call for art

The Washington Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth (CDHY) and the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA) invite individual artists or artist teams to design and create a unique artwork for the new Academic and Physical Education Building on the Washington School for the Deaf (WSD) campus. Open to artists residing in the United States and British Columbia, Canada.

Deaf and hard of hearing artists as well as artists with a strong connection to the deaf community are strongly encouraged to apply. Neither ArtsWA nor CDHY discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, or gender identity.

The Washington Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth (CDHY) and the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA) invite individual artists or artist teams to design and create a unique artwork for the new Academic and Physical Education Building on the Washington School for the Deaf (WSD) campus in Vancouver, WA. The facility is currently in design, scheduled to open in the 2024-2025 school year. There are opportunities for either interior or exterior artwork, the potential to integrate the artwork into the building architecture, and the potential for creative reuse of historic architectural elements and materials.

Vision for Art

 WSD’s staff and students embody values of openness, reciprocity, identity, and pride in their heritage in the Pacific Northwest. ArtsWA and the CDHY Art Selection Committee seek to celebrate an artistic expression of the deaf experience and encourage deaf and hard of hearing artists, and those with a strong connection to the deaf community, to apply. The Art Committee will recommend a variety of interior and exterior sites that the artist may engage. The selected artist may work with the design-build team to discuss opportunities for integration and consider how the artwork might respond to, complement, or enhance the architecture. The new building design will incorporate creative reuse of significant elements of existing buildings in the new development. The design-build team encourages the selected artist to incorporate creative reuse of historic materials and elements in their design.