Interesting information about the art show jury process and related

[Justan]

The links on the right side of the page (below) have some useful content.

http://bermangraphics.com/blog/art-shows-that-project-the-images/

[Justan]

Hmmmm, 74 views and no comments in about the 12 hours after the post. Clearly there is interest in this topic. If you come across information about the art jury process, which is somehow largely mysterious, perhaps you can post it in this forum…..

Also, note that the person who is at the linked page (above) is a photographer and does a nice job of working up peoples artworks so that they present better. There is probably a lot of opportunity to do this kind of work.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

People usually comment if there is a question somewhere, even if implied. I, for one, could not detect it. It is just a laundry list. Nor could I find anything interesting in the linked blog post, in spite of your title indicating so. That the side menu might contain some interesting information is quite possible, but so could gazillion of other links on the web. Without telling me specifically why someone thinks I should click through, I usually refrain from doing so.

This is not a criticism of your post or your chosen title. I am just thinking aloud and responding, from my perspective, to your comment about (now) 100 views and no comments. I am sure some will find it interesting and some will ultimately comment.

To elaborate a bit on the laundry list, i have zero interest in whether jury projects my images or not, or if they allow visitors while doing so. I proceed with the assumption that jurying is anyway highly subjective and capricious all the time, and that no peeping into the process would detect any useful pattern or "magic" formula for winning. I would like to think, of course, that I've been selected because the jury thought my photography is the best thing since sliced bread, alas... The much more likely reason would be, say, beginners luck, they needed a new name, or one more photographer (to balance all those jewelers), or... who knows. And who cares... I do not. I select shows based on geographical proximity, follow the instructions, submit my best work, and... hope for the best.

[bill t.]

I often serve on art juries, sometimes for shows where I am an exhibitor.  The process is unscientific, biased, and greatly affected by the proximity of lunch or dinner.  The best judgments are handed down by the imperial declaration of the organizer, who has an overview that uniquely qualifies her to assemble cohesive shows.  The worst judgments are made by qualified panels of experts in the field, who confuse purist and gallery art with art that belongs in arts and crafts shows.  Personal view, that's all.  Shows would probably be more interesting if they were determined by lottery.

OMG! Slides?  Has anybody tried to get a slide made from their artwork lately?  Good luck with that!  I believe the author of that piece is a professional art show slide producer.  Haven't seen a slide-requiring show in more than 5 years.

[langier]

+1. Can't see what difference it makes.

Was a jury on a show last week and it was all prints and there were three of us. It worked out just fine and we hit the mark with number of slots for the gallery and all agreed on the top images.

One of the jurors with me there worked on a show early last year that had more than 2000 entries and he and the other jurors had to knock it down to about 100-150 for the space. He said it was a lot of work to screen them, but on-line, it was much better than trying to travel and sit through a day or two of work.

Today's show we prescreened the images a few weeks back, once to pare it down, the other to fine-tune for the number of slots. Today, we saw the real prints. Stuff that was ho-hum on my remote monitor was super in person. Of the three categories we had to work with, two of my original best images made it to the top at the end. One was great online but the print wan't any good and a couple of others that were so-so during the remote screening rose to the top.

If someone can properly prepare an image for the web, it should work with a projector, but one had better craft a good print because that's what the final pick will be from and what will be hanging from the wall!

As for "slides" most everyone now works from a digital file for pre-selection, including artists, many without a clue how to properly light and shoot their work, let along prepare for viewing. Some keep trying the same old each time and wonder why their work is never chosen. Most need to learn to do it right or hire someone who has a clue.

[Justan]

In this area (NW USA) many of the major shows are initially organized by Zapplications. The method of submittal is typically 3 or 4 digital fotos of work plus a booth shot. There is minutia governing images presented. Usually there is a fee of $20 or more along with the application. Sometimes, but not always, a 100 to 200 character long general description of the work (including spaces) along with a short artist’s statement are part of the process.  Sometimes the organizers want a CV. One would not know how successful statements of this type are constructed without looking at others who have been successful.

Zapplication provides a regular update of arts events across the USA, including many of the largest events in the nation.

The jury process is done by paid art professionals of various backgrounds. There is no opportunity for a judge to see submitted work in other than by the digital images submitted, or, of course, if the judge knows the artist or their work from other locations.

Again, at major shows, judges are typically not permitted to exhibit at an event where they judge and the organizers take pains to notify applicants that they rotate the judges so that the same judge does not participate in 2 sequential events. At smaller events, this is not necessarily the case and often the event organizers or their friends are the sole judges.

While the judging process is largely arbitrary, those who present their work with more pop, who show work as a cohesive group, and who have a more inviting booth shot will probably score higher. The judges are more likely to clip their fingernails, count the lint balls in their pockets, consider what they are going to have for dinner, or otherwise ignore and applicant when they are bored by art and booth shots which resembles the play of twin Dalmatian puppies. But naturally some may like this kind of thing or have Dalmatians. That’s why there are often 3 or more judges for major events.

There is typically a lot of competition for major events; those who present their work in ways that judges are said to like have a better chance to get in than those who don’t. I mean, after the judges pick their friends and their friend’s cousins, and the organizers pick their favorites.

The other detail is that there are a lot of people at art and other types of festivals who may want a foto series of their work and their booths. Because several capable people at the LL site have made inquiries of where work opportunities may be found, I thought it noteworthy to mention that these types of venues may be a rich opportunity. Of course if someone is going to do this kind of thing, it helps to know what others who capture artists’ works for jury review do to best present the works.

Knowledge is power. Those who do their best to be competitive set the standard. While those who are ignorant of what the competition does are more likely to follow a path to failure.

[bill t.]

Some art fairs publish online galleries of artists' work.  Those are selected from submission images, and will give you some idea about the aesthetic and quality level of a particular fair.  Worth looking at that stuff before applying.  Even if there is no online gallery, there is usually a text list of artists from the current or previous fair and you can usually find their web pages through Google.

Filed under sneaky tricks, search the names of artists who you know are in your ballpark.  Find their fair associations and do what you will.

[Justan]

^ That is a good idea! Someone pointed me to some major festival web pages in the SW that disclose nearly everything the winning artists use in their applications. I learned a lot from that and found it both informative and revealing, in the department of less is more.

I’ve been following the upcoming show section of a few local artists for a couple of years now. That is where I learned of a lot of area shows. That also led me to www.festival.net which is one of the better resources around, at least for this neck of the woodz.

There are a couple of forums on fb that I started to frequent not too long ago and they both discuss many art festivals. One is a general event review and another is focused on the west coast. Both contain a wealth of useful information by a lot of talented artists, as well as general chit chat.

Not entirely unrelated, yesterday I started load-in for another show. I changed two large works in my exhibit and between that and opening up a little space around the works I ended up doing a nearly complete redo of the exhibit. Setup took 11+ hours, as opposed to the typical 8 hours, and I’m not done yet. Due to the nature of the show, I can’t hang my works on the 5th wall space until truck/trailer combinations stop going past my booth with about 2” of clearance, which they tell me they will stop doing sometime after 3 today.

Found a couple of large works that were damaged, so brought those back to fix. One of the damaged works was due to a problem with the 5’ long frame. I took it to the framer this morning and they made me a no-cost replacement in about 30 minutes. Hurray, they are the best in the universe! I bought them a box of Krispe Kreme doughnuts as a way of saying thanks.

[bill t.]

I bought them a box of Krispe Kreme doughnuts as a way of saying thanks.

The Ambrosia of art fairs!  On the morning of the very first day of my very first art fair I showed up with 240 donuts, in equal combinations of chocolate, glazed, and strawberry-jelly filled.  I made many new friends that day.  Subsequently I have always been preemptively invited to that show, no application, no judging.  Here's a pro tip: forget the jelly donuts, and go easy on the plain glazed.  Chocolate covered glazed speaks to the soul of the artist.

Hope that fair is going OK.  11+ hour load in?  You're working too hard!  Must be a home show.  So very sorry I can't be there to help you with the tear-down, dang!

[Justan]

Thanks, the tip about the doughnuts is a good one. I’ll make a note to get some directly to the show office staff for my next show. That’s the show where they let me keep my trailer in the building (for the 2nd year). I'll test your theory at some of the official art shows in the near future.

The first two days were okay. Not the best or the worst. A young woman in a booth across from me is the fair event coordinator for a major bank in the area and she has been giving me tips on good shows in the south part of the region.

Thanks for the generous comment about load out, but you probably wouldn’t enjoy the process all that much, even tho you are more familiar with it than me. For one thing, it’s cold around here. Fortunately my partner helps and we have it down to about 3 hours. She sewed a bunch of moving pads so that they are folded in half and have a seam along 2 sides and now look like sleeping bags, but without zippers. That has permitted us to reduce the load out time substantially. Every large work gets bagged in a plastic body bag, then slid into the sleeping bag and tagged. Then then it shares a cardboard box with another large work. Most everything else goes into bins. The chore in this move out will be competing with about 500 other vendors who are mostly going through the same doors. Then there is the 1/3 mile round trip between where the trailer is parked and the exhibit is staged. There is a shortcut by using 3 stories worth of stairs. That will help to get the light stuff to the exhibit for packing. The good news is that by the time we’re ready to start loading the trailer, half or more of the other vendors are typically packed and gone.

Part of the extra time for the move in was because I relocated lights. In the past I clipped the fixtures to the Pro Panel walls and this time I clipped them to the stiffeners. The result is a cleaner look but the added distance between the fixtures and the art reduces the amount of light that strikes the art. I’m going to buy track lights for the next show and increase the number of fixtures a bit to compensate.

Today (Saturday) some said there will be up to 30K people at the show.

[bill t.]

I’m going to buy track lights for the next show

Should mention I bought a set of the Pro Panel track lights.  Well made, but not the right design for canvas, you can't get the lights at steep enough of an angle so you see the reflections of the lights in the art.  The support arms move in and out, but not up and down, or at least not enough.  I have gone back to my horrible, completely falling apart spring arm lights just to be able to get the lights high enough for optimal, reflection free lighting.  Went from CFL's to high quality LED spots, now I have twice the light for slightly less wattage, and much higher quality light.  I can now run a 10 x 10 configuration for at least 16+ hours on a deep cycle marine battery and AC inverter, thus dodging electrical fees at some shows.

[Justan]

I found some inexpensive track at the HD ($10 per 4’ stick). I’ll add some fixtures that tilt and swivel (about $11 each) and am gonna mount them to the top of the pp stiffeners and continue to use the 100 watt output/23 watt power consumption daylight fluorescent bulbs, but add more of them. I’ll end up with 2 8’ sections of track and maybe 8-10 or so fixtures on each track. Clipping my current fixtures to the stiffeners added enough elevation so that the light hitting the works is very uniform with no hot spots or shadows of note. Several commented they like the results: “Your art glows” and “Your art looks like it is back lighted” was said by many.

The plan noted above will almost double the amount of lights I’m using now. I’ll use hose clamps to secure some steel bits to the pp stiffeners to provide a solid platform for the track and tie wrap the track to the clamps. Best of all is that this  will *dramatically* reduce the number of power cords and the amount of time needed to setup and tear down.

I’ll still use clip on lights for the outside of the booth display areas. All the electrical power supplies at the bigger shows are on 20 amp or > circuits, so for practical purposes I’ll never pull more amperage than is available.

Haven’t given any thought to using a battery or generator based system. The cost for electricity is low enough as show expenses go, but I haven’t done any outside shows yet... We do have a 5 kw generator but nfw am I gonna live with the noise. I’d be surprised if fairs would even permit it.

You would not believe how busy it was yesterday.

As a side note, some street photographers would have delighted at this show. One company is handing out plungers, of all things, and there were times that entire families were walking around, and each person was carrying their own plunger as if was a personal scepter. Some comments from Leonardo daVinci and JP Sartre crossed my mind and I laughed at this site on several occasions.