Tuesday, July 15, 2014

How to Win a Juried Art Competition

Here's what I see when I go to a juried art show (competition).

I see three kinds of art pieces:

1. The kind of work that most show attendees will recognize as having some kind worth, albeit widely varying worth.
2. The kind of work that is really different. I may not appreciate it fully, but I take notice.
3. The kind of work that I look at and look at and look at...and finally say I really don't get it.

Now, what category do the winners fall into? Maybe you'd think #1 or maybe #2. Nope. It could be any of the above and very often is #3.

But almost all of them are larger than average in size and priced quite high. So that's what I have learned in my semi-successful five years of entering juried art shows. Enter big, but not ridiculouly big canvases and give your work a pricetag that would give the potential art buyer pause. It doesnt hurt to name the piece something a little odd, like 'Muse of Light, Reflection#5'.