This year I have tried to get into shows that I would have not considered in the past so I have spent a lot of time reading about juries and looking carefully at my photos. Feedback from those who have observed Juries has talked about "coherent body of work" which as best I can tell implies that the 3 or 4 art shots should be of pieces that go together in a series or show the same techniques.
I have 4 different styles that I am currently playing with. Each is given it's own area in my booth. In past years I would submit one slide with each style to show my range and to let the show see what to expect when the choose me. This year I have sent 3 or 4 shots that are from the same "series". All different sizes and shapes but all start with the same technique.
I'm finishing up my app for Morning Glory in Milwaukee and I noticed the phrase "Images submitted for jurying should represent current work, and be in direct proportion to the work you plan to exhibit. " Suddenly I have doubts about what to send. Do I go back to my one of each for this app?
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Amy
Replies
Thanks for all the feedback, this gives me a lot to think about. In the past I have had everything from votives to large bowls to pieces on stands ... all fused ... with a lot of different techniques running throughout. I struggled with the idea of trimming what I display for fear of not having just the right thing out for each customer. By the end of last year I finally convinced myself that I need to be more focused and in picking my jury photos realized that there are a few styles I do that really show "me", not just the fact that my fusing technique is competent. When you break the styles down it really comes down to 3 series within one technique and 2 series within another. This seems manageable for shows, and makes for some really nice displays. My current winter experiments fall into one of those techniques so I even feel like the focus is getting sharper.
This discussion has helped me far beyond booth shots. It reinforces the plan that I have been working on for shows.
I've purchased new shelves (which of course means my booth shots are terribly out of date, but I am hoping to take a new one in the next few weeks) and plan to use them to "group" my pieces into series. I will keep the non-series stuff with me in the hopes of getting so low on stock that I need filler during each show (yeah, I am an optimist) but I don't plan to display it unless the booth is really getting light. In the meantime I will try to sell as much of that stuff as I can on Etsy and other means. Suggestions are welcome!
Thanks again - you guys are awesome!
I think Robert makes some good points.
To add, I went the The St. Louis Art fair image workshop as well. They told me that if I have more than one "stlye" I should apply separetley for both, then If I get in under both I can have both in my booth. But each application should be complete of itself, as in the booth shot for each would only contain the work in the slides.
My styles are not terribly different, but different enough, and you can easily see the same hand in each work. I think I am going to do some shows with one style, and some with both, and see how things go. So far this year all my applications included both bodies, and most applications were accepted. But I will apply separately for St. Louis.
I do agree that you want a coherent looking booth, Although I do agree that is can seem a bit narrow minded. And while I think someone may be fine with two similar styles, I think 4 in the same booth does get confusing and detracts from the work overall. I have seen potters booths ( I am a potter) with a hadge podge of different pottery in it, and while they were nice pieces, the overall messy presentation distracted from each piece and made the whole booth very unimpressive.
If you really have 4 styles you like to do, try limiting each show you do to one or two of them. If you do two or more shows in the same city present different work at each show. Or maybe present certain work at fairs and then sell other work through consignment or wholesale.
I think it is perfectly fine for an artist to be exploring different avenues of work, but when you show yourself in a fair you need to present a more unified message.
Think of it this way. If Picasso were doing fairs, which would be more impressive, a booth displaying all work from one period, or a booth with one or two pieces from every period of his life? The focus of the former would be much easier for someone to understand as each piece gives context to the other, and the body as a whole tells a certain story. But take the later, if you had a booth filled with realism, abstract cubism, sculpture, etc, it would be very confusing and not nearly as impressive.
The thing that I heard at the St. Louis workshop was that they wanted to see a cohesive body of work in the jury slides and the booth slide. The words they repeatedly used were, "we have to wonder just what they are selling when we see multiple bodies of work in the booth".
From my viewpoint, which is worthless for getting into shows, there's nothing wrong with having having different styles of work in your booth. What is slowly dawning on me, and it's taken many years for this to sink into my thick skull, is that from a marketing standpoint you don't want to offer too many choices and directions to the customers at one time. It sounds insulting to me because it means I can't grasp that an artist is not a one trick pony, and is capable of visualizing more than one thing. It sounds insulting that the public is confused by three or more styles of work in an artist's booth. It sounds insulting that a judge is confused by work that has wide variations. Unfortunately the reality of sales and marketing is that nebulous concept of "brand identity" is what drives the acceptance into shows and how well you are probably going to sell your work.
I did a Howard Alan show many years ago some where in the Chicago area, Skokie if memory serves me well. I did miserably. He was coming around checking on the artists to see how they were doing. I told him I had done poorly, actually taking a loss on the show. He looked at the booth and told me that the work was good and that I was a talented photographer, but I had too much variety and was presented myself as a Ripley's Museum with a little of something for everyone but no overall focus that would help drive my sales. He said I could charge $5 a pop to make a tour of the booth and probably do better as the customers would at least be entertained. He went on to suggest pulling the darker undertone work and concentrate on something that would make people feel better or good about themselves. The main thing was that I needed to have focus in what I was presenting.
This year is not going all that hot for getting into shows, but using what I picked up at the St. Louis workshop, I'm presenting a more unified and cohesive body of work. It's not the most dramatic work possible, and that has to change as I get new work done this summer, but I'm applying for higher end shows and getting into a few and getting wait listed for a bunch, whereas before it was outright rejection.
Some comments I've received in years past might be telling. I have several distictively different bodies of work; B&W figurative and nudes; alternative process works done in a 19th century Symbolist style of nudes done in a woodland setting (van Dyke brown, cyanotype, and gum bichromate prints); traditional color landscapes; architectural details (doors and windows) of historical neighborhoods; humorous B&W shots involving GI Joes and Barbies. That's five I've listed and I suppose someone could make the case for another genre or two. At a few shows, I'll have either a 15 foot booth or a double at 20 foot. I'll arrange them as a gallery with extra walls standing in the middle of each section that gives me about 75 feet of wall space. I'll arrange the works into groupings with a more or less smooth transition from one section to another. Countless number of times, I've had customers surprised that all the work is mine. They were thinking that the booth was the work of several people.
The way the industry is geared, it's typical that customers and jurors alike expect consistency of work and are put off by wide variety of work from an artist. I don't like it, but that doesn't count. It's what the gatekeepers expect to see that's important, because if you don't get past them, it's all a moot point.
I guess one of the issues all "artists" have to contend with is this...are you mostly trying to impress the judges or are you tryine to "sell" your works. I have been doing juried and non-juried shows for several years now. There have been other photographers who had a wonderful "body of work" presented in their booth...all flowers, all bird, all nature shots, all waterfalls, all sunsets, all beaches...you get the idea. In many cases, in speaking with some of them near the end of the show, they had sold little or nothing. A case can definitely be made for maintaining a body of work...but a case can also be made that you need some variety. There are few stores out there that only carry solid color shirts for example...to do so would be retail suicide.
I have culled down my offerings in the past few years...mostly concentrating on four to five "areas of interest." To keep the look consistent, I have discontinued showing seascapes, despite the fact that they were a very good seller for me. Sure, I admit it, the look of my book is better now. Hard to say if sales have improved or suffered because of this since the economy has had a impact on show attendance and sales. So, where does that leave us? Simple...do what you feel is right!
"are you mostly trying to impress the judges or are you trying to "sell" your works?"
Actually the answer is both. First you have to impress the judges just to get in. Then if you get in, readjust the booth to get what sells out there visible and accessible. Don't go too far out, or the big time shows (so I hear) will ask you to take down the glaring discrepancies. I've had no complaints so far, but I'm not doing the shows that are that persnickety.
I'm cutting out the stuff that's not been moving, and culling out what doesn't look to be as strong. Every now and then I set up a mixed bag flip bin of different sizes, and make it a one-price bin, which is to say a low price bin. I don't mark it as a sale bin as some shows frown on that, and the old prices stay on along with a colored dot to indicate to me it's a discounted item. Every year or two I try that and it moves a bunch of dogs out. It's off the wall and into the bargain bin. If it doesn't move out of there, it's eventually headed for the dumpster. If I get lucky the foam-cor backing is still salvagable ;-)
I also have wonder about this myself I have two different bodies of work that use the same process but are very much on different ends of the septum. I am new to the art fair shows but have been doing art for a long time. Funny how life takes its path through time. On the one side I am a potter were I throw classical style vases and they sell very well, so that is what I summit to the shows as a coherent body of work. So when I set up for a show the majority is that style, but the other part is abstract (wife likes to call none pots). The abstract body of work gets attention from a smaller group of people who seem to be more on the collectors’ side. I have summited this body of work to two shows Old Town and Milwaukee museum and did not get in either. I wonder if I had done what you have done and given them pictures of both styles would it have been different? Tim Arnold
A dilemma that some applications are causing artists to rethink their choice of images. For example, St Louis wants to see all price points represented in your jury set. But in general, a single body of work or clear vision will both jury better and sell better, especially at the better shows.
Does your display picture contain all four bodies of work? If so, I recommend carrying a print of your booth picture, at least 8x10 or 11x14 so if challenged you can show what you juried with and was accepted.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100