ISSUE

154

MARY BLAIR AWARD

FOR ART

The Mary Blair Award for Art honors exceptional artists’ work across various disciplines. With a prize of $1,000, this award is constantly seeking new and fresh artist perspectives to create a dialogue with our audience. Works can be stand-alone pieces or part of a larger series. Artists may submit up to five (5) pieces per submission. 

Please be sure to:

• include your name, address, phone number, and email address when submitting

• include available art credits: title, medium, dimensions, year 

• ensure submissions are rendered in an easily accessible format such as .jpg

• ensure submissions are at least 300 dpi

• provide a 50-word bio

• make sure your Submittable profile is up-to-date

The contest submission fee is $20, which includes a free copy of the latest edition of Reed. (Please note that submitters with US addresses on file will receive print copies of the journal, whereas those with overseas addresses will receive digital copies.) Multiple submissions are accepted as separate entries. Contest submissions not selected for final judging may still be considered for publication in the magazine. The winner of the Mary Blair Award may have a portfolio of their work featured online or in the journal (as space permits). Contest pieces may be considered for the cover. 

Issue 154 Judge

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Erin Salazar is an artist, muralist, seamstress, curator, community organizer, entrepreneur, and dreamer originally from the Mojave Desert in Southern California. She is the founding executive director of the arts nonprofit Local Color (formally known as Exhibition District), whose mission is to provide economic opportunities for artists at the intersection of art and community development. Erin and her team have painted and orchestrated over 40,000 square feet of murals throughout San Jose. Salazar was an Emerging City Champion at 880 Cities in 2015, and she was a National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellow in 2016. Salazar also has been part of the Leadership Development Program at the Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute of the School of Arts and Culture. She is currently one of seven individuals selected for the Knight Foundation’s Public Spaces Fellowship. The work of Salazar and her team has been recognized with a Mayor’s Commendation from San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. In 2018, Salazar was named “Woman of the Year: Rising Star Honoree” by Senator Jim Beall and as one of KQED’s “Women to Watch: Bay Brilliant.” Her personal creative work explores how organic + intentional, chaos + order, life + death juxtapose. Her favorite color is black.

Mary Blair (1911-1978) graduated from San José State University in 1931 and continued her education at the prestigious Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. After a brief stint at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, she began working for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Blair is credited with introducing modernist style to their animated productions, and at the personal request of Walt Disney worked on the artwork and murals for Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and It’s a Small World attractions. Blair also worked as a color stylist on the films Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953). Her work as a freelance designer includes several illustrations for Little Golden Books and stage sets for Radio City Music Hall. Posthumously, Blair was honored as a Disney Legend and awarded the Winsor McCay Award.