Art competitions.

[The Forge]

I have entered a number of Online Competitions in the last few months and have found that there are a very small number of sculptors that are bothering to enter. It seems that most entrants are painters, photographers or digital artists. Does any one have any insight as to why this is happening?

[Ries]

Please define "Art Competitions".

Do you mean reality tv shows, juried group shows, public art commissions, musuem surveys, craft fairs, or beauty pagents?

I am a sculptor, and I have entered pretty much all of the above. Although the beauty pageants usually featured wacky costumes, or artist made cars.

If you are talking about juried group shows that require paying an entry fee, and then shipping work, the answer would be pretty obvious- sculpture is heavy. So its expensive to ship. Hence, few entries in long distance shows.
Here where I live, we have "Art Competitions" that are exclusively for sculptors- several towns near here have 1 year or 18 month shows, where larger sculptures are temporarily sited in town, and the town pays for footings and a very small honorarium. We also have several sculpture parks that accept entries, and a couple of smaller arts centers that do sculpture shows at least once a year or so that are open to entries.

http://townoflaconner.org/arts-2007-annual.cfm
http://www.wbay.org/sculpturepark.php
http://www.pafac.org/exhibitions/art-outside.html
http://www.cob.org/documents/parks/p...prospectus.pdf

pretty much all of these are started and run by artists, and run on a shoestring budget- no use waiting around for millionaires or government to give you money- we just have to do it ourselves.

[The Forge]

No, I mean Online Juried Art Exhibitions. Where you submit your work in Jpegs and the public votes online for their favorite ones.

[Ries]

I have never heard of this.
Why would anybody want to enter one of these?
The public votes on jpegs?
What is the benefit to an artist from doing this?

my energy is spent making work, and finding ways to get it out of my studio. Hopefully involving getting paid for it, too.
public voting doesnt seem to figure in either of these processes.

I would recommend skipping something like this.

Any links to one?

[evaldart]

I'm with Ries.

[The Forge]

After my experiences, I will not enter any more that are 'internet juried'. I have been able to be included in two that have been juried by an individual. I agree that being judged from jpegs is not the best; but, that seems to be a norm in many competitions. What really makes me angry is my sculptures being judged by the quality of my photos. I am submitting a sculpture not a photograph.

[Blake]

I was advised by one gallery that carries my work to enter competitions with other galleries. It was suggested that galleries pick up artists this way and I have had success with two galleries doing this. Yes it can be difficult and frustrating to be refused by all these galleries, but if a gallery decides to work with you then you can consider this a success.
Here are my guidelines:
No online competitions as they only show work online... who cares, I have never sold online.
Only gallery competitions and they will review the photos and then if your work is chosen then you need to ship so chose galleries close to you.
No galleries that do this on a continual basis, ie Agora Gallery, as this is a revenue stream rather than a gallery looking for new artists.
The gallery will use this method to not only fine new artists but also to see what the artist is like to work with, if they are professional and if they can deliver on time etc.
Choose very carefully and note that the cost, 25 dollars or so is acceptable, but often these galleries do not charge to enter. Sometimes these are artists cooperative type galleries and this is a good way to get into a cooperative in your area but do not try to get involved in coop galleries in some lost city, the shipping costs will kill you. But coops are great if you can get into a good one.
Good Luck
Blake

[sculptor]

Originally Posted by Blake

No online competitions as they only show work online... who cares, I have never sold online.
Blake

Agree
long ago, i entered an online competition, while it was fun to watch the votes add up, in the end, it was pointless if sales were the goal.