Wherein a primer of sorts is offered for the extremely slight edification of the reader
The Juried Show
Artists submit images of work and, if they’re super lucky, a piece or two gets juried into the show. There’s no free pass - artists must re-submit again each year in the hopes of getting in. Shows usually denote the poor bastards who will be judging (guaranteeing their names will be taken in vain) so the artist can decide if she has a hope in hell of that judge liking her work. An enlightened and relatively rare species of exhibition; examples include Birds in Art, CM Russell Auction, and the late and lamented Arts for the Parks, which juried ‘blind’ - AFTP didn’t want to see the artist’s signature on the slide, so judging could (presumably) be impartial. Of course, if an artist didn’t get in, ‘blind judging’ could take on another meaning (“how did that drek get in over my masterpiece?!”).
The Juried Membership Show
These shows up the ante by requiring that artists who submit work for jurying first become associate members of the organization. Becoming an associate member is usually as simple as writing a check and providing some images to show that the artist can do more than draw stick figures. Examples include OPA (Oil Painters of America) and Society of Animal Artists. Signature membership in these organizations is reserved only for those who have proven their worth by jurying into a bunch of shows or perhaps performing some other promethean task (eg, getting Congress to agree on anything). The value of being a Signature member of these things is a bit unclear, since the alphabet soup of organization acronyms available (eg, “Jane Doe, SAA, OPA, NWS, AAEA, AAWA, LSD, IOU…”) most likely simply promotes collector puzzlement, eyestrain, or both.
The Invitational Show
This category includes shows like Prix de West, Masters of the American West, the Buffalo Bill, etc. How an artist gets into any of these is a mystery of the cosmos, and probably involves animal sacrifice and other arcane rituals. Artists submit images to an anonymous committee somewhere, whose rules of judging are Top Secret and are kept locked in a vault like the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken. If your name is Howard Terpning, you’re invited in, and you’re in for life - you don’t need to be re-juried each year. Otherwise, the artist can count on receiving a short letter on nice museum or show letterhead that says
“Dear Artist,
We were overwhelmed with quality submissions this year, and due to the very limited number of available slots in our exhibition [read: none of our existing artists died last year], we are sorry to inform you that your work was not included. This is not cause for you to commit suicide, but it would probably be best if you didn’t bother submitting to us in the future. It’ll save time and expensive stationery for us, and false hope for you.”
…or words to similar effect.
This is especially true if the artist was foolish enough to be born with two X chromosomes instead of the all-important XY. Which brings us to…
The Blatantly Biased Membership Show
Apparently, having mammary glands means that an artist is forever doomed to create substandard work, and this line of thinking is nowhere more popular than with the membership group whose name is (pointedly) NOT “Cowgirl Artists of America”. Perhaps these artists, who are elite by virtue of being able to urinate without lowering their pants, believe that boobs simply get in the way of the brushes. Or that wearing a bra constricts an artist’s creativity (a point I might concede, given some of the torture devices that pass as bras). Maybe if women artists followed the legendary Amazon model of cutting off a breast so it doesn’t interfere with the bow (or brush), these arguments could be subverted. If only I were dedicated enough…
Then again, maybe it’s just that jamming a cowhat down onto one’s forehead cuts off circulation to the brain . . . nah.
Tags: art show
Entries (RSS)
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:34 pm
OK, Julie, if you ever give up doing art, you have yet another chance at buying your groceries from the money you make WRITING!!! I laughed so hard I, well, excuse me as I need to go and change my clothes…
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Yeah! What you said.
Very funny… Thanks for the laugh (and outrage.)
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
LOL! You aren’t only a great artist but are a great writer! I enjoyed this peek into the process of getting into and being a part of these elite shows. I always wondered about how an artist goes about getting their work in one.
What are the benefits getting into an elite juried show? Do you garner more than just another entry to put on a resume? Trying to get into shows can be expensive and once you do get a piece into one, it is expensive too.
I have juried a few paintings into some elite shows but haven’t seen any benefits to being in one.
I have often wanted to spell my name Tony rather than Toni and see if the responses to my art would be different?
I am looking forward to more entries to your blog!
Take care,
Toni
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Diane, Rosemary - thanx for the chuckles! hey, it’s better to laugh than to cry when it comes to some of this stuff!
Toni - the benefits to being juried into something depend HEAVILY on which show it is. Birds in Art, for instance, is very prestigious and very hard to get into, with a gorgeous catalog, BUT it’s not a sales-focused show. However, the opening weekend is hands-down the best event anywhere - the artists are treated like royalty for a whole weekend by the Woodson museum and the entire town of Wausau, and all your expenses are paid! Plus you get to network with top-drawer animal artists from all over the world. Most awesome.
Arts for the Parks was great in that it produced a nice catalog AND was sales-focused. I’ve gotten more picky about shows as I’ve gained experience; there are shows which have some prestige and produce nice catalogs, but I don’t bother entering because they cost me a lot of $$ for little or no benefit.
Still…juried shows on a resume help build your cred with galleries, and that’s important too. The biggest and most elite shows (like Prix de West) are the ultimate in both sales and cred, but easier for Tony than Toni, I’m sorry to say. Maybe I should switch to Julius…
March 4th, 2008 at 9:13 am
The whole art field is a little too cliquey for my liking.
I find it nothing short of absurd that the judging of an artist’s work should be based on who they are (to say nothing of their gender).
It’s like going to a cooking competition and having one’s apple pie judged not on the basis of how it tastes, but on the basis of how many years one spent in culinary school.
To be blunt: it’s dumb — and little more than a power trip for the judges, as far as i can see. As gatekeeper, they like to maintain control over the gate. it makes them feel important and ensures that they will continue to play a role in the process.
judging in all art contests should be blind, as far as i am concerned.
but then what do i know? I’m not a member of the exclusive group.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I thought your writings on getting into art shows was funny but also dead on the money. Its sad but true that there is a lot of jealousy and politics when it comes to judging these shows. Sometimes it might even depend on what the juror had for lunch or if your their cousins sisters nephew. They don’t want to let you in the big shows but they sure love taking your membership dues.
Of course art is subjective, but I’ve seen some brilliant painters with amazing drawing ability get held out of shows in favor of painters who produce pure hobbyist shlock.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Julie, that was hilarious! But, like Joe said, dead on the money. I especially liked your take on invitational shows; it truly is a “mystery of the cosmos” how one gets into one of these. Thanks for the belly laugh!
March 5th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Wow, I can’t believe that sexism is still so prevalent in the artworld. I’m not very experienced in it yet, and so I’d hoped that it was based on the artistic merit of the individual work - like the apple pie comment! *sigh*
I’d been using “Keena” - a nickname - for my art for over 25 years - but now… maybe I should consider going with just Chris..!
Thanks for the insights Julie. This will be one blog that I regularly read!
Cheers!
March 5th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Thanks for the serotonin, Julie! You’ve been blessed with plenty of talent and wit. It’s been such a joy to see your hard work pay off with recognition and prestigious gallery exposure. As an artist it gives me inspiration and hope! Blessings.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
With respect to sexism in the art world, I’ve mostly found it in shows which are:
(a) invitational, and
(b) your traditional western representational exhibitions
…this assessment is based on totting up the gender ratios in such shows (and various personal experiences). I believe most juried shows are much more fair. It’s the big western art invitationals that seem to exhibit the bias.
And I should also disclose, in reference to other comments about judging and subjectivity, that I once juried the Animal Art category of The Artist’s Magazine’s annual competition. I was surprised to find that the magazine staff ‘pre-juries’ entries and narrows down the hundreds(?) of category entries to just 50 or so finalists that are sent to the actual category judge. I would have preferred to jury all of them myself, and since I now know how this competition operates - and that the category judge doesn’t actually see most of the work submitted - I no longer enter it.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Diana - you’re welcome (for the serotonin)
- I’ll try to make sure some of that appears here regularly! And you were one of MY inspirations with respect to starting a blog.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I like this blog a lot already. Lots of art world secrets (ie, dirty laundry) and other useful information coming out.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Hmmm….the list of shows I try to enter each year is fairly short - good juried shows (eg, Birds in Art, CM Russell) and some invitationals that seem a little more open (eg, last year was the first time I was included in the Gilcrease American Art in Miniature show). Miniatures shows might be good places to try for being invited - they have room to include more artists due to the small size of the works.
Don’t overlook your local and regional shows. Long before I became more serious about my art career - eg, entering Arts for the Parks - I placed pieces in local fairs and did numerous horse and dog commissions. One of my favorite venues back then was the Harvest Fair - Sonoma County’s October fair celebrating the wine harvest. It had an art show associated with it which was small time and wildly variable in quality (think Aunt Martha’s watercolors of flowers), but ribbons were awarded and my paintings in the fair always sold…if I think about it, the success there had to do with the types of folks visiting the Harvest Fair: Bay Area wine-lovers, which typically have reasonable discretionary income to spend on something like art.
Get on the mailing list for your state arts council, as their newsletters will usually include notices of state and regional art shows. And there’s always ArtCalendar, another very good resource for gazillions of art shows - far beyond the few western representational things we’ve been talking about. There are loads of venues out there! ArtCalendar is helpful in that they refuse listings for shows which have engaged in shady dealings in the past (and they’ll note this).
March 7th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Thanks a lot for the suggestions. This is the kind of stuff you can’t get from a book. maybe you should write one in your “spare” time.
By the way, in your opinion, is the competition less stiff with the miniatures?
I’ve looked at some of the old mini entries in art for the parks and it seems like, on average, the minis were not on the same level as the regular size ones. The best minis are probably at the ssame level as the best regular sized ones, but the “average” quality seems to be lower and there seems to be more “scatter” about the average.
I realize part of that is simply due to the fact that it is hard to paint small pictures (God knows, it’s hard enough to paint those cat whiskers on the big ones!)
Then again, it may just be perception on my part, and i lay no claim to being expert judge by any means.
And “averaging” paintings as I do may be a wee bit unorthodox (I have a background in science/engineering), but perhaps there is something more to this? — More than just that “they have more room because the paintings are smaller “
March 14th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Julie, I’m so glad that I came across your website! You are so funny and entertaining to read in your newsletters and here and I love your artwork.
I’m only just taking classes so I’m nowhere near entering any shows but I have learned alot just from reading what you write. I subscribe to the Artist’s Magazine and I’m sure I just read recently exactly what you said about how they judge their contests also.
Thanks again for all that you have unknowingly taught me!
March 14th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Larry, my highly unscientific and qualitative experience suggests competition is no less stiff with miniatures shows; yes, the venues can hang more artists - but there are an awful lot of really good artists out there. For me, miniatures are harder to do really well; more has to be suggested, less painted, and I can’t get real ambitious about the what I put in the piece. Every now and then I do one I really really like, but my batting average is lower on the miniatures.
Kim, thank you for the kind and enthusiastic comments! feedback like this keeps me going. Taking classes and reading The Artist’s Magazine are super ways to develop yourself as an artist - along with making hundreds of drawings and paintings. I also happen to be a booklover, and I must have several hundred books just about art. I’ll have to do a blog post sometime describing the categories of art books I own, and highlighting some favorites.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:07 am
I just found your blog though I have been getting your newsletters for some time. Not only is it entertaining but also very informative - a great combination. Too bad there aren’t 48 hours in a day as you write as well as you paint!