Entering judged art,craft, textile or mixed media shows

[Shepherdess]

This came up in the comments on my blog post. Blog  I wondered about peoples experiences in entering shows or compactions. I have only ever entered one and was not that happy with it. It was an armature show at my guild. I never thought I would win but I found the whole process disagreeable. When the critiques and awards were handed out one of the comments the judge had made of the general show was:  that they couldn't understand why people had made clothing. I thought, well, didn't you read the instructions given to the entrants? did you not know we are a spinning and weaving guild? The other thing that I didn't like and I do not know if it is common. We were to give a short description of our work but no names or identifiers were to be given. several of the entrants gave very detailed 2 and 3 page descriptions including pictures of themselves modeling the item. I have no idea if these were given to the judges. I would hope not but it seemed like an attempt to circumvent the rules.

I wondered if others have had better experiences. I am not involved in the art community. What is the normal way theses things are run. I know Judy does a lot of judged shows so I hope she will chime in.

Ann

[MTRuth]

I have found that it really depends on who is putting on the show and how well it is run. Sometimes, shows are very strict about their entry guidelines and others are not. It helps to get info from other people that have entered the show before but that's often hard to do. I recently entered my umbrella tree into a show. Haven't heard yet if I have gotten in or not. Usually I don't get in the shows I enter.

[Pandagirl]

I've only entered one with my paper art and it was fairly straightforward instructions. So, I guess I'm not much help.

[zed]

The only time I've come across it was when looking for craft fairs/markets. There was one in a 'trendy' part of the city centre, and it was juried. I understand the need to not have a load of similar sellers, or a load of tat, but I couldn't find info on what qualified these people to judge me worthy or not.

For competitions, you'll always get people who try to cheat. I entered a video competition a few years ago, there was one winner to be chosen from judges and another who got lots of 'loves', some guy went around 'loving' almost everyone's just to get love back, it was silly. And mine was really, really good too!

[Shana]

There is a great blog/website called Fiber Art Calls for Entry which I subscribe to: fiberartcalls.blogspot.com/

About 2 times a month they will list all the calls with a Fiber theme.. sometimes very specific (like quilts only, or book arts) and sometimes the calls are very open. Coming from a fine arts background, this has been a great tool for getting my work "out there"

Call for Entry is another website/service that pulls shows/exhibits/residencies from all over the world. www.callforentry.org/index.php
I've had great luck with getting my sculptures into juried shows and even had a proposal for an installation accepted via this service.

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Shana, that is absolutely outstanding! I began to look at these calls for entry recently wondering what I would do with all of these lovely felted pieces! ;-) One of my observations was that most calls seemed geared towards pastels, painting, printing. You have to look hard for fiber entries. In reading some of the blogs on this subject, many have noted that fiber art is still considered a "craft" by these juries and are not easily gaining entrance to shows. So glad to hear you are "bucking the trend."

[Shana]

Thanks Cathy! It's all about labeling and crafting a good statement. Some of my pieces easily fall into the category of "soft sculpture", others "fiber art" and many fit both descriptors. Researching the venue, previous exhibits at the space and who is jurying the exhibit are really helpful.

The last exhibit I was part of called for figurative art, but didn't specify medium. I have ONE figurative piece, but I really wanted to show my work at this venue. So entered it and got accepted. You never know until you try!

[MTRuth]

That's great Shana. Keep up the good work

[Shepherdess]

I follow both those blogs. I feel like I live in an art black hole. most I see are specific about where you live. Not much in Canada. I think my biggest problem is that I am not a member of any art groups so am out of the loupe. I will have to put some effort into finding out what groups are around.

[zed]

Wow, I bet they make a fair bit of money out of those.

[Shana]

Zed, I spoke with the gallery director about that juried show I got into. She told me she got at least 360 entries (200 in the last 2 days, but that's another story). At $30 a piece, that's over $10,000!! That's why researching the venue/gallery is so important. If I were out to make a buck, I'd call my living room a gallery and put out a call to suckers

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Yikes! I had a clue when looking through these calls for art that they could be lucrative for the gallery, ranging from $25 entry fee to $75 in some cases. But $10,000!
Also interesting to note is that in some of these contests, the top prize is less than $300. Someone's making some nice cash out of this. Ladies, what should we call our gallery? ;-}

[MTRuth]

Little harder to run a gallery and a show then one would think. I certainly come no where close to those amounts for the little show I run.

[Shepherdess]

It is a lot of work to organise and advertise a show. I would think sometimes one show helps support another that will cost a lot to get in.

[jufergu]

I enter a lot of juried shows. One thing you must understand is that there is absolutely no way to tell if you will get in, or get any prizes. Every judge has their own preferences and ideas. Some like more traditional things, others more abstract. Sometimes there is a theme, (I hate those) How you craft your description can be very helpful. I try to think of something unusual to say. Something different than a normal statement. Something that will intrique the judge. One of my Bios starts out, "I was always a dreamer." Not just a big list of your accomplishments and education, unless they ask for that. Here is another thing. If the judge gives a critique, don't be too thin skinned. Rejection is a normal part of being an artist. Learn from it. It is not the end of the world. One judge may reject your piece and then you get a "Best of Show" prize on it. But I love getting the money for these prizes, because it makes up for all the money I have spent on something that may never sell. Take a chance and just enter for the fun of it. You might just win.