July 4, 2021

How to choose for a Call for Entries

Today I thought I would share a few thoughts about increasing the likelihood your art will be accepted into a juried show.

These three ideas came from volunteering for an exhibition in NYC.

Listen here.

The first realization is that your art, to stand out from the endless stream of entered art, needs to be markedly different. So, try as hard as you can to enter what is your most authentic, personal art. There is so much art being looked at, that only the most compelling and different work has a chance to stand out.

I used to choose my art based on what most people had liked. I call them my crowd-pleasers. (I think we all have made those.) It took me a long time to realize this was flawed thinking. Sometimes even the fact that many people like it might mean it is just pleasing and sometimes precludes it from being noticed in the endless stream of work a juror must endure when jurying. Pleasant to look at sometimes is not different enough.

The last point is to have a reframe about juried exhibitions. I now think of them as invitations to choose and highlight my most adventurous work. So even if I don’t get into the show, the process of selecting brings me into a deeper conversation with my most daring work. Just that fact alone means I have won, at least in a small way.

How do you choose for shows?

Let us know in the comments below.

And don’t forget to check out Art2lLfe’s very own online International Juried Art Exhibition Call for Entries below. It is going to be an even bigger event than last year.

Check it out!

https://art2life.lpages.co/art-exhibition-call-for-entry-2021/

Have a great day in the studio

Nicholas

Nicholas Wilton

Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.

With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.

Join me and artists from all over the world in our Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group or learn more here about Art2Life.

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