I filled out an application up to the submission point, only to find the 100 character “Statement” or “Sample Description” do not show up when I do “Preview as Juror. ” When I hover over the “i” in the middle of each image, no 100 character “Statement” or “Sample Description” are showing up.
All I see is: Artist (1 of 1), What image number it is, plus Title, Medium, and Dimensions.
I KNOW they have shown up before. I checked my pending and past applications.
What is going on? Is it this individual show that does not want to see either one? That does not make sense. If that were the case, why would they even ask for the 100 character Description of Material and Technique (displayed as “Statement” on the Juror Preview) on the application? I don’t want to submit my application missing this information.
I decided to check ALL my applications, both pending, accepted, and rejected. I did find TWO that did have the Statement of Materials and Technique (aka 100 character statement, or 200 character, etc.), but did NOT have the individual image descriptions, for any of the images required in that application.
No other ones except the show described at top, whose application I put on hold, is lacking BOTH the 100 character “Statement” or “Sample Description.”
And before some one says I must not have uploaded one for those images, I will say that almost all of my applications contain these SAME images, which definitely have the image description field filled in. Call them Images A, B, and C. I have been on ZAPP since it started, and know how to do what is needed in uploading, formatting, filling out fields, etc. I could do this with one eye closed and my left hand. Plus I check, recheck and check yet again.
Therefore most applications with A, B, and C have BOTH the “Statement” and “Sample Description” visible while doing “Preview as Juror”; and two have only the “Statement,” with no “Sample Description,” and only the mystery application has neither.
I even went to the same point of Ready for Submission with another show, just as a test, with the same images, to see these were absent on an unsubmitted one: and that one IS showing “Statement” and “Sample Description” on Preview as Juror.
I am tearing my hair out. Please someone explain HOW, and WHY this could be. Thank you.
Replies
I have just seen one show, Naperville Riverwalk Fine Art Fair, without any descriptive statements whatsoever when I preview as a juror. That doesn't mean your application is incomplete or the zapplication system is faulty. I can't remember another show where this info was absent, but I don't always preview as a juror. I only recently started doing this when I was arguing other points in other threads here on AFI.
Here's what that Naperville show says in its prospectus about the jury process and 100 character statement:
JURY PROCESS
Submitted images must be representative of the work to be exhibited and should be sharply focused. All 5 images will be simultaneously projected and juried by professional art experts. Artists will be ranked numerically in their category based on jury scores. Exhibitors are selected by ranked point total. A brief artist statement may be read while your slides are being projected. Booth fees are $400 for a single booth. Notification of status will sent by May 12, 2016. Due to unexpected circumstances which occur every year, the director may be involved in artist selection after the jurying process.
100 CHARACTER JURY STATEMENT
Artists must include a brief statement about their materials and how they are used in the application form. This statement may be read aloud while their images are being projected.
Based upon all that, I wouldn't think anything is wrong with the zapp system at all. If you are worried that something's wrong, I'd contact the particular show instead of zapp. I'd let the show contact zapp if they think something's wrong with their system.
The rest of my current zapplications ALL have either a 100, 200, or 300 character statement when I hover and click the "I", and some of them also have the artwork description I keyed in when uploading images to the portfolio. Not all of my current zapplications have the artwork description I keyed in while uploading images to the portfolio. So that might mean shows can choose what appears to us in this PREVIEW AS JUROR feature.
One thing you might try first is to maximize your screen when previewing as a juror. When I click to PREVEIW AS JUROR, it comes up small. When I hover in the center and see the "I", I click it and the info comes up and I notice that if it's a 100 character statement it falls below the bottom edge of the clearly viewable screen and appears really blurred under the lower icons bar that's always on my computer screen. When I maximize the Preview as Juror viewing screen, I see the 100 character statement. Longer statements create a larger field and thus are two and three lines long, and that makes at least the first line visible even in the reduced size screen.
I heard back from Zapp. It is not a glitch. This particular art fair has chosen NOT to have the image description OR the 100 character “Description of Materials and Technique” statement visible to jurors. The 100 character “Description of Materials and Technique” is a field for applicants to fill out, but apparently it will not be used by jurors.
As Barrie mentions with regard to the art fair he discusses above, they have chosen to do without it. The show in question juries from monitors, separately, so it will not be read aloud: possibly the show administration has some other use for it.
So it looks like they do not want to know what the work is made out of, nor how it is done. I can only speculate, but perhaps they feel it slows the process down for the jurors, or is a distraction from the images.
Once upon a time there was a glitch in the system and wherever the individual description was to show up, the artist statement did. I guess they still haven't fixed the glitch. As I recall, it probably started with the changing of the monitor jury size.
Larry Berman
Thanks for your reply, Larry. But why would it show up sometimes and others, not?
Larry Berman