As the jury looks at each artists' artwork slides (digitals) and booth slide (if they must have it), they say either yes or no as to whether this artists meets the minimum qualifications or not.
Those meeting minimum qualifications are put in a drawing for each medium, and a drawing of the required number of each medium is done.
This is more fair than what is being done now by most art fairs.
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1. Jury fees are a cost of doing business for an artist, but we deserve to get something for our money. Please tell us WHY we were rejected! Quality of work, pictures, booth, medium already full, type of work/style, 2 of 3 jurors voted for you but everyone in show got 3 of 3 votes, never heard of you, sales figures at previous show, price point, local artist, etc? One show I was rejected from offered to tell you why if you sent in a SSA envelope & request letter. I did & they never replied. No matter your experience level, feedback is helpful. I don't want a lottery, I just want feedback.
2. I don't want to waste my money on shows that I don't have a chance for. I'm a PMC jewelry artist. I see many shows where this sub-medium is shut out - primarily the "top" shows where most or all jewelry artists are "fine" jewelry with traditional metalsmithing techniques. How about variety? By the way PMC is .999 Fine silver. I know of another "top" show that doesn't want "local" artists.
3. I hate the jury by check/ongoing jury. The first artist might not be the best artist. How is a medium full before the due date? If you have a due date, don't jury until after it when all the applications are in. Oh, and are you happy to take my jury fee even though my medium is already full, but not advertised as such?
4. I think a professional booth is important, but more info on what they are looking for in the jury shot would be nice. Walls down, walls up, shot at a previous art show to show that it's not staged, staged, no signs, signs ok but name fuzzed out, just the inside, outside enough to show full canopy, type of display, etc? For jewelry they must only be looking at our display, because our art is too small to see in the booth shot.
5. Most juries are supposed to be "blind" but I question if that is possible. The same "top" artists tend to get into the same "top" shows year after year. Most artists have a recognizable style, and jurors know that. Are they really the "best" artists or are they the "most well known" artists? Did they get a "yes" on the jury because show promotors know them/like working with them/they're professional/their art will sell/etc? How do new artist break into this "club"?
Unfortunately I am not surprized.
I am hoping show promoters, jurors, art educators etc are reading artfairinsiders .....it may be our only hope.....
But at the same time.......your story provides a little comic relief......lol
I guess her method beats throwing the slides down the stairs and accepting only the ones that land on the bottom.
My favorite story was from a well known show that an artist had applied to. Prior to the deadline, he received an acceptance from another show so in good faith he called the first show and asked that they return his slides and not jury him, even stating that they can keep the jury fee. The secretary's response was, let's see if you made it into the carousel tray. The artist asked for a clarification and was told that the slides are prejuried by the secretary and she decides who makes it into the jury. The artist then asks the secretary if she has an art background and was told, no, but I know what I like. And she admitted to just holding the slides up to the window to see the work.
Larry Berman
Digital Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
My only other suggestion is that the high up shows should have term limits; this would keep the work rotating every few years. I think it's best to only do a show 3 years in row and then take a year off from it. Our customers like to find something new and taking a year off from one show and coming back again helps refresh things; I think that they may also be more willing to buy since they don't know when they'll see you next. -I stopped doing the local shows for that reason; I would have great interest and customers would put-off buying at the show since I was local and they didn't have to travel to find me- almost all of those leads fell short.
My 2 cents.
We then put little tags on work (each of us independently) indicating an "in or out" status. We also had a "questionable" category to decide at the end. If a piece got "outs' by all jurors, they were out. If all jurors decided some were "in" they were defintely in. We then discussed the questionables and made decisions. Most of the time there was a size that the show had to be. We were also usually over that size. Of course, there were discussions of many of the works along the way. Jurors are subjective to a degree. There are things that interest me less than others. I try not to have that influence my decisions. I think one of my major poindts of decision is "Is it well done?" I used to tell my students that you can make a good painting of garbage or a lousy piece of sculpture from a very expensive piece of marble. I still feel that skill is over subject matter.
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