Edgy Submission Strategies
HOT TIPS ABOUT YOUR SUBMISSION, FILES, BIO & ARTIST STATEMENTS
Do you want an edge when submitting your artwork? Learn from people who view thousands of artist documents. This kind of insight can help you reshape your presentation and present an elevated representation of yourself and your work. We wish we could give feed back to every submitter, but there are two of us here at Juniper Rag. We use our blog to get the word out, to vent and to provide point blank, black and white information about how to up your marketing game. Your artist docs are your marketing materials.
Your website and your social media. Polish everything. If you are re-submitting—-anywhere, do yourself a favor and rewrite your stuff to give the platforms new content, juicy tidbits and your newest accolades. Update your websites by adding a monthly maintenance into your schedule. Research artists you aspire to be like, make the changes and put that positive juju out there. You'll get more shows. Vibe the success frequency.
These are key to helping your audience understand and connect to you and the reasons you spend time making art for public viewing.
Name Your Files: Please follow instructions to name your files when submitting. It gives you SEO power and it causes a LOT of problems for us when files are not named correctly or at all. It is unfortunate but we will start cutting artists that do not name files, submit proper bio and statements in 2025. (Eeek. Don’t let this happen to you.)
Artist Statements should connect the work to the language in the call and clearly demonstrate your experience with your process, risk-taking and incorporation of new concepts, evolving with the future of art, in whatever capacity that encapsulates for you as an artist. Upload a complete statement about this work and add a few sentences about how it connects to the call. Don’t leave it to jurors to make the connections. This is your chance to captivate them. Artists with great statements really stand out, and the ones that don't put the time in do too, unfortunately.
Juror Insight: Calls for art dictate a thoughtful interpretation for the curators, who are tasked with understanding your art from a photograph and through your descriptions. They must understand how your piece applies and what about your work merits inclusion in this particular exhibition. Connecting your ideas to a reason or a story about your perspective is impactful for viewers and other artists, it engages the viewers and encourages the curators to think about your perspective and reason for making your artwork. This story is what connects people to your work.
Your Bio: You are running a business. Your personal story about your background, education, accolades and status as a working artist. Each of us have a unique experience in life that shapes are perspectives and our passions-get personal, not general. What message emerges from your work? What has shaped you and influenced your work? What innate and unique elements exist because only your hands created them? Stories have connected people for millennia. What in your background pushes you to develop your creative thinking? Challenge yourself to drill down on your story to connect with more viewers.
Great Photos: We live in a competitive creative environment. Invest in some great photos of your work and headhshots. The barter system works well for this situation. By including top notch photos, you make each publication, gallery and organization look better. It is just another opportunity to set your work apart from the herd.
