Hi all. It's been a while. I'm currently one of several jurors selecting the accepted artists for a large outdoor art fair. Today, we juried several categories including ceramics, digital art, drawing and printmaking, photography, and painting. We'll wrap up jurying tomorrow. For this particular art fair, the submitting artists must present an artist statement explaining their work and their techniques/materials. They must also submit three artwork samples and a booth photo. This blog is focused on how to succeed in getting accepted into this type of competition.

Let's start with the artist statement and technique/materials overview...  Keep the artist statement brief, simple to understand, and totally relatable to the submitted work. In the brief time the jurors see the work (we averaged about 5 seconds per image today), you need to convey your point of view strongly and your technique and materials should, for the most part, be evident in the work. For the technique/materials overview, again, keep it simple so anyone who may not be familiar with the medium can reasonably understand.

Next, let's talk about the artwork samples... As with any competition, your work should be properly photographed and presented. Photography, digital art, drawings, prints, and paintings should be shot in even light with accurate colors. The image should be shot straight on, and there should be no background or other objects in the image. If your artwork dimensions don't match the standard image dimensions, you can fill in space needed to get to the correct dimensions with solid black. For sculpture and ceramics, a neutral background with lighting that emphasizes the form while still allowing proper color presentation is best. If your sculpture is large, outdoor work, shoot it in such a way that you minimize distraction in the image. For jewelry, again, keep a neutral background and lighting that best compliments the work. For hanging textiles, shoot against a neutral background straight on. For clothing textiles, shoot them on a hanger or on a model, ensuring the clothing is shown in the best way possible and nothing distracts from the clothing. In addition to proper photography of the artwork, ensure you select three samples which show your body of work best. Keep in mind your booth image when selecting the samples. Avoid sending samples of work and then showing completely different, unrelated work in the booth image. Work on keeping a consistent body of work in your samples. Don't for example, present an impressionistic landscape with a realistic still life and an abstract. Even though you may work in all three styles and subjects, choose one and keep it in your samples and in your booth. Through the three samples, the jurors want to understand who you are as an artist and want to feel confident they are choosing a top-quality artist. Keep in mind that consistency can mean same style, same subject matter, same medium, same color palette, same substrate. Consistency doesn't have to be as restrictive as many believe. Another important factor with respect to the samples is wow factor. As I mentioned, we had about 5 seconds per image so you, as the artist, need to grab our attention and make us want to see more of your work instantly. This can be through exceptional technique and mastery of the medium, working in a manner unlike others in your medium, stretching the bounds of the medium, or humor or emotion in the work. I've written in the past about winning a juror over quickly. Focus on mastery of the medium, getting attention, consistency, composition, proportions if working with figures, and a solid understanding of color theory for many media.

Lastly, let's talk about your booth image... The booth image shows the jurors what your booth will look like at the fair. You want to present a professional image of high quality artwork. Too often, I have been blown away by an artist's work and then utterly disappointed when I get to the booth image. This can result in elimination, so be careful! I've already mentioned making sure the body of work represented by your sample artwork images aligns with the content of the booth image. Another very important factor is quantity in the booth. Though you may bring much work to the fair, keep the booth display clean and uncluttered. You don't have to place everything on the booth walls at once! I saw several images today where not a square inch of the booth walls was visible left to right or top to bottom there was so much work. Booth visitors will be overwhelmed and unable to focus on any of your fine work by doing this. Strive to hang your work evenly across the walls and spaced, in my opinion, at least 6 inches apart, preferably more. If you have unframed work, get a nice, neutral colored, artwork bin, fill it by size from smallest in front to largest in back, leaving enough room to easily flip through the work, and include the bin in the booth photo. Flourishes and embellishments can be okay for your booth but make sure they align with your work and your branding and don't take attention away from the work. My preference is also to see the work hung or organized by theme or by color family within the booth to give additional harmony and unity to the grouping. This next item is very important. Keep any identifiable information such as your name sign, out of the image. Jurying is anonymous and seeing an artist's name in the photo is a big negative! For the booth itself, work to make it look its best. Make sure the walls and roof are smooth and clean. Make sure the lighting shows the booth and the artwork at its best. Also, as with my other comments above, keep any distracting elements out of the image. If possible, shoot the booth image to leave only a small amount of space at the top and bottom and on each side. You can also get closer and show the sides to the edge and crop the ceiling out if necessary.

I hope you find this information useful. As a juror, I often wish I could select more artists for the shows I curate but space is always the issue. Presenting yourself professionally in all ways with your best work takes you a long way toward acceptance. I wish you all the best of luck with your submissions.

Until next time, Keep creating!