Our Earth Matters - Community Art Exhibition
Creativity. Community. Climate Action.
We’re excited to announce an open call for artists, printmakers, photographers and creators to take part in the Our Earth Matters Open Art Exhibition — a celebration of creativity and climate action in our community. The exhibition accompanies our Town Hall Meeting on Saturday 17 October, and will run in the two weeks leading up to it. Whether you’re an experienced artist or trying something new for the very first time, we’d love to see your work. This exhibition is all about local voices, local stories, and local action.
Key Dates
Theme: Climate & Community
Your artwork should relate to climate in any way that is meaningful to you. This might include:
- The subject matter (eg themes of repair, resilience, renewal; nature, climate change, sustainability, local landscapes; what will the world look like in the future...?);
- The materials (eg, recycled, reclaimed, natural, or low impact);
- The process (eg low impact on the environment, sustainable equipment and tools).
We welcome painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, 2D textiles and mixed media. If it can be hung on a wall, it can be submitted!
We will NOT accept AI generated work.
Who Can Enter?
The exhibition is open to anyone living or working in Wem Urban, Wem Rural and the surrounding area. The list below is a guide, but we won't turn anyone away who has a local connection.
The exhibition is open to:
- Adults
- Young people (entries submitted by a parent/guardian if under 18)
- Community groups, clubs and schools.
Artwork can be a group project (please specify when entering). All levels of experience are welcome — from beginners to professionals.
How to submit
Submit your art using the form at the bottom of this page.
You will need to provide:
- A photo of your artwork (ideally this should be evenly lit in natural light, no flash, and include any frame or mount);
- Basic details (title, medium, dimensions);
- A short statement (up to 150 words) explaining the climate connection or why you wanted to enter;
- Optional: a price and contact details if the artwork is for sale.
Submissions will be made by online form or email.
Why take part?
This exhibition is a chance to:
- Share your creativity
- Raise awareness about climate action
- Connect with other local creators
- Inspire our community to imagine a greener future together
We’d love you to be part of it.
Ready to get involved?
Start imagining, sketching, shaping, crafting, and having conversations about your response to the climate theme.
There are many climate art images online which might help inspire you. For example, Octopus Energy ran an open competition and you can see some of the entries on their website.
Guidance FAQs
If you have a question which is not answered on this page, drop us a line via our Contact Form.
The deadline for entry is midnight on Sunday 1 August. After this date submissions will not be eligible
- You must live or work within the designated area - see panel above.
- To submit an entry yourself you must be aged 18 or over. Children under 18 years may enter, and are encouraged to, but their work must be submitted by a parent or guardian on their behalf.
- You can submit as an individual or a group.
We will accept artworks in the following mediums:
- Painting (acrylic, oil, watercolour etc)
- Drawing (pencil, pastel, ink etc)
- Printmaking
- Photography
- Mixed media
- 2D textiles
Artwork must be designed to be wall-hung. Artwork may have a digital element but we will NOT accept AI generated work. The maximum size we can accept is A2.
The work can be climate related in any combination of the following ways:
- Subject matter (eg themes of repair, resilience, renewal; nature, climate change, sustainability, local landscapes; what will the world look like in the future...?;
- The process (eg low impact on the environment, sustainable equipment and tools);
- The materials used (eg recycled, reclaimed, natural, or low impact);
Your submission should be accompanied by a short piece of text describing how your artwork meets the above.
While we are aiming to be as inclusive as possible, constraints of gallery space mean that we are unlikely to be able to exhibit every submission. Submissions will be reviewed by the selection panel who will make the final selection of work. See above for what we’re looking for. Selections will take into account how well the submission meets the climate brief. If we are unable to exhibit your artwork, we will ask you if you’d like us to do a print-out of your work to be displayed in a portfolio folder in the gallery.
The judges will select an adult winner and a junior winner. We’ll also run a People’s Prize, so that gallery visitors can vote for their favourite artwork.
The selected work will be displayed in Wem Town Hall gallery during opening hours from Saturday 3 October to Sunday 18 October, with the preview evening on Friday 2 October. Work will need to be dropped off by 1 September and collected by 25 October.
No, we are unable to provide framing for artwork. Not all artwork will need a frame, but your work should be ready to hang, whether it needs a frame or not. However we will do our best to find a suitable way to display your work if you are unable to supply a frame.
Submission is via the entry form on the website, or by email if you are unable to use the form (waca@wemareaclimateaction.org.uk). You will need to take a photograph of your artwork and submit it along with a short, written description of how your work is climate related, or why you wanted to enter (up to 150 words). You'll need to provide a title, dimensions and medium. Further guidance, including suggestions for how to photograph your work and what you'll need to include in your submission, will be available on this page.