Posted on October 26, 2004 at 3:09 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Art and Art History and the UAB Visual Arts Gallery have announced a call for entries for the 2005 Samuel B. Barker Outdoor Sculpture Competition. The competition, which honors the late Barker’s vision and commitment to outdoor art, provides a unique opportunity for an artist to create a work for permanent installation on the UAB campus.

A new format for the competition will be used this year, said UAB Visual Arts Gallery Director and Barker Competition Director Brett Levine.

“We will have an open call for entries from which we will select ten finalists. The ten finalists will then be required to submit models that show their proposed work in relation to its site,” Levine said.

In previous years, five works were installed on campus and a selection for purchase was made from those works. In the new format, the university is able to consider a larger selection of works in direct relationship to their proposed sites. One site faces the newly renovated Hulsey Center on 13th Street South, while the other sits on a grassy lawn in front of the recently completed theatre wing of the Alys Stephens Center. The two proposed sites begin a vision Levine has to consolidate the humanities quadrant at UAB as a sculpture destination.

"With the installation of the Frank Stella sculpture [at the Alys Stephens Center], we see a unique opportunity to create a sculpture walk on the west end of campus,” Levine said.

Entries must follow the terms and conditions of the competition, which can be downloaded at www.uab.edu/art/vag.html.

Finalists will be notified in January, with an exhibition of the finalists’ entries opening on March 18, 2005. For more information contact Levine at (205) 934-0815.