Recently I watched an artist explain the process of jurying art into an exhibition. She gave a list of things to consider before entering a contest, and also explained the process of selection from the juror’s perspective.
This is a summary of the advice the artist gave:
- Any reference photos must be yours exclusively. Many exhibitions now state no AI generated paintings. Be able to prove you own the reference photo.
- Give yourself ample time to do the best job of your work. Don’t rush pieces just to have an entry. Plan ahead which exhibitions you will enter.
- Take a good critical look at the painting to ensure there are no inconsistencies or little errors of any kind. It is always good to put a painting aside and take a fresh look in a few days.
- Choose exhibitions wisely. Typically, when there is an entry fee the only one who profits is the gallery. It is ok if a percentage is taken from sold work. I once paid to enter an exhibition where I later found out no artwork was sold, and few people outside of the artists even attended. The show was still profitable for the gallery owner.
- Make a thumbnail of your work to see if it still reads well. The jurors may be looking at hundreds of pieces so make sure yours stand out. It can be helpful to look at past winners to see how your art compares.
- Above all EMBRACE REJECTION because it is part of the process. Jurors have their biases, a rejection may just mean that your art got lost in the sea of art the juror examined. Do not get discouraged.
My husband and I were asked to select our favorite three out of 25 or so photographs a friend wanted to enter into a contest. We chose 3 wildlife pictures that we thought were exceptional. One of those wildlife photos won a second prize, but the first prize was a landscape with mountains. Our friend had several beautiful landscapes, but we thought the wildlife would win. That shows that the entire process is very subjective so don’t get discouraged.
These were the entries:
