This year, I started off the Christmas season buying myself an advent calendar from the 1,000 Islands Soap Company. It is a beautiful chest of treasures and samples with one treat to be opened every day in December. For several solid reasons that I won’t go into, I decided it was best to start opening on November 1st.
On Tuesday, November 5th, I opened box number five—I stick to only one a day, no cheating—and found a small container of anti-aging cream. My skeptical husband raised an eyebrow, but I decided to try it out and applied it generously during my morning routine.
Late in the day on that same Tuesday, I went over to Shoppers to get my flu shot. When checking in, the woman looked over my registration form and muttered “66”. I detected a surprised tone. I asked, “66 what?, What’s 66?” . She replied, still with the tone, “Your age. You’re sixty six?”.
I confirmed, “Yes, that’s right.”
She confirmed, “So you’ll want the extra strength seniors’ dose?”
Now, I admit that everything is open to interpretation, but my interpretation was that I certainly don’t look my age, could the cream have started to work?…maybe I don’t really need the anti-aging cream?
When I got home, I proudly described the encounter to my husband, who I may have described earlier as being incapable of telling even the smallest lie. His interpretation? “Maybe you better keep it up with that cream.”
On an early summer morning I sit on the dock watching. The sun rises over the distant woods and their reflection lights up the calm and quiet lake. Onshore, the wind begins to stir, and the waves become active, signaling it is time to start a new day.
One of my goals for 2024 is to have a piece of work accepted into a juried exhibition. It’s a great learning experience that drives home the old adage ‘If at first you don’t succeed….’
Preparing to enter a call isn’t as fun as creating art, but if you want to get your work seen and enjoyed by others there are skills to be mastered. I give myself regular pep talks and remind myself that if I want to get into an exhibition I have to submit entries!
I dipped my toe into the juried exhibition waters by responding to a couple of calls for Virtual Exhibitions–shows that exhibit worldwide through virtual galleries. These calls are a little less daunting as they usually don’t have specific size restrictions, and they don’t require shipping an accepted piece to the exhibit site.
Those early submissions gave me my first bitter taste of rejection, but they also gave me the courage to enter other exhibits. I have now moved forward to calls for on-site exhibits at various local and international venues.
There is no denying how disheartening it is when a piece is not accepted for an exhibition. It is never easy to get a rejection, but there are always lessons to be learned. It helps to keep focused on the positive. I think back to the enjoyment of creating the piece and I add some questions to my pep talk: Did I enjoy making the piece? Do I like the piece? Did I learn anything along the way? Could I make a better submission next time? As long as all of those answers come back yes, then I will keep on trying!
Someone said, “if you keep doing what you have always done, you will keep getting the same result”...or something along those lines. So, I’ve been digging for answers on how to improve my chance of success in the exhibition world. While continuing to develop and improve my creative work, I will also need to learn as much as I can about the submission process and improve those skills.
When debriefing with friends and seeking counsel from fellow artists and mentors, I am told repeatedly that rejection may have little to do with the quality or beauty of the actual piece. Not only do all of the technical components of the submission matter, there is also an element of luck! There are tales of pieces being rejected by several exhibitions then going on to win prizes. Reportedly, even well established artists still suffer rejection from time to time. The message seems to be unanimous: don’t give up, keep up the determination, and keep on trying!
Here are some of the tips I have gleaned so far.
Theme: Understand it
Every call for exhibition has a theme. Although themes typically can have a wide interpretation, they are not vague. Make sure you understand the exact definition of the words given as the theme — they weren’t chosen lightly. Give the theme a lot of thought, make sure you understand it and that you consider it in the current context.
When I first started to think about the themes, I thought I had to create a piece to fit the theme and I struggled. Through experience, I know that when I try to create a piece to ‘fit’ a specific call or request, I overthink things and inevitably the piece starts to look forced.
What seems to work better for me is first creating a piece of work and then thinking about how it might fit into a theme.
Artist’s Statement:Pin it to the theme
My art tends to fall somewhere between realism and abstract — closer to realism. Most often pieces are created as interpretations of things I have found in natural settings. I am after all ‘Inspired by Everyday Beauty’, What perplexed me was seeing exhibited pieces that were definitely very abstract fitting into exhibit themes.
The key seems to be the artist’s interpretation. In an exhibit, or submission to a call, the artist’s only shot at explaining their piece is through the artist’s statement. The statement is the opportunity to pin the piece to the theme.
I need to master the art of writing about my art. The required artist’s statement usually allows only 100-200 words to describe the piece. It is important to use these precious words not only to describe the art, but to engage the viewer, and that may best be done by evoking some emotion. What moved you to create the piece? How does the piece depict your intension?
There are lots of resources to be found on google, but also start to read and pay attention to artist statements you see in shows and in virtual galleries. Take note of style, voice and vocabulary.
A great resource I’ve found is Art-Write: The Writing Guide for Visual Artists, by Vicki Krohn Ambrose.
Photos:Aim for perfection
Most calls for exhibits require electronic applications accompanied by one or two photos of the work. Consider that the photos you submit are your only chance to make a visual impression on the curators. Make sure your photos are top quality to give your piece its best chance. Your submission will be one of hundreds they receive. You don’t want your piece discarded in the first sort because of a poor quality photo! The call will give specific requirements for the quality of the photos, but also make sure that they are focused, evenly cropped and squared up, and that the lighting has kept the colours true to life. Keep in mind that in many cases, if successful, your photo will be used for promotion, print or even display (in the case of virtual exhibits).
Curators:Get to know them
Often, curators choose only 30 to 40 pieces from a very large pool of submissions. The curators are putting together a comprehensive show and the chosen pieces must gel visually, conceptually, and spatially. This is where there is an element of luck. You have no real idea what the overall picture of the exhibit will look like. Let’s face it, the curators themselves may not know until they see the pieces they receive. You can up the odds on your luck by doing a little research. Check out the curators: take a look at their past shows; take a look at their work to get a sense of their style; consider the venue; and consider the audience. I am not saying to do this and then cater your work to the curator, but the more you know about the curator, the more you will understand the suitability of your piece for this particular show, at this particular time.
I cannot yet tell you what it feels like when a submission is accepted, but I’m going to keep on trying and you can be sure I will let you know as soon as it happens!
This blog was written in light of many enriching conversations with my mentor Irene Koroluk (irenekoroluk.com). I am grateful for her guidance.
Finally, I have time. Oodles and oodles of glorious time.
Into my second year of retirement, I have freedom to do exactly as I like, whenever I like, and for as long as I like. I’m finding no end to enjoyable pursuits. I’m rediscovering creative activities that I’d put aside while busy with the frenzy of my work years. Design, drawing, photography, watercolor painting, and creative hand work including sewing, quilting, embroidery, and needle work now fill my days.
I’m also attending workshops, reading, and experimenting to discover new interests: indigo dying, soap making, block printing….
These things all take time, focus, and concentration. My new lifestyle, free of deadlines and schedules, gives me all of this.
Sometimes, I pick up embroidery hoops early in the morning
and work on a piece until hours have passed. Or, at times, I build
larger projects one step at a time resting and reflecting,
sometimes for days at a time, between steps. Other times, I have two or three projects on the go at once and I jump from one to the next as interest and inspiration move me.
If I delight in creating, then how will I stop long enough to blog? Well, I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I need purpose and focus to set the words in motion. Writing a blog will give me structure, purpose, and a format to commit to writing on a regular basis.
In part, the impetus for blogging has been the current global situation of COVID/lockdowns and isolation. Although I am an introvert by nature, total lack of connection is a challenge. As I create, I like to talk to other creators, share my ideas, and see others’ ideas and works. Recently, as I’ve been working on a piece, I’ve sent quick pics and updates of progress to close friends—I admit I do enjoy a certain amount of ‘oohing and awing’. After sending one set
of pics, my sister texted the reply, ‘why don’t you start a blog?’. Hmm…why don’t I? Well, you can see where that has led.
I’m also spurred on by the possibility of spreading the joy of being inspired by everyday beauty, focusing on positivity and the hope to counterbalance the negativity plastered throughout current news and social media. I prefer to focus on the beauty that I see everyday, and hope that you do too!
I find inspiration in nature: the scent of drying maple leaves crunching on a trail; the first blanket of snow glittering in winter sunshine; the relief in the first humid scent of a wet puddle in spring thaw; the flicker of a blue wing as jays dart through the
yard…
For me, that is the inspiration that leads to creating: sewing,
embroidering, quilting, knitting–fiber arts of all kinds!
