Shoebox Opportunities
- shoeboxartsla
- Sep 12
- 4 min read
DEADLINES FAST APPROACHING
Fall is here, and we're launching three powerful opportunities for artists ready to grow their practices and expand their impact.
Whether you're looking to develop new professional skills, showcase your work in community, or build sustainable business foundations, we've designed these opportunities specifically for artists who are serious about their craft and career. Each offers hands-on learning, real-world application, and the supportive community every creative practice needs to thrive.
Choose your path—or join us for all three:
Let Me Eat Cake, Please! - Deadline: TODAY September 12, 2025 Our beloved food-focused exhibition returns for its third delicious iteration, seeking luscious artwork that celebrates culinary pleasure while supporting eating disorder awareness and community healing.
Art Business Masterclass - Starts: September 16th, 2025 16 weeks of practical foundations for sustainable creative careers, covering everything from pricing and gallery relationships to building genuine community over competition.
Call for Artists: Let Me Eat Cake, Please!
We're serving up our third helping of sweet indulgence!
Shoebox is thrilled to announce the call for artists for "Let Me Eat Cake, Please!" - our beloved food-focused exhibition returning this October. After successful runs at PØST at the Bendix Building and Blue Roof Studios, we're bringing this deliciously subversive show to our home gallery at the Brewery Art Complex.
Deadline: TODAY September 12, 2025 (10pm PST)
Transform Our Gallery Into a Confectionery Dream
We're seeking food-focused artwork only - paintings, photography, mixed media, and small sculptures that celebrate the visual feast of desserts, treats, and culinary delights. Think Baroque abundance meets contemporary food art, with salon-style hanging covering our walls floor to ceiling in delicious imagery.
What we want to see:
Cakes, pastries, desserts, and confections
Luscious fruits, decadent chocolates, rich creams
Food as sensual pleasure, comfort, and celebration
Work that makes viewers want to lick the walls!
Exhibition Details
Dates: October 3-26, 2025 Location: Shoebox Arts, Brewery Art Complex Featured during: Fall Brewery Artwalk October 25-26 11-6pm PST Opening Reception: October 5, 2-4pm PST
Artist Benefits:
50% of sales go directly to artists
10% of sales benefit the National Alliance for Eating Disorders
Participation in our vibrant arts community
A Show With Purpose
This exhibition operates as both art show and community healing space. Curated by Kristine Schomaker, who brings her own journey with disordered eating and body image to her curatorial practice, "Let Me Eat Cake, Please!" creates brave spaces for conversations about food, bodies, and healing while celebrating beauty, pleasure, and joy.
We especially welcome submissions from artists with lived experience of eating disorders or food trauma, artists from communities where food traditions have been marginalized, and those exploring body positivity and cultural celebration through food imagery.
Submission Requirements
Deadline: September 12, 2025 (10pm PST) Size Limit: 24" x 24" or smaller Media: Wall-hanging work only Entry Fee: $30 + $5 media fee Eligibility: National
Apply Now
Ready to join our feast of visual indulgence? Submit your sweetest, most luscious food art through our Call for Entry platform:
Questions? Contact us at shoeboxartsla@gmail.com
Let's feast together. Let's heal together. Let's make art that matters.
Shoebox Arts supports artists through exhibitions, mentorship, and community building at our alternative art space in the Brewery Arts Complex. Learn more about our programs and subscribe to our Substack for artist resources and career guidance.
Art Business Masterclass- Building Something Sustainable Together
The Art Business Masterclass starts again September 16th, and I keep thinking about what one of my students said: "I'm not in as bad shape as I thought I was. And still, I have a ton to learn."
That's it exactly.
Most artists I work with already know more than they think. They just need systems to support what they're already doing. A roadmap when things feel overwhelming. Community when the work feels isolating.
Emily lost her studio in the recent fires. But she's building something new - not just physically, but professionally. Before our work together, she described her practice as "nervous." Now? "Hopeful."
"I feel like I'm able to envision a game plan for continuing in my practice and career, even with the overwhelming loss of my studio to the fire."
That resilience doesn't come from learning some secret business hack. It comes from having practical foundations in place. Knowing how to price your work without panic attacks. Understanding how galleries actually operate. Building genuine relationships in the art community.
"The connections I've made so far through the course are real ones. I have run into people at openings and texted or emailed with other folks at different points and it was easy. The exchange was comfortable and not competitive."
This is what sustainable looks like. Not the hustle-culture version of success, but the quiet confidence that comes from being prepared. From having a community. From treating your practice like the valuable work it is.
What We're Building
Sixteen weeks of Tuesdays at 6pm PST. Small cohorts because real conversation requires space to breathe. Everything recorded because creative schedules don't fit neat timelines.
We cover the practical stuff: pricing without panic, writing artist statements that sound human, building websites that work, approaching galleries without cringing. The mundane, necessary foundations that keep creative practices alive.
But really, it's about building something that can weather whatever comes next. Community over competition. Sustainability over sprint. Care over capitalism.
"It's easier to back away from the overwhelm - to take one step and then decide on what the next step will be."
Emily's words stick with me because that's exactly what this work provides: the next step. Not a complete transformation, just clarity about what comes next.
Fall 2025 Cohort Details
Starts: September 16th, 2025 When: Tuesdays 6pm PST Duration: 16 weeks Investment: $200 total Format: Live sessions with lifetime access to recordings
This isn't about changing your art to fit the market. It's about finding your market and building real relationships there. It's about having breathing room in your practice. It's about not figuring it out alone.
Your art deserves that foundation. You deserve community while you build it.
Shoebox Members: The Art Business Masterclass is included with your membership. You're already part of the community - just show up Tuesdays at 6pm starting September 16th.
Not a member yet? Join here
"Any artist feeling overwhelmed" should take this class, Emily says. "If you like making art and sharing it on any level, or need a boost of some kind: serotonin or financial... this course is super helpful for creating guide posts for the business side of your practice."
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