Juried Shows

David, I checked out the Juried Call and it stated the deadline is June 1st at 11:59pm not June 3rd..

FYI I think you got the date confused with my birthday. THAT is on June 3rd. :-)

Bill Tomsa

http://billtomsa.blogspot.com/

I consider juried shows a scam, ... no matter how prestigious they appear to be.

Play the lottery instead. How many lottery tickets will that $30 get you?

I have two pieces of art hanging in a juried show right now.

I've sold plenty of paintings through juried shows ... so, I'm not feeling particularly scammed by the juried show people.

I currently have paintings in three juried shows I've sold paintings in juried shows and I've won some hefty award money.

Of all the juried shows in which you have participated, how much money have you spent collectively to enter them, compared to how much money you earned from sales because of them?

If they work for you, then great. For me, though, they always seemed like playing the lottery.

I would be curious to know for HOW MANY artists in general do juried shows work? Do they work enough of the time to call such shows real benefits to MOST artists entering them?

I actually placed in a juried show once, but it cost me the entry fee and the prep time, which I did not earn back. I played the game, and acquired a bit of fame, and if that is what you want to pay for, ... great. I have exhausted my funds for such returns.

Great Jim W.,

... good to know. Are you the exception? What is the experience of MOST artists?

I've made significantly more money than I've spent on the admission fees... not posting my account books for public examination by everyone on FAA, so that's as much as I'll say.

Not getting rich, or anything, but I like doing the shows, so it's worth it. Getting the occasional ribbon is fun. Getting juror comments - if provided - on the art that doesn't make it into the show is usually worthwhile (and occasionally totally useless).

I guess it's a bit of a lottery in that you don't know how many other artists are going to enter, and that affects your chances of getting juried in -- most show venues only have a finite amount of wall space. Also, not all jurors have the same taste, so I can have one juror reject a piece, and another juror give it a ribbon.

I did lose my shirt on a juried art show on Long Island in NY... there were very exacting specifications for shipping the art, FedEx, to and from the gallery. I was pretty excited to get in, it was a really beautiful gallery. It was frustrating to live too far away to get to see the art show. That, and the shipping costs, totally cured me of any ambitions I may have had of showing anywhere that I can't easily drive to in my car...

My artwork has been juryed into a number of art competitions and, like other artists have earned ribbons and a fair sum of monetary awards.

But the most valuable thing I get out of competing in these shows is the feedback on my art I get from other artists and attendees. It's a good way to connect with people and hear their thoughts, both positive and negative, and ultimately use that for things like marketing, etc.

By the by...I've won a lot more from art competitions than I have from the lottery.

That doesn't stop me from playing Power Ball 2x a week though. Ya never know!

Bill Tomsa

http://billtomsa.blogspot.com/

For forty years I made my living solely from doing shows,,,Both juried and non-juried,

Way back, there was no fee to apply.

And with many shows to keep the promoters/ jury from having to go through a slew of "Unprofessional" art, stringent requirements were set to apply...(previous shows, awards, schooling,etc)

Then somebody got the idea, "How about a jury fee?"

That became for a short period a requirement for many of the shows.

But a ground swell grew, insisting that by paying a jury fee, one should get something in return for that ,namely a readout of the reasons for rejection or acceptance .

So the promoters changed "Jury Fee" to "Application Fee"

And opened it up for anyone to apply......The more the merrier

Roger,

I have no idea how I will do, but to have a possibility of getting my work in front of Ann Temkin
is worth the $30. The final ten are judged by Ms. Temkin.

The gallery is in Torrington, CT. One of the largest factory/corporations in Torrington was The Temkin
Co. She is part of that family. That is her tie into this show.

Dave

Ann Temkin at the MoMA being interviewed or showing the art and discussing modern art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-IuwaMEWBA

I don't have a lot of experience with juried shows, just two attempts and two rejections. I have talked a lot with local artists that do have a lot of experience and it all just seems like such a crap shoot. For example, a painting that was rejected from one show won Best of Show in another one. I recently learned that one show has a list of artists that are automatically in, they just have to show up, and this list accounts for over half the submissions to the show making it that much harder for the "emerging" artists to get it. I have won awards at non juried shows, in one case the prize just covered the cost of entering the show, in another case the prize was worth about double my entry fees and I did sell the painting, the other awards had no cash value. There really aren't a lot of shows in my area, at least not many that pay much in prizes, I'd have to pursue online or long distance shows to have any chance at any real income from the show circuit which is hard to find the time to do when you work full time.