by TASI Executive Director, Greg Busceme, Sr.
Juried competitions are a great way to get your artwork into shows in your community.
As a working artist, you are generating pieces and they need a venue to show. To advance your name as an artist, you must exhibit work either online and/or in person to verify this work exists. It is the same for authors; they must publish to get cred for being an author. It is important that you put together a portfolio of your work on a website. So, why you show in the first place is to present what you are creating. If you don’t want anyone to see what you do, you are not ready for anything else. Make work you are proud of. Showing your work and receiving a critique is the best thing you can do. Find someone you respect and who understands art and listen to what they have to say. This is not criticism. Critique allows the artist a chance to see if what they want to convey is being understood. Don’t take the review personally. As artists we should already know the weaknesses of our work, the critique simply affirms your suspicions. So go to your studio armed with this enlightenment and realize thick skin and a open mind are essential traits in art.
Most gallery owners and curators would rather you create a website of your work so they can view it at their leisure. This is great news in that your application can go to many galleries at once with only one website. On your website, provide good images of your work with an inventory of each image, describing size of work, medium(s), year made, and title. You will need a resume that contains your academic record, list of exhibitions, and Artist Statement which outlines what you are doing with your art and what is the premise of your work. Also, include your personal Bio and anything in your life experience that would be pertinent to your artistic goals.
There are many local exhibitions that can help you build a resume and assure viewers that you are actively working and presenting in shows. It doesn’t matter if it is a big show or a small one, it is a show. Overall, you need a decent body of work, that is a reasonable amount of good work which would fill a gallery. That body of work will be the core of your portfolio.
One of the things that is unique to artists and their advancement is the process of getting into an exhibition. At TASI we have several opportunities to exhibit work, or compete for a spot, on the wall. All show applications are slightly different, but each has their own special rules that must be adhered to. It is important to read the instructions and follow them correctly. There are sometimes hundreds of art pieces coming in for a show or competition, as a curator for the gallery it is very easy to mislabel or mix up artwork with the wrong artist. Each gallery has their own way of recording and keeping up with your work, so it is very important to follow their instruction implicitly. Many people vie for a place in these shows any glitch in your application and it could be thrown out.
TASIMJAE (The Art Studio, Inc. Members Jurored Art Exhibition) is open to all current TASI members to enter up to two pieces of artwork. A single juror will select which pieces will be included in the exhibition, and choose a first, second, and third place winner, each of whom will receive a cash prize. First place winner also receives their own solo exhibition at The Art Studio’s Main Gallery in May of 2024.
CALENDAR
Entry dates……………………………………….March 21-24
Notification by mail………………………………..March 27
Pick-up works not accepted……………March 28-30
Exhibition dates ……………………………………April 1-22
Pick up exhibited work………………………April 25-28
AWARDS
1st place: $250 and a solo exhibition at TASI, May 2024
2nd place: $100
3rd place: $50
JUROR
Tanja Peterson, Gallery Director at Redbud Arts Center in Houston, TX