Hi, I saw a call for entries for Lakefront Art Festival (in Michigan City, not Milwaukee) and was going to apply as it is closer to home but when I saw their eligibility requirement, it didn't seem like the show for me.
If anyone has done or applied for this art festival, please help me on deciphering these two requirements on their application:
* All work must be original art, conceived and executed soley by the artist within the last two years.
* Unframed work or commercial reproductions are limited to one bin per booth.
I'm a photographer so I have a good bit more unframed work than say a painter, but I have to think no matter what medium you are in these rules wouldn't allow most artists to sell anything. The two year limit seems odd and the one bin really limits work.
Am I reading the requirements right? or am I misinterpreting them?
Thanks for any help.
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As photographers, each print is defined as an original, whether it's matted or framed. Generally, shows ask that you present all of your work in either mats, or framed. Many photographers are also using canvas gallery wraps instead of framing prints, and in the past, laminated prints were also popular.
As for the bin requirement, many shows don't enforce this strictly. They want your booth to look professional and not junky, so boxes of different sizes strewn over a folding table is definitely out. But they typically don't define how big (or small!) the bin has to be, so many photographers use uniform size boxes all fastened together, which technically then becomes one bin. Look around at some shows, and you'll see many examples of this.
Likewise, the two-year limit is hard to enforce in practice, unless they require that you date every single piece. And does that mean date of conception? or date of completion? I wouldn't worry about this one too much. After all, if you've never done the show, then it's all new to the audience and the promoters, which is really what they're after.
Jenni Kulp > Jim ParkerJanuary 27, 2009 at 10:37pm
Thanks Jim. Your site was really helpful and gave me some ideas. I had thought about the fact they never specify how big the bins should be so they could be large bins. I do have a problem though that my very large prints, 24"x30", would be hard to combine with the smaller prints. But I'm going to skip on Lakefront this year and maybe will do it another year.
Replies
As photographers, each print is defined as an original, whether it's matted or framed. Generally, shows ask that you present all of your work in either mats, or framed. Many photographers are also using canvas gallery wraps instead of framing prints, and in the past, laminated prints were also popular.
As for the bin requirement, many shows don't enforce this strictly. They want your booth to look professional and not junky, so boxes of different sizes strewn over a folding table is definitely out. But they typically don't define how big (or small!) the bin has to be, so many photographers use uniform size boxes all fastened together, which technically then becomes one bin. Look around at some shows, and you'll see many examples of this.
Check out some of my bin ideas, over on my blog, at:
http://www.parkerparker.info/studio/blog/?p=107 (New bins)
http://www.parkerparker.info/studio/blog/?p=9 (Old bins that double as transport boxes)
http://www.parkerparker.info/studio/blog/?p=30 (Bin Plans)
Likewise, the two-year limit is hard to enforce in practice, unless they require that you date every single piece. And does that mean date of conception? or date of completion? I wouldn't worry about this one too much. After all, if you've never done the show, then it's all new to the audience and the promoters, which is really what they're after.