I keep encountering websites for artists that list events, exhibitions, galleries, and calls for art. A good example is The Art Guide (https://theartguide.com/) which has about 8 to 10 pages of calls for art from galleries, shows, festivals, online books, etc. and I was wondering if anyone in our art community enters their art in these. I did answer a call for art from the local library about this time last year and ended up with three of my paintings on display at a branch library for a while. And I have been toying with the idea of entering an art call to get more exposure. Build up my resume, so to speak.
Yes! I have not sold anything online for a long time. All my sales have been from entering shows. It’s good if you can see the calibre of the art from previous shows as well as find local venues to avoid shipping costs. There is a fee to enter and g it is nonrefundable if you don’t get accepted, which does happen. You pay to ship and you must provide a prepaid return label so good to set up a FedEx acct where you can send a return label not wasted if all pieces sold. You can also register for online entry places which many are using now like juriedartservices.com or entrythingy.com. they maintain lists of calls.
Much the same as Elizabeth, I am not selling much online these days. And I do follow & enter art shows as well. I appreciate the links from both you & Elizabeth. Here is one more that I utilize often (a show I enter often only utilizes this for entry):
https://www.onlinejuriedshows.com/preDefault.aspx
Thank you both for your information. I have signed up with Juried Art Services and used it to enter one of my recent paintings into the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society’s spring online exhibit.
Thank you for posting this for discussion. I do reply to calls where I feel the legitimacy of the poster/ organization can be verified.
Here is one I follow
For me, it helps to keep few of things in mind -
- The location of display/ show - venue shouldn’t be too far off for me to drop off the work
2)The fee. If there’s one, should be justified with some kind of monetary award, or promised payback - Exposure opportunity - as I settle into midlevel in my career, I weigh in the benefit of publicity vs. time spent on each submission, and then decide.
Hope this helps. Best of luck to all artists!
I have tried some of those calls several times and got accepted a couple times but no resulting sales. Each one usually costs around $35 and you can end up spending a lot of money pursuing them. And if you have to send the painting to the place where the show is, that is additional cost. One has to keep trying different things and hope something works out.
Specially when you first start out it is good to enter juried shows. I did a whole bunch of local ones in the beginning. The first time was nerve wrecking, I thought they would never accept my work, but they did. Getting work into shows is a learning experience, and you work hard on making the best work you can if you know you’re going to submit it. That said, I am now very selective in what shows I enter. It is expensive: $25 here and $35 there adds up quickly. I never enter shows where I have to mail my work. In the past few years I have only sold 2 works through shows where I had to pay to submit. I have found it is really not worth it, except to get some exposure. I will now only submit to only 1 or 2 a year, and look for other places to show.
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I have sent quite a few paintings to exhibits found in art calls. Fedex is picking up 3 on Monday! I would like to share that while it’s wonderful to have opportunities within close proximity, not every artist is so blessed. We have a very small art center in my town, and it’s a 1 hour drive to the next town with an art venue. Past that it’s 3 hours plus and you have to draw a line and say if you want to exhibit, shipping has to be part of the plan. Yes, shipping costs do add up, but paintings laying around the studio aren’t a real lucrative deal either 
Good point! Not everyone lives close to art venues.