Exhibit with Life Force Arts Ensemble

Celebrate your Sentience, being alive, feeling and conscious in your body, as Life Force Arts Ensemble presents the art exhibit and multidisciplinary arts show Conscious Body, Living Soul: From Sentience to Sovereignty running February 17, 2023 – June 30, 2024 at Life Force Arts Center, 1609 W. Belmont, Chicago IL 60657. Opening Reception is Friday, February 17, 2023 from 7 – 10 PM. Exhibit hours are during events at Life Force Arts Center, and by appointment. Admission is free to the exhibit and Opening Reception. Workshops and performances related to the theme will be presented as part of the show. For more information, please contact Joan Forest Mage, Artistic Director, 773-327-7224, joan@LifeForceArts.org.

Conscious Body, Living Soul. Sentience means being alive, feeling and conscious. It is a trait humans share with many life forms. A bird is sentient: it has feeling and awareness; a block of wood is not sentient, it does not have feeling and awareness. A sentient being moves, breathes, senses and has agency.

When do you feel most alive? The artwork in Conscious Body, Living Soul encourages the viewer to be sentient, feeling, alive and present.

A sentient being feels a connection to nature. You realize that you’re not isolated, but are part of something larger. Many cultures recognize the connection between individuals and the greater, encompassing sentient Web of Life. Conversely, when people lose soul, they look less and less alive, their senses are dull, they disconnect from nature, their body and their own aliveness. They become machines, instead of living souls. This exhibit and its associated performances and workshops invites you to reawaken your sentience.

Conscious Body is the first of two Exhibit Seasons on two major topics of our times, Sentience and Sovereignty, and their relationship. More information on these coming concepts will be published soon by LFAE Artistic Director Joan Forest Mage. 

Conscious Body, Living Soul is the first of two Exhibit Seasons presented by Life Force Arts Ensemble in 2023 – 2026 based in the Life Force Arts Method (LFAM), a powerful psychological and spiritual tool for understanding and building positive relationships from one’s inner world to the outer world. Conscious Body, Living Soul (February 17, 2023 – June 30, 2024) focuses on Sentience: being alive, feeling and conscious, an embodied soul. Spirit, Land & People (July 26, 2024 – January 15, 2026) focuses on the meaning of Sovereignty, of being respected as an autonomous, living being.

Life Force Arts Ensemble (LFAE) is a company of visual and performing artists who commune with soul and spirit to create transformation through the arts based in the Life Force Arts Method. LFAE’s art exhibits create the sacred space for our original performances, which combine dance, vocal and instrumental music, acting, storytelling and poetry, channeling powerful spiritual energy to transform, heal and enlighten our audiences.

The exhibit features a wide variety of media including painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media and installation. Life Force Arts Ensemble Artistic Director Joan Forest Mage says, “It’s fascinating to see the interpretations that artists have about the theme. At LFAE, our art exhibits create sacred space in which our performances and workshops become healing rituals, infused with transformative power to heal and enlighten.”

Click here for more information about Life Force Arts Method (LFAM),
the Ensemble, and the history of how the exhibits relate to LFAM

How to send an Art Submission
Life Force Arts Ensemble presents Exhibit Seasons. An Exhibit Season runs approximately 18 months and is based in a theme of the Life Force Arts Method. LFAE Projects include

• a juried art exhibit
• performances
• workshops

all based on the same theme. The exhibits feature beautiful and energetically powerful artwork of all styles and media. The artwork creates a sacred space for performances and other events that are held by the company in conjunction with the theme of the show.

We work on the model of an art museum that offers exhibits with artistic and educational programs. Your artwork will be highlighted in the publicity for our performances and Healing Arts Intensives throughout the 18 month run of the exhibit.

IMPORTANT: Please note that the Conscious Body, Living Soul exhibit runs 18 months, from February 2023 – June 2024. This is an exhibit, rather than a retail gallery selling art. Any artwork accepted for the exhibit is expected to remain on display in the exhibit for the entire run of the exhibit, even if it is sold before the exhibit ends. 

Please read the requirements carefully, and then send us an art submission by email. 

Art Submission requirements:

• Art Submission Form (Click here to download the Art Submission Form)
• Photos of your work (up to 5 different pieces) that you would like us to consider putting in the show. Art may include 2- or 3-dimensional prints, paintings, photography, digital, sculpture, mixed media, installation art and more. Please send as jpg images (max 500 x 500 pixels per image). Please put images in the same email as the submission form if possible.
• We only consider completed artwork for the show
• We only accept artwork that is for sale
• Essay(s) suitable for inclusion in the show’s Exhibit Catalog, for EACH ARTWORK YOU ARE SUBMITTING explaining how it relates to the theme of the exhibit.
• your resume (if this is the first time you are sending us a submission)
• your bio: 1 – 3 paragraphs about yourself as an artist, suitable for inclusion in the bio section of the show’s Exhibit Catalog
• your $25 art submission fee. Click here to pay $25 Art Submission fee online by Paypal or call 773-327-7224 to make other payment arrangements.

Please send your art submission to artsubmissions@lifeforcearts.org

Deadline for submissions: Wednesday, January 25, 2023

To understand more about the Life Force Arts Method, please read Joan Forest Mage’s article

Artwork in the Conscious Body, Living Soul exhibit should relate to the theme of Sentience and Sovereignty as explained in the Life Force Arts Method. Please use this information as a guideline to choose the artwork you submit. 

• Artwork that reflects the part of nature that makes you feel sentient
• Humans interacting in a respectful, feeling way with nature
• Landscapes that draw the viewer into the place (forest, jungle, river, oceans, desert, etc.)
• Animals as sentient beings, especially in a nature setting
• Fanciful paintings of humans morphing into animals or nature
• Art that helps the viewer feel bodily sensation: heat, cold, grounding, etc.
• Feeling energy in the different chakras
• Feeling your animal body
• Depictions of the feeling of an element, air, earth, water or fire that makes you feel most sentient

In the essay about your work, please tell us about how your artwork relates to the theme of Conscious Body, Living Soul and Sentience

At LFAE, we work with energy and beings of the Light, and look for artwork that inspires and uplifts viewers. Our policy is that if artwork has a cathartic element and helps viewers face the shadow side, it must also have the alchemy to integrate what has been purged into a new, whole, positive form. 

Important Dates:

• Deadline for submissions: Wednesday, January 25, 2023
• Artists will be notified about acceptance of their submissions by Friday, January 26, 2023
• If your artwork is accepted, please call 773-327-7224 to arrange a time to deliver your ready-to-display artwork to Life Force Arts Center, 1609 W. Belmont, Chicago 60657. Artwork may be delivered, by appointment only. Please call Joan at 773-327-7224 to make arrangements for delivery.
• ALL ARTWORK MUST BE DELIVERED TO LIFE FORCE ARTS CENTER NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2023.
• Installation of the show will take place Tuesday, February 7 and Thursday, February 9 from 3 – 8 PM each day. However, it is not required that the artist be present to install their art.
• Opening Reception is Friday, February 17, 2023 from 7 – 10 PM
• The show will run from February 17, 2023 – June 30, 2024
• Closing Day is Sunday, June 30, 2024
• Art that is not sold may be picked up, by appointment only, after June 30, 2024 (please call 773-327-7224 to schedule a time to pick up your artwork) 

If your art is accepted, you are responsible for delivering it ready-to-display. “Ready to display” can be achieved in various ways, depending on the type of artwork. Ready to display MAY include, but is not limited to, the following:

• gallery wrapped on stretcher bars
• external frame
• hanging from a dowel, which has a wire on it
• adhesive onto foamboard, which has a hook and/or wire on the back
• wooden or metal stands for 3 dimensional artwork   
• many other methods of display, depending on the type of artwork

Note: we don’t pin artwork directly to the wall

If the artwork is supposed to hang on the wall, PLEASE HAVE A WIRE OR HOOK ON THE BACK OF THE ARTWORK so it can easily be put on the wall.  

• If the artwork has a wire to hang it, please make sure the wire is tight and is securely fastened to hooks on each side of the artwork. 
• The wire should not show above the artwork when it is hung on the wall.
• Do NOT use tape to attach a wire or string to the back of a frame
• If you are using a frame, the frame must fit the artwork: if the artwork is smaller than the frame, please mat the artwork so it fits the frame
• If you have several similar pieces to be displayed together, please put them in frames that match each other

Please fill out this submission form and attach to your submission:

Click here to download the Art Submission Form

The art submission fee is $25 and may be paid via Paypal by clicking here or contacting us at 773-327-7224.

Additional information:

Artist is responsible for delivering the art to LFAC properly wrapped and protected. The artist agrees to pick up art at the end of the show, or make arrangements and pay for shipping.

If artwork is shipped, Artist is responsible for all shipping costs of sending it to LFAC and/or returning unsold artwork to Artist

There will be a 50-50% split of the retail price for sales of art; the artist will receive 50% and Life Force Arts Ensemble will receive 50% of the retail price.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this exhibit runs 18 months, from February 2023 – June 2024. Any artwork accepted for the exhibit is expected to remain on display in the exhibit for the entire run of the exhibit, even if it is sold before the exhibit ends.

We look forward to your submission. If you have any questions, please contact: Joan Forest Mage, Artistic Director, (773) 327-7224, joan@LifeForceArts.org