This is a very useful, down to earth, letter from a woman who runs an art fair in northern Michigan. What I especially like about it is this:
- this is not a nationally ranked show, much like most shows around the country
- the tips are very pragmatic
- it is a great example of what many smaller art fairs should be saying to their applicants
READ ON and LEARN:
I'm sending this to everyone who applied this year, so don't take it personally unless you think you might need to.
We did our jury last night and I have a few comments about image quality. The whole jury process is very competitive and this should probably go without saying, but I'll say it anyway. IMAGE QUALITY MATTERS!
Some of you have been sending the same images for quite a few years. If you have new work, we'd like to see it.
A few of you sent images that were the wrong size. Pay attention. If you send us things that are too small to be seen, it's not helpful to you.
A few of you just sent bad images. Getting professional photos of your work done is very expensive, I know. It may not be necessary, but you do need to make sure that the things you send are of good quality. You have a lot of competition.
I'm going to talk mostly about the booth slides. I sent out an email to many of you last year and it was obvious that you listened. Thank you. It's not important to me that your booth shots be good, but it's VERY important to you.
If you have new work, we need to see a newer booth shot.
The booth shot represents your whole body of work. If your booth shot is blurry or messy looking...
We try to do a blind jury, so would prefer that neither your name nor your face appear in the shot.
The jurors see four images. If they see three amazing pieces and then something different in the booth shot, it WILL affect your scoring. Perhaps you did three really great things in grad school or three great pieces this year. We need the booth shot to be representative of the work you will be bringing to this year's show. If there is a disparity between what we see in the booth and the other images, the jurors can't help but wonder. Some of you just need to update.
The prize for worst booth shot this year goes to someone named David. Perhaps you know who you are.
We really want to see you do well - we care.
Good luck to you all - responses should go out next week - Donna
Many thanks to Mike Barnes for forwarding this excellent letter to me. He gets the first AFI bumper sticker!
Comments
Comments from Marjorie Rawson:
I love this show and do it as often as I can.
I sent her a message saying it was the BEST letter from a jury EVER!!!
It actually HELPED!
Like the issue of ZAPP changing the wording away from square image formatting on their web site, there is now no place to point shows to see what image formatting they should ask for in their non ZAPP/JAS applications. And I posted earlier today about a show asking for not larger than 900x600 pixels horizontally. Totally unfair for artists with vertical jury images because horizontal images are 50% larger than verticals.
Same with the booth image requirements. There is no place to point shows to for the wording of a booth image standard and having one on the NAIA web site will make it easy for all artists to complain to shows that they are not following the recommended standard. Like the NAIA suggested red dot did for jury slide labeling, a standard booth image requirement (no matter where it is on the web) will make life easier for artists.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
Can't comment about the white tent wall controversy, but as a photographer I can say without question that the best outdoor lighting to photograph booths is either bright overcast or open shade. Direct sun, as Larry mentioned, is a killer.
So if you create a photograph that doesn't show the white canopy, it can only be used for some applications. But if you show a partial white canopy in your picture, it can be used for all outdoor show applications.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
Unless you can shoot in a way that there are no hot spots and there is even lighting through out the booth including the bottom of the back walls, your eye automatically is drawn to the brightest area within an image or the brightest image within a set of images. That's why the white canopy is the kiss of death within the image and should be cropped down as much as possible but still convey that the canopy is in the picture without having to think if it's an outdoor booth. So that means even though it might be sunny, the best booth picture is taken in the shade or when clouds block direct sun.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
Our booth shot advice: Get to the show early, strip away anything extraneous, get in close with your camera -- and contrary to advice above - a day with beautiful light coming through the tent really illuminates the scene and improves the image, just as a sunny day makes the whole world look better.
Plus, use a tripod!
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