The Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival is looking for a few good artists. This year, for the first time, graphic artists will have the chance to compete to have their artwork featured in the world-famous festival’s promotional campaign by entering the first annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival Poster Design Contest. The contest to select the winning design for the 2007 festival poster is a joint effort of the Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee, which runs the Pumpkin Festival, and the Coastal Arts League, a local non-profit that develops and supports local artistic talent. The contest is open to artists nationwide and the winning entry will receive a $1,000 grand prize as well as significant exposure during the 2007 Pumpkin Festival season as the centerpiece on all promotional material. Additionally, $500 will be awarded for second place, $250 for third, and $125 for both fourth and fifth. During the month of October 2006, accepted entries will be on display as part of a special show at the Coastal Arts League Gallery, 300 Main Street in Half Moon Bay. Deadline: 31 August 2006. Contest details, guidelines and entry forms are available online at www.coastalartsleague.com or www.miramarevents.com.

Shift has been trying to offer artists many platforms to showcase their works online. The Shift calendar competition, held from 2003 successively, pushes the boundaries between online and off line using a “calendar” as its medium. Entries are invited from all over the world and selected works will be distributed throughout the world in the format of a physical calendar. Twelve artists will be chosen for the Shift 2007 Calendar, and this year selected works also will be exhibited and sold at PRINT’EM web site for a year with support by PRINT’EM, a graphic print center operated by Mitsubishi Paper MIlls Limited. Also it will be exhibited at the gallery cafe Soso between December 1st and the 28th, 2006. Deadline: 10 September 2006 (Japanese time). See site for details.

Photographers are invited to submit 8-12 images for their “Body of Work” entry. The images should reflect a single style, storyline, or subject that represents the photographer’s personal vision. Positive Focus is looking for emerging photographers to promote to galleries, advertising, stock, and magazine editors in addition to other collectors and photographic buyers. They will combine the “Top 50″ portfolios into a juried digital slideshow exhibition in the fall, in conjunction with a Positive Focus CD to be sent out to approximately 250 gallerists, stock agencies and editors. Explanation about what a “body of work” comprises, entry forms, etc. all available on the site. Deadline: 31 July. See site for details.

SlowArt Productions presents the group thematic exhibition, “A Show of Heads.” The exhibition will be held at the Limner Gallery from November 2-26, 2006. Open to all artists working in any media, this exhibition will include all interpretations and portrayals of the human head, from the traditional to the abstract and conceptual. All visions of the The Head, including partial and multiple heads, will be reviewed and considered. Slides or digital entries ok. Deadline: 31 August. Minimal entry fee. See site for details.

Art & Science Collaborations is pleased to announce its 8th annual, international digital print competition/exhibition. The exhibition, Bio/Med SciART, will be held at the New York Hall of Science from 30 September 2006 - 15 January 2007. The aim of this exhibition is to explore how the health, medical, biosciences and biotechnologies are influencing the content of contemporary art via digital prints. Deadline for entries: Thursday, 3 August 2006. See site for details and for Competition Guidelines.

Sam Spiewak, who will investigate the design of overlooked objects found in West Marin, California, introduced his new online column on 15 June in the Point Reyes Light (Tomales Bay Publishing Company). Each week, Spiewak will choose a “totally ordinary thing or overlooked artwork” to look at more closely. This week he picked a mysterious looking record that he came across on the floor of the West Marin Community Thrift Store for $1. The album cover happened to be designed by Ronald Clyne, a graphic designer who formulated more than 500 album jackets for Moses Asch’s Smithsonian Folkways record label from 1951 to 1981. Spiewak goes into the history of the album cover, the artist, and his legacy (all of which brought me from cluelessness to enlightenment about Clyne) From the gist of this first article, I think I’ll be a regular reader…