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Jurying and curating a watercolor exhibition with Watercolor West

Entering art competitions is a subject that I am asked about often. Looking at the December 2007 exhibition of Watercolor West demonstrates many of the most important aspects of preparing your work for entry.

Start small, Watercolor West is a large and well organized juried exhibition. The number of entries they receive is tremendous. To begin I would recommend a smaller, more local organization, competitions held at your school would be a good place to start or competitions held by community art centers and art stores. Don’t hesitate to begin and to start small, The Calendar Page of Artpoints.net lists many opportunities to enter into competitions but there are many other places that are smaller and nearer to home. For example, the Daniel Smith store in Seattle has a gallery where work from local artists is displayed, many coffee houses in my neighborhood (Venice, California) display work from our community and colleges often will sponsor art competitions for local high school students as part of outreach programs.

Chris VanWinkle jurying the paintings accepted by Watercolor West for review.

Paintings accepted for review are culled from a much larger number submitted that are initially reviewed from a slide or a digital photograph. Hundreds of works are received but a modest number are requested to send the actual piece in for the final judging.
The juror, in this case Chris VanWinkle, is very often an individual of standing in the art community. It is sometimes useful to review the juror’s own work and read some of the juror’s statements available online to decide what work to submit.

I may be like many people, as I find deadlines and due dates tremendous boosts to my work ethic. A competition certainly forces one to concentrate and get a painting underway and done. It also aids as a motivation for excellence, knowing that one’s work will be judged and rated against other work really drives one to care in technique and composition.

Linda Doll lecturing to an audience on watercolor

Numerous reasons to belong to a local watercolor society or artists' association include the opportunity to attend the exhibition opening, attend workshops and lectures and meet others with the same passion for art. Reasons for joining a regional or national group includes receiving offers for discounts and samples from retail stores and manufacturers and receiving the full color exhibition catalogs with lovely reproductions of the paintings in the show.

Professional photographers specializing in doing photography for artists, for smaller shows this is may not be necessary, fr the larger shows it should be considered a priority. Showing one's work in the best possible way for the initial reviewis important and the best way to assure this is with professional photography.
Proper matting and framing by a professional should be considered, particularly if you do not do a great deal of framing. Otherwise consider purchasing your own mat cutter, frames and glass can be purchased inexpensively if you are using standard size paper. If you plan on a great number of painting to frame, frame moulding supplies are not expensive but be prepared for a learning curve, cutting the proper angle to join moulds in a professional way is somewhat difficult.

To enter art exhibitions be prepared to spend money on entry fees, photography and framing, ArtPoints recommends smaller, local art organizations as this promotes a social benefit, opportunities to learn and a better chance of having your work displayed in an exhibit.

Past Featured Societies :

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