“Being conscious of the experience of the viewer is important.”Ĭhing believes sequencing is less important for open calls or competitions. “If you’re working on a book and an exhibition proposal at the same time, then think about submitting the way you would present it in a book, the thought being you’ve thoughtfully sequenced it so either a narrative, or formal or conceptual elements are leading you from one image to another. They’re aware of what they’re doing.”ĭavis agrees. “It feels together, right? That helps communicate the intentionality of the artist. Stolfa says that a juror “will notice” a good sequence. If an organization’s online platform allows you to sequence the images in your submission, the order of your presentation can help a submission stand out. © Kimberly Witham/Courtesy of Klompching Gallery Pay Attention to Sequencing Klompching Gallery first discovered Witham’s work in an open call for a juried exhibition, and now represents her. “Lamb’s Ear and Vines,” 2016, by Kimberly Witham. “And it helps the juror to understand: It’s not just printed on cloth because it’s pretty, but because the cloth ties into the content of the work.” “It’s important when you get down to explaining all those choices you made to understand why you made those choices,” Davis says. If you’ve never exhibited your work, Davis suggests, “perhaps mock up how it should look, especially if the work is in any way sculptural.” Artists can also use an artist statement to explain the form of the work, Davis adds, or to describe “the experience of encountering the work.” It’s not necessary to talk about framing or material, though, unless it contributes to the concept of the work, she says. This is particularly important if the finished work is something other than a standard, framed print. It’s important to really communicate about the size of the physical work and what the work looks like.”ĬENTER suggests that artists include an image that helps jurors understand the finished work, such as “an installation shot, or a detail of a really big panoramic, so you can see the quality of the work,” Pressley says. PPAC artistic director Sarah Stolfa says that occasionally work selected from an open call “doesn’t look right” when the physical prints come into the gallery, “because of how it’s printed, or what it’s printed on, the way it’s finished. It’s the artist’s responsibility to make sure a digital submission properly represents their physical work. However, this approach is very relevant to our time and age-using drones,” says Pressley. South African photographer Johnny Miller, for example, recently won CENTER’s Project Launch Award with drone photographs that showed inequality by looking at the segregation of neighborhoods from above. Pressley advises artists submit work that is “riskier,” that takes “a new approach” to a theme or uses “a new esthetic.” For instance, she says, work about family loss, small towns gone bankrupt, or showing empty parking lots, will all be familiar to judges. Jurors often see work “and immediately compartmentalize it,” Pressley says, because they’ve seen similar images already. Standout projects tell “a story in a new, imaginative way.” Too often, artists submit work that is “going through the same tropes” and “telling the same stories,” Pressley says, because they don’t know about similar work that preceded theirs. “But…the work that has done the best is relevant and timely, as well as having technical finesse and artistic individuality.” Know What Others Have Done “Not to say that the work that’s political or environmental is best,” Pressley qualifies. The work that is consistently rated the highest by the committee “moves beyond the personal to the universal,” Pressley says, meaning it engages with themes that a wide audience may relate to. It’s a sophisticated group, in other words. The selection committee for CENTER’s juried portfolio reviews is a combination of curators, editors and publishers representing “all different facets of the industry,” says Laura Pressley, CENTER’s director.
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