Call for Submissions: Tapestry of Traditions

Presented By Visual Arts of South Asia (VASA) – Arts Festival

Visitors interacting with artists at the VASA Arts Exhibition

Call for Submissions
VASA Art Exhibition – Tapestry of Traditions

Deadline for Entry: June 20, 2025, 11:59pm ET
Exhibition Dates: July 7 – July 19, 2025
Gallery 35, 35 Queen Street West, Brampton, ON L6Y 1L9

Traditions live in all of us — passed down through generations, carried across borders, and made new through personal experiences. They appear in how individuals see the world and in the ways they express it. This year VASA Arts Festival invites artists to contribute to Tapestry of Traditions, a celebration of the influences, memories, and cultures that shape us all. The festival seeks artworks that explore how tradition moves through the artist—whether through ancient techniques, cultural stories, or contemporary interpretations of timeless ideas. Each art piece may honour the past, challenge it, or reimagine it, as long as it remains authentic to the artist’s journey. Participants are invited to weave their stories into the fabric of the VASA Arts Festival 2025.

The festival welcomes submissions of original artworks from professional, emerging, and amateur South Asian artists across Ontario. Eligible artworks may include painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, textiles, and mixed media.

Select participating artists may also be invited to facilitate online workshops focused on their art form or artistic practice. Artists leading these workshops will receive an honorarium. Please email your expressions of interest and workshop details here, along with your submission.

Submission is Free!

Important Dates

Deadline for Entry: June 20, 2025 (11:59 pm Eastern Time)
Notification of Selection: on or before June 23, 2025
Artwork Drop off: July 5, 2025, 10am – 12pm
Artwork Pick up: July 19, 2025, 3 – 5pm
Exhibition Dates: July 7 – July 19, 2025

Visitors interacting with artists at the VASA Arts Exhibition

Submission Guidelines for Selection

• Artists can submit up to 2 images of original artworks. Artworks must be original, aligns with the theme, have been created in the last 2 years and not appeared in prior VASA art exhibitions. Artworks should not exceed size 36×36 inches, due to space constraint only limited number of large artworks will be selected.
• Send your submissions here
• Name your submission images with your first and last name, followed by title of work e.g JohnDoeMoonDance.jpeg. Image files should have minimum resolution of 72 dpi.
• Results will be emailed by June 23, 2025, with further information. The curator will appraise artworks in accordance with the exhibition theme while looking for creativity that successfully represents the objective of the theme along with technical skill, form and concept. Only accepted artworks will be included in the exhibition. Curator’s decisions are final.

Final Submission

• If you are accepted, by submitting your entry you give VASA Arts Festival the right to publish your images for publicity purposes for the current year and within all future promotions.
• Artwork must be ready for display and arrive with professional framing and mounting with appropriate hardware securely attached. VASA Arts Festival will not be held responsible for damage caused by faulty hanging hardware.
• VASA Arts Festival reserves the right to refuse artworks that arrive with sawtooth, clip hangers or faulty wiring. Art in unsuitable condition for display, copies, reproductions or controversial subject matters will not be accepted.
• Only accepted artwork by the curator will be included in the exhibition. All selected entries will remain on display until the final day of the exhibition.

About the Curator

With a deep commitment to cultural preservation and storytelling, Aparna Rangnekar is an art professional whose work centers around the rich and diverse heritage of traditional arts of India. Rooted in strong academic foundation, her journey has been shaped by immersive engagements with artisan communities, master craftsmen and local traditions. Her aim is to advocate the rich South Asian cultural heritage, build meaningful access, visibility and respect for traditional arts in the broader community.

A compassionate art educator, Aparna is also engaged with various art groups and not-for-profit organizations promoting Arts and Culture in the community. Through a career spanning decades, independent projects and community-led initiatives, Aparna has built a practice that bridges her education and grassroots experience. She has facilitated numerous exhibitions and community art projects in the Greater Toronto Area, at the Vibrant Brampton South Asian Cultural Festival as well as for Ontario Culture Days in Milton.

About Us

Now in its ninth year Visual Arts of South Asia (VASA) – Arts Festival is an initiative by Arts & Culture Initiative of South Asia (ACISA), the organizers of the very successful Vibrant Brampton Festival to create awareness and appreciation for South Asian Art and foster inter-cultural understanding that is integral to Canada and its diversity.

VASA Arts Festival aims to provide a platform for South Asian artists to showcase how their art has evolved while they integrated in this fantastic melting pot of cultures that is Canada.

Aparna Rangnekar
Festival Director & Curator
Email: vasaartsfestival@gmail.com

Website: www.vasaartsfestival.ca
Facebook: @V.A.S.A.ARTSFESTIVAL
Instagram: @VASAARTS