PATTERNS
at the Back Alley Gallery
Show Dates
Friday, October 3rd. Doors open at 7pm until 10pm
Show runs until October 31st.
Accepting submissions from May 30th - August 3rd, 2025
We are now accepting submissions for Patterns, a group exhibition exploring the essential role of connections in our lives —how we build them, sustain them, and are nourished by them. Patterns evoke repetition, structure, memory, and the subtle ways relationships and connections form over time.
What does it truly look like to be part of something larger than yourself? How does connection, mutual care, and collective identity show up in your work or your world?
The title Patterns reflects both visual and conceptual rhythms—repeated gestures, generational knowledge, and the structures (visible or hidden) that hold us together.
We’re looking for work that considers:
- How connections are built and maintained
- The idea of belonging
- The beauty and burden of tradition
- Acts of collaboration, mutual care, and the tension between individual expression and collective experience.
Let’s examine the patterns that bind us, break us, and bring us back together.
The Patterns exhibit is open to Canadian and International artists.
We welcome submissions from artists working in all 2D and 3D mediums, including but not limited to: painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, textiles, mixed media, and installation.
Submissions can include 1-3 pieces of completed work.
All art sales are subject to 30% commission fees to the gallery.
Online submissions only. Non-Refundable Application Fee of $25 must be received upon submission.
PAY YOUR $25 APPLICATION FEE HERE
Accepted artists will be announced on Friday, August 15th, 2025.
Image Requirements
Submit up to 3 works for jurying. This call is open to all 2D and 3D mediums. Images should be cropped to feature art only or art in the frame as it will be displayed. Please do not include rendered backgrounds, mock-ups, art hanging on the wall.
For sculpture, 3D relief, collage and textiles work must be shown against as neutral a background as possible in order to effectively communicate the nature of the piece. You may include up to 3 angles of each piece. Ensure any background distraction is not included or eliminated as much as possible. Artists are welcome to submit outdoor sculptures in an outdoor context as long as the work is clearly visible. Additional video may be requested for further consideration.
Artists working in sculpture must provide and deliver their own display units (ie.plinths, platform, display cases, etc.). Artists are responsible for the transportation, installation to show venue in downtown Hamilton and any subsequent locations following the show. For work intended to be displayed outside, sculptures must be durable and safe for public viewing in an unsupervised outdoor space.
Images must be provided in JPG format, 1000 pixels along the longest side to a maximum of 1MB in size. File to be named First name, Last name and Title, for example, PaulElia_FactoryTown.jpg.
* Accepted applicants agree images may be used on the Art Circuit website, social media and promotional materials.