This is my first year to apply for art fairs. I am curious why I never receive panel results. How can I ever know what I'm doing wrong if I never find out what they are saying about my artwork or my photos?
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Last year was my first year. Applied to 3 and got into two. St. Louis was the only one offering feedback. and it was very detailed. Laumeier lists the jurors and what they do professionally. Belleville seems secretive and vague...they offer no information, before or after.
I went to the mock Jury at St. Louis last year and found it very very helpful! I think you should go to one of those.
1) Get used to rejections. It happens more than acceptances, especially the better shows. 2) Jury scores are irrelevant because the juries change every year. 3) I think you can assess what you need to improve better than analyzing a jury score. Look at your work and then look at others in your media. 4) Who says jury's are qualified especially if you have a complicated process? You need to express the technique in your application. Jury's tend to pick what they like, not the best artwork. I think the quality of the jury's have gotten better the past few years, however. 5) Keep applying. Your chance of getting in increases. Cindy from St Louis posted a stat a year ago about your chances of getting into her show at least once if you applied 6 years in a row. It was the main reason why I applied last year. You don't get in if you don't apply. Of course, St Louis is of the highest quality. I think it is the best show in the country. You can read my review of last years show in a blog post that I wrote. You only have a one in thirteen chance of getting in though. I'd give anything to get back in this year. 6) There are a number of mock jury's and if you want to see what they are thinking, apply to those mock jury's. It may not be the work that is getting you rejected. It could be your images or your presentation i.e. booth slide.
In the past several years I have only received one response that included juror's marks and comments. Unfortunately, those comments really upset me. Maybe it is better not to know, but how can you adjust what you submit or writeup to get past any negativity if you don't know what is it that they are looking for. The Tennessee Craft Organization just sent me a "not accepted" note with juror's comments. Those comments stated "they wanted to see less assemblage and more technique. Well, some of these pictures I submitted were Kumihimo Jewelry. Much of the kumihimo I do is with natural stones. I have to drill out almost every bead before I can thread them and braid them. Kumihimo, if done with some creativity, takes a lot of work, super technique, and a lot of creative input so you don't end up with some routine piece. My natural stone Kumihimo has perked the interest of a lot of people, including one person who actually created one of the Kumihimo disks in this country. How does one respond to this? Another piece I submitted included a pendant that was created with shell, pearl, & charms set into a bezel with resin. Doesn't this rate something? Technique? Assemblage? You can't buy these piecesso you can just add a clasp! I have been to this show, and have seen many jewelry pieces there that one could assumed were just assembled! I have no clue how to beat this. It is really discouraging!
If the jurors don't know about Kumihimo or other important techniques, make sure that in the few words you have for an artist's statement that you tell this story. Work hard on that statement and make every word count. The best juries read aloud these statements when the work is being looked at by the jurors. Just like the rest of us, some of us are visual learners and others are literal. Me, I'm a serious word person, and listen. I've never heard of Kumihimo, so if I was on the jury I'd be listening and looking closer at the images, and subsequently probably being impressed and giving you a higher score.
Here are a few examples of the type of feedback that's been given to the artists in the past. Saint Louis has a mock jury in January each year and they try to give feedback to the artists who submit images so they can modify their images and presentation before the March deadline. Two years ago, I was one of the mock jurors for the process.
Comments from the 2015 Saint Louis mock jury:
http://bermangraphics.com/blog/2015-st-louis-mock-jury-comments/
The feedback has provided some interesting analysis. Here's an article I wrote about the statistics of attending the 2014 mock jury and how many artists actually got into the show after attending.
http://bermangraphics.com/blog/feedback-from-the-jury/
The 2013 Saint Louis mock jury video of the projected images with jurors comments by medium category:
http://bermangraphics.com/blog/the-st-louis-workshop/
Larry Berman
Larry,
Your comments on the 2015 mock jury on your blog weren't true. We did send the images with the comments. I would appreciate if you check your facts before you published your comments.
Thanks!
Hi Cindy,
I've changed my information. I guess the person who sent me the PDF didn't send me the images.
Larry Berman
Thank you.
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