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How important is the verbiage associated with your application?

Posted by Kathy Oda on June 6, 2011 at 8:17am in Jurying for Art Fairs & Craft Shows

I know that having outstanding shots of your work and booth are key, however, what weight is given to the description of your work for both your images and the description of materials and technique?  I pretty much use the same verbiage for all of my submission photos and the materials and technique since my technique is the same for my current body of work. 

 

Submission Photo verbiage  (255 characters max in Zapp)

Layering multiple colors of glass shards create a multi-dimensional effect when fired. Fused and cold worked. Has hand drawn, primitive rock carving symbols. The end result is a mosaic of color and the unformed edges provide an organic feel to each piece.

 

Materials and technique description  (100 characters max in Zapp)

Fused & cold worked layered glass shards w/pictographs create a multi-dimensional effect when fired

 

Do I need to switch it up for each photo or does it matter?  Recommendations for improvement are always welcome!  Thanks!

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Replies

  • Jim Parker June 6, 2011 at 10:18am
    Kathy, it may help to be more specific about each piece in the initial wording. While the technique and materials may be exact, is there something that you can say that will help to define that piece as an individual work? I've found that statements that include concepts as well as generic materials and techniques seem to work better. Assuming, as Larry points out, that the jurors read them at all.
    • Kathy Oda > Jim Parker June 6, 2011 at 12:43pm
      thanks, Jim!  I can definitely customize.  Each piece is has an inspiration.  I often include the story behind key pieces as part of my display.  Now I'll take some time to ponder how to work the essence of that into the descriptions.....  Thank you!
      • Linnea Lahlum > Kathy Oda June 6, 2011 at 3:52pm
        If you can fit that into 100 characters, please tell us how.
        • Jim Parker > Linnea Lahlum June 6, 2011 at 5:40pm
          The beauty of the description is that you have a longer character limit. I think it's 250 characters. So you use the individual pieces to elaborate on a basic theme from the statement. Ask yourself what's more unique about your work: the materials, process and techniques; or the concepts behind what you do. Let that drive the descriptions as well as the statement.
          • Larry Berman > Jim Parker June 6, 2011 at 5:49pm
            You do realize that Jim is speaking about ZAPP. I think JAS has a 500 character artist statement but you never want to use that many because it slows the jury process down and takes away from the time they look at your work on JAS.

            I'd like to hear what some jurors have to say. At all the juries I've observed, the individual image descriptions were never even looked at. At two juries, the artist statements were read during the first round and in two others, they were read during the second round after 50% of the applicants had already been eliminated.

            Nothing works as well as strong, easy to understand images.

            Larry Berman
            http://BermanGraphics.com
            412-401-8100
  • Larry Berman June 6, 2011 at 8:32am
    The statement is only important if the shows read them out loud or the jurors take the time to read them.

    Your statements are good but you don't need 255 characters, you need 200 characters. 200 is one of the options the shows can ask for on ZAPP.

    Larry Berman
    412-401-8100
    • Kathy Oda > Larry Berman June 6, 2011 at 10:06am

      Thank you, Larry!  So that covers the materials and technique. 

       

      When you're uploading images, does it matter if the Artwork Description is the same for each photo?

       

      Thanks!

      • Larry Berman > Kathy Oda June 6, 2011 at 10:13am
        They are for mine because it defines a body of work also.

        I'd like to hear from a juror who's ever read the statement or individual image descriptions.

        Larry Berman
        http://BermanGraphics.com
        412-401-8100
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