The Juried Exhibition

How to be a Professional Artist

Part 3: 

Juried Exhibitions

After you have had some success showing your art work in local “open” art exhibitions, you will want to begin to seek out some “juried” exhibitions. 

The “open” show allows all entries to be displayed in the show.  

This is an amateur type of show.  

There are no selections and all works are displayed in this show. It is a nice place to begin if you want to start getting your work out in front of the public.  I suggest you do this for a year or two to get started and get a feel for showing your work to the public.

The “juried” show will be selective and a “juror”  will choose some works, and reject some works for the show.  

This is a step forward for you, to begin to be selected for exhibitions. At this point, you have decided to become more professional about showing your art work and you will no longer be looking for the “open” art shows.

Here are some types of Juried Exhibitions for you to consider:

1.)  Regional Juried Exhibition – 

This show usually limits the scope of entries to a radius around where the show will be presented.  It may be a “Tri-State” show, or a show that sets the distance that an artist may live from the exhibition site. Typically, that will be anywhere from 50 to 150 miles away.

Art works will be selected from artists who live within a tri-state area if it is a “Tri-State” show, or within the mileage described for entries.All other artists who live outside the selected  area  cannot enter this show. 

Typically the “Juried Exhibition” is selected by one juror. It will be a successful artist who is well-known nationally or regionally.  The show will be sponsored by a museum or art center.  The exhibition will be held at that site and only works of art that have been pre-selected by the “juror” will be on display in that show.

2.)  National Juried Exhibition – 

Artists will be selected by a nationally known juror for this exhibition.  It is usually held in a museum or gallery or art center.  Since the range from which the entries may come is quite wide – the entire nation – you can imagine that the chances of getting into a National Juried Exhibition are not as good as a regional show would be. The competition will be strong for a place in this exhibition.

One nice thing about such a show is that your work is viewed alongside fellow artists  rom across the entire country.  This gives you an idea of what is going on with other artists nationally. You can see how your work stacks up next to the others. You can also attend the opening  reception for the show, and meet  the other artists who are in that same show.

3.)  Juried Exhibition sponsored by art organizations – If you are a member of an artist’s organization, 

you will most likely have the opportunity to be involved in an annual exhibition. They are always “juried” exhibitions. That means, everyone in the group can enter a specified amount of art works.  Typically, you can enter anywhere from 1 to 4 works. 

There will be a “juror” for this show, too.  The juror will come from out of the area and will be someone who is notable in the art world. It can be a working artist or an arts professional such as a professor of Fine Arts at a university, or the director of an art museum or gallery.

This kind of a show is exciting because your work is put up for the jury process against your fellow artists in the arts organization that you all belong to. This is a chance to put your work up with your peers. 

4.)  International Juried Exhibition –

 Here, your work is in competition with art works from many different countries. 

This show can be expensive for you if you are selected. You will have to ship the work to the country where the show will be held. You’ll be paying shipping to and from that show. You will have to find out what the rules are for shipping the work and it can be complicated but you have to do that. You have to do your research to find out exactly how you can ship the work.

Some Juried Exhibitions require that you send your work to an art handler instead of sending it directly to the museum or gallery where it will be in a show.  The art handler receives your  work, unpacks it, and delivers it to the show site on a specified day. This is often the case when doing shows in New York City or other large metropolitan areas.  You have to pay a fee to the art handler for this service. And, it usually has to be the art handler specified by the art gallery or museum. You cannot choose another one, there is only one permitted to do this usually.

Sometimes, when doing an exhibition in another country, the museum will pay for shipping of your work, both ways. I have been fortunate to be in a couple of shows in Japan and New Guinea and  all shipping costs were covered to the artists who were in the show.

Everything you need to know about how to enter a show is printed on a “prospectus.” 

What is the prospectus?

It is a flier on which all the rules are outlined for you. It will tell you how many works you can enter, where and when you can enter them, and the cost to enter. When you learn about a show, you may contact the gallery or museum and ask for a prospectus. It can be mailed to you, or you can often get it via e-mail.

This gives you a brief look at some aspects of putting your work in a juried exhibition. By now, you are probably wondering what the costs involved may be.  I will give you a brief overview of that here:

Jury or Entry Fee:  

This is the fee charged for you to enter the show.  You will enter the show by taking your work to the museum for the juror to look at directly. Or, you will enter slides of your work, or a CD with pictures of your work. You pay this fee and even if you are NOT juried into the show it is not refunded. This fee is your first expense when entering a juried show. All juried shows that I am aware of have a Jury or Entry Fee.

Shipping Fees:  

If the show is too far away for you to drive to it, then you will want to ship your work there. You will pay to ship the work to and from the show.

I hope this gives you an insight into how you might want to proceed to become more professional about where your work is being viewed. 

Your opportunities for selling your work at a juried show are fairly good.  It is much better  if your work is shown in a well-known gallery or museum because that is where collectors will come to buy art. The collector respects the gallery and the juror and knows that the work has been selected from many other entries just to be in this show.

Another exciting thing about a juried show is that there is always prize money awarded to a selected few winners from the show.  

The prize winners are always recognized in the show’s catalogue and they are given their awards publically at the Opening Reception for the show.

The winning works are usually depicted in the show catalogue, too.

I hope this has inspired YOU to think about what YOU might do with your work.

 What is YOUR NEXT STEP?  

Are you ready to try to get into a Juried Exhibition? I hope you do. Go ahead and get your prospectus, read it over, and follow the directions - you are off on a new phase of your career.

How to Begin Your Art Career

How will YOU  Plan Your Art Career?

Part I

Juried Exhibitions and

Your  Resume’

_

By Lynda J. Lambert

Pennsylvania Artist

ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS:

What is an art career?

Do I even have an art career?

Do I want to have an art career and exhibit my art in public shows?

Am I happy just playing “artist” or do I want more?

How serious am I anyway?

What does it take for me to move from a hobby artist to an artist who is recognized as a professional?

Would I like to see my art hanging in galleries, museums, or exhibitions?

Lynda Lambert at her opening reception for _Primal Garden...la vida luminiscentes_ 

September 9th, 2011 at Merrick Art Gallery, New Brighton, PA

Lynda is shown with her daughter Heidi Lambert McClure, also an artist

Lynda has been in over 200 juried exhibitions and exhibited nationally and internationally.

STEP ONE:

This is an important FIRST STEP: 

You may be saying, “What IS a JURIED EXHIBITON?

You will  need to know about this before you can move on to the next step in your exhibition career.

The first step towards a serious commitment to your art requires that you begin to enter juried exhibitions. In this way, you get a feel for how your work stacks up when in competition with your fellow artists. 

Be prepared for some rejections.  Even artists who have been exhibiting their work for many years get rejected by a juror.  This is just part of the world of art exhibitions.  Sooner or later, you WILL get into a juried show and you will be so proud of your achievement. It will be a big step in your career when you begin to get into juried shows and even win some recognition for them.

How does it work?

A JURIED exhibition is a show that has been selected by one judge or a small panel of judges who view your work along with lots of other entries from other artists.  The juror will select the art works that he/she decides will best suit the kind of show that will be exhibited in the end.   You want to begin putting your art work out among the crowd of other art works through the jury process.

Before this, you may have entered your art in shows that are non-juried. This means that all work entered in a show will be hung or displayed.  This could be the first step for the novice, and one that is non-threatening nor intimidating.  This type of show is usually uneven, with work by seasoned artists appearing beside art works that are made by beginners.  After you have done just a few of these, you are now ready to move UP to put your work before a jury.  You will definitely want to do this and you will need to do this to gain professional experience in showing your art works.

As you begin to participate in juried exhibitions you will need to begin listing them on an artist’s resume. It is an important step and it reflects that you are a serious artist. It also reflects that an doing work that is notable in your field because experts have chosen your work for public display in their shows

Hand Beaded Jewelry on display at Merrick Art Gallery

5th Avenue and 11th Street, New Brighton, PA

Sept 9 - October 2, 2011

Bead Weaving by Lynda Lambert

Create a good Resume:

Now is the time to begin working on a good resume, or a one page Vita.

Begin doing this as soon as you begin getting into juried exhibitions.


After listing your name, address, contact information website or blog address, then you will divide you resume' into some important categories. It will be in those catagories that you will begin to list your exhhibitions and honors and awards. Do it chronologically. Begin with your latest one, and then go backwards.

Create a category titled:  “Juried Exhibitions.”

Later on, you will need to create a category for “Invitational Exhibitions.” That usually comes after you have been doing some juried exhibitions for a while. Eventually  you will be  invited to participate in a gallery, museum, or art center’s show. This is also decided by a gallery owner, a selected juror or a committee, so it is also prestigious  because you have been asked or invited  to participate in the show.

Awards and Honors on your RESUME:

On your resume, create a THIRD category listing for “Awards and Honors.” 

When you need to send your Vita' or Resume' to another show or to a gallery, they will be looking to see what shows your work has appeared in and any awards or honors you have won.  List them chronologically by placing the most recent ones at the top of your list.

Review of Step ONE:

1.)     Begin to look for “juried” art exhibition and enter them

2.)     Create your Resume' or a short one-page Vita’

Here is what you need to put on your resume’ or one-page  vita’:

Your Name

Your Address

Phone Number/ E-mail

Your Blog or Website (IF you have one)

Categories:

          1.)  Juried Exhibitions:

                        List name of show; the juror’s name;

 the place where it was on exhibit,

                        and the dates of show

            2.) Invitational Exhibitions

                        List name of show, 

the juror or group who invited you, 

place when the exhibition was on display; 

date of show

            3.) Awards and Honors:   

List any awards you received in a show, 

date of Award 

Later on, we'll be adding a couple more categories. But for a start, this is all you'll need to put on your artist's resume' or one-page vita'. Remember this: An artist's resume' is very different than a business person's resume'.


The steps are small ones, but very important ones. It is the little things that make your art career work. It is the ability to pay attention to the small details and be careful about them.

One of the biggest failures for an artist is to spend tons of time in the studio creating work, and then failing to develop a business PLAN for marketing that work.  We have to be in BALANCE.  Work + Exhibitions are important to us. Exhibitions give us an audience for our work AND  it brings us recognition and collectors who will be buying our work. We want to begin to develop our exhibition opportunities AND our clients.

To BEGIN:  

Step it UP

Find some Juried Shows

Begin your Artist  Resume'

You can begin by doing a search on-line for juried shows in your local area. I strongly suggest that you begin with a show that is very close to where you live.  You'll probably be surprised at how many juried exhibitons and opportunities you will find within a 30 mile radius of where you live.  Check out  any galleries or museums, art centers, universities, colleges, or local educational programs in the arts to find out when their next juried show will be held.

The Prospectus:
Ask the gallery  for a prospectus. The prospectus is a program flyer that gives you all the information you need to enter the juried show. They will probably email it to you. You can read the prospectus and you will know all the rules and regulations for that particular show. The prospectus will tell you exactly HOW to enter the show. It will give the dates of the show;  the juror's name and credentials;  the day to deliver your art for the jury process; the day to deliver your accepted art work; the day of the opening reception and awards ceremony; the FEE you need to send with your application, size limitations; and the kinds of art forms that are permitted  for entry in this show. Your Prospectus is your ROAD MAP for that particular exhibition. 

Autumn Reflection Vessel:  Grape Leaves, Snakes, and Sanils

by Lynda Lambert

In the solo exhibition:  Primal Garden...la vida illuminscentes

Merrick Art Gallery,  5th Avenue and 11th Street,

New Brighton, PA

Sept 9 - October 2, 2011

Our next conversation will be to explore the different kinds of JURIED EXHIBITIONS  that you will encounter once you begin your SEARCH for a show to enter.

Autumn is a GREAT TIME to begin looking for some shows to enter.  I would love to hear from you on this topic and hear about your experiences as you begin to enter some juried shows. I willbe celebrating with you when you get IN your FIRST JURIED SHOW. Be sure to let me know about it.