpture should not only honor Ela’s memory but also spark discovery and engagement among those who encounter it, inspiring reflection and connection. The Ela’s Forest Outdoor Sculpture will be part of the permanent collection of The AGB at Florida Southern College and may be placed on loan in other locations.
Guiding Themes:
Curiosity and Playfulness
Nature
Acknowledgment of Darkness and Light
Community Awareness/Education
Contact Diane Baires (dbaires@agbmuseum.org), Chief of Staff, with any questions.
Submissions Accepted Beginning:
April 10, 2025 at 8 am EST
Entry Deadline
June 1, 2025 at 5 pm EST
Eligibility
Artists of all ages are welcome to apply; however, the sculpture selected must be feasibly produced by the artist or the artist’s representatives and exhibitable as a physical, safe, and sustainable outdoor object. There are no fees associated with submission. Artist must be a resident of any of the following counties: Brevard, Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lake, Manatee, Orange, Osceola, Sarasota, Seminole, Sumter, Pasco, Polk, Pinellas, and Volusia.
All proposed work must:
1. Be a new, original work of outdoor sculpture
2. Be suitable for display outdoors in any number of potential venues and be weather resistant for Central Florida’s climate year-round
3. Be appropriate for all audiences and take the safety of all audiences into account
4. Be able to be constructed and transported by the artist or artist’s representatives
The artist selected to produce the outdoor sculpture will receive a fixed $18,000 stipend that must cover all materials, construction, transport, and installation costs, as well as all incidental expenses entailed by the creation and delivery of the sculpture. Any additional costs are the responsibility of the artist and/or artist’s representatives.*
We gratefully acknowledge the dedication, time, and financial support of the following in making this call for proposals possible: the artists and patrons of the original exhibit, the AGB staff, the museum volunteers affectionately known as The Graces, and a generous gift by an anonymous donor.
General Information
All properly prepared entries (please refer to digital file requirements below) will be reviewed and judged by all jurors. The decision of the jurors is final. No more than one proposal by any one artist will be included in the final juried selection. NOTE: The AGB is an academic institution and is not a forum for artwork sales. No prices for artwork will be displayed or requested, and the selected work will be exhibited for its educational and aesthetic merit alone.
Artists whose proposals are not selected for final commission will still have the opportunity to have their proposed sculpture appear as part of an online AGB exhibition showcasing a select array of entries for this competition. Artists may opt in or out of this possibility; all non-commissioned proposals will be displayed only digitally and accessible via the Museum’s website.
Submission Guidelines
Artists may submit one proposal for a single work of art. All entries must include a detailed budget, artist’s statement, media with which the sculpture would be constructed, and renderings. Multi-page files may be submitted as PDFs or PowerPoints; a single image submission must be in JPEG or JPG format with a minimum of 1200 pixels on the longest side. Each file size must be under 5MB. Any video submissions should be in 3GP, WMV, AVI, MOV, ASF, MPG, MP4, M2T, MKV, or M2TS formats, maximum 100 MB, with a minimum resolution of 640 x 480, minimum 12 fps. All proposals — regardless of media — must be submitted digitally using the form below.
Notification
Finalist artists will be contacted by September 5, 2025, and artists may be contacted for more information or for interviews about their proposals at any time following initial review of submissions. A separate email notice will be sent to artists whose submissions were not selected as finalist entries by jurors. The Museum reserves the right to refuse to feature any selected work that has been misrepresented. Make sure all information submitted with entries is accurate. No changes to title, price, or other material information will be permitted after June 1, 2025.
Accepted Artwork
* Completion and delivery of the sculpture to the Museum must be no later than December 31, 2026, unless specifically agreed to by the artist and the Museum. The timeline for the disbursement of the $18,000 stipend is conditioned upon the specific needs of the project selected and will be awarded in full only upon completion and delivery of the sculpture to the Museum.