The American Body Arts Festival

Plans for the festival include workshops, speakers, a “frameless” gallery show, a theatrical presentation of painted models by attending artists, a marketplace, a mail art contest and an attempt on the existing Guinness World Record for “Most Painted Bodies”.

Artist submissions for inclusion to the gallery portion of the festival must follow these guidelines. The ABAF gallery showing is open to participation from bodypaint artists around the world, regardless of whether or not festival attendance is planned. Artists whose work has been accepted for inclusion and do plan to attend may be afforded the opportunity to speak about their work being shown. We are also planning to include several live "performance art" demos. Please contact us if you are interested in participating.

Artists selected for the gallery show will have their work included as part of the official festival DVD, to be produced after the close of the festival.

Gallery
The American Body Arts Festival extends an invitation to bodypainters and other body artists from around the world to participate in this year's gallery showing. The theme is "The Body: Decorated and Celebrated"

We want to show the range and variety of body art that is out there. We're not interested in tattoos and piercings, since these artforms have plenty of festivals of their own. Otherwise, we're looking for quality, creativity, variety, and originality. We'd like to see any of the following:

Airbrush body art
Applications (feathers, sequins, etc)
Body painting
Body-centered contemporary fine art
Body-centered experimental photography
Body-centered performance art or experiential art
Calligraphy/text on the body
Carnival body art
Extreme makeup (not realistic)
Harquus
Henna/mehandi
Indigo/woad
Painting/drawing/photography based around body art
Ritual/ceremonial body art
Sculpture built on the body
Textural body art
Theatrical body art
Traditional/tribal body art
Trompe-l’oeil/illusional body art

Any other kind of temporary body art or creative art using the body as a medium or basis will be considered. Criteria for selection will include variety, creativity, originality, beauty, expressiveness, and quality of craft in the artwork, photography, and/or modeling. Our goal is to create an exhibit and a DVD that will inspire people and expand their horizons!

Artists interested in submitting work may do so via our online submission form or with a CD of images by mail. We will notify you regarding any images selected for showing in the festival. All selected images will be shown via large screen projection and will credit the artist.

Mail Art
Send us your postcards! We'll post them for all to see! The theme is "The Freed Form" and by whatever means you choose to depict it, we'll by happy to exhibit your work, both as a part of the actual festival. and as a special segment of the DVD. Three "Best of Show" pieces will be chosen, and will be identified as such in the festival gallery and on the DVD. These artists will receive a free DVD, as well. Be sure to include your name and email on postcard so that we can give you proper credit. Please understand that we will not be able to return any of the submissions.

For more information on mail art, please check out the Wikipedia entry or Pathfinder, or the Electronic Museum of Mail Art. Send your mail art to: American Body Arts Festival, P.O.Box 2293 Reidsville NC 27323

ABAF DVD/website
This will serve to create a record of the event and showcase the work of many artists, both present at the event and other participating artists that have sent in work from many countries. It will feature video, music, interviews, galleries and event photos. It should have a ready audience in the wider body arts community, as it will have a hand-picked assortment of the best work sent in from artists the world over, as well as material of interest to the Brushwood community. Selected material will also be featured on the ABAF website and the ABAF website will, in turn, be used to increase awareness of the DVD.