Rejected!

I got my very first official rejection to a juried art show today. Here’s a snippet from the letter:

“I am sorry to say that your work was not selected for inclusion. We received over 140 entries from 51 artists from all around the United States, and 50 artworks were juried into the exhibition.”

I wrote about the entry process in my blog Paper Art :: Rising to the Occasion. I had every confidence that my altered books would be selected. So when I got my rejection form letter I was surprised and disappointed.

I understand that rejection letters are usually terse and unrevealing, but I sure wish I could find out why my books weren’t accepted. Was it the quality of the work? The photography of the work? Did I botch the entry form? I have no clue. I don’t mind failures if I can learn and grow from them, so this lack of input really irks and irritates me, especially since I spent $30 to be rejected. Feels pretty stupid. Am I bitter? No, I’m not bitter. After all, 90 other pieces of art were rejected too, so I’m probably in pretty good company. I look forward to the online exhibit that’s going to be posted in September. I’ll post a link to it at that time.

I have two more applications in transit right now. I will remain positive. I will keep working and making my art and getting better and better.


Paper Art :: Rising to the Occasion


I have just completed everything I needed to do to enter my first juried exhibition. And I’m even ahead of the deadline! What a surprise. There were a lot of guidelines to follow. I had to read and re-read, underline, take notes, and I’m still paranoid that I missed something and will be summarily rejected. This exhibition is specifically for the Book Arts, so I have decided to enter four of my Wall Hangings. I figure that it is likely that most of the book arts submissions for others will need to be on tables or pedestals; I hope that that will leave plenty of wall space for my four entries.

The first thing I had to do is decide which book sculptures to send. There are a few that I worry about traveling, so I decided to choose ones that I thought were my best work and also would go through the mail in one piece. I decided on Paper Art :: Rising to the Occasion, Decorative Wall Hangings :: Dream Weaver, Contemporary Wall Decor :: Stone Heart, and Paper Sculpture :: Land of My Heart. I could have submitted one more, but I really didn’t want to pay the money. Even though this is a non-profit art organization I’m submitting to, and the fees are relatively low, I don’t like the idea of having to pay a fee that doesn’t come back to me if I get rejected. Seems like a weird way to run things. Wouldn’t it make more sense to pay a fee if you get accepted? But who am I to say? From of the looks of things, that seems to be the way it’s done.

So after I decided which books to submit, I had to make a CD with up to four digital images of each book. That wasn’t too hard because I have images on my computer for use on my web site. I had to organize and name them a in a specific format. Again, not too difficult after I got the hang of it. I was grateful that I didn’t have to send slides, since I don’t have any. I am considering entering a arts and crafts’ exhibition in San Luis Obispo, and I will need slides for that. I’m looking into creating slides from my digital images. Everything I read says that I should invest in professional photographs of my art, but I can’t even consider that right now. I know that if I was running my “art business” as a “real” business, I would invest the money, and it would be a worthwhile expense. I mean, if my art doesn’t come across effectively in slides and photos, who’s going to want to buy it anyway? So some day soon, I hope I’ll be in a position to have this done.

Along with the digital images, I had to include a Word or PDF doc giving my name, the title of the work, the media used, and the selling price. This gallery is only charging a 25% commission, which is really reasonable compared to others I’ve seen. Most places charge 40 – 50% commission. It’s hard to keep the selling price down. I mean, the retail price on those four pieces is only $125 each, which I think is pretty low to begin with. If the gallery keeps 50%, then I’m down to about $55 for each piece. Subtract the entry fee – about $5.00 each. Subtract the cost of shipping the work to the gallery and then shipping it home if it doesn’t sell. Boy, when you start looking at it that way, I’m really underpricing my art!


Next I completed an entry form. I also enclosed a very brief cover letter, although I wasn’t asked to. It seemed weird to just stick everything in an envelope and send it without a note of some kind. One of the resources I’m using to figure all of this “art biz” stuff out, is a book called Building a Career as a Visual Artist: Taking the Leap. It has a couple of examples of how to write a cover letter which gave me some good ideas about what to write. Cay does say to use some nice stationary–nothing flowery or cutesy–so I had to make some using my computer. I think it looks okay. Simple but nice. This book has really been helpful to me. It’s very clear and easy to read and basically answers all my questions before I even think of what to ask!

Finally, I filled out a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) so they can return the CD if they don’t like my work, and I plan on getting the whole shebang to the post office tomorrow. Check back to see how it all works out!


First Open Studios Today

I participated in my first Open Studios today for Arts Benicia, here in Benicia, California. I didn’t show any of my collage art. I only had my altered books which worked out just fine because my space was limited.

Since my “studio” is a spare bedroom about the size of a postage stamp, my husband’s boss, who owns a contemporary furniture store, was nice enough to allow me to show my books in the store. It was perfect place for displaying my books because there are so many surfaces to place them on: coffee and end tables, dining room tables, etc. I even mangaged to get my hanging books on the walls, using nails and screws that were already in place.

Another nice thing about this location was that it is very close to a lot of other artist studios as well as the main gallery where many of the artists, including me, have a piece of their work on display, along with a tag indicating their studio location.

I was very excited that I sold two books and two calendars. Although it’s hard to part with my books, it’s also very exhilarating to find someone who’s willing to pay cash-money for my art work. To me it means that they really like what I’ve created, and that is very gratifying. I know some people create art just for the pure joy of it with no intention of selling. I even had a friend of mine say that she wasn’t interested in selling her art work because she thought that she would be “prostituting” herself and her art. She is an extremely talented and creative book artist, and thankfully has changed her atitude about that. But for me, part of the pleasure I derive from creating my altered books and collage art is sharing it with others. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that the kind gentleman who purchased St. Dymphna (one of my most recent Reliquaries) is going to have that sitting on a book shelf or his coffee table, and he’s going to look at it and smile.