Competition tips & decorum
 

I've just entered my first two competitions, and am wondering about the general do's n don'ts of the competition world. Please jump in with any general advice or observations, and I have a few questions herein.

Are portraits generally accepted in open competitions, or just in portrait competitions?

Is it better to start locally and expand upon local wins, or just apply wherever, or apply based on a perceived "fit" (where you look at past winners and assess whether or not you're competitive with that group).

What do you think general criteria are for competition winners? Sometimes looking at the top three or five, I can't really tell if it's skill first, composition second, style third, or what. Maybe it depends on the judge?

After the top 3, in a national competition, are the special and honorable mentions of any value? Sometimes I think I prefer the honorable mentions to the "winners," and I almost always prefer People's Choice over the winners. Do people notice the "mentioned" category?

How does one parlay a win into something better? Are there galleries or agents or clients scoping these things? Can you use it to approach Artists' Magazine for an article, for instance? Send it to your local paper for PR?

If you don't win, can you resubmit the painting to another competition? What if you do win? Can you submit the same painting to competitions over and over (if the rules don't prohibit it)? What is considered bad form?

Do you paint things specifically for a competition, or do you just notice one's coming up and then send out your best work?

Are there any warning signs of a shady competition?

Thanks everybody!
Lisa

I entered and won some prizes in a bunch of (non-portrait) national competitions many years ago. I haven

Hi Gloria

Michelle has given you a lot of good advice.

When I was teaching at the University of Wisconsin, I used to regularly enter both local and national competitions. If Ohio is anything like Wisconsin, it could be quite worthwhile.

Local competitions often offer cash awards, purchase awards, etc... which can be nice, and make it a mildly profitable endeavor. These shows often get reviewed in local papers, which is an additional perk, and can help your visibility and reputation as a local artist. National shows are more of a pain in terms of shipping etc... and I usually entered them only when I knew of the juror and it seemed particularly worthwhile. I guess it depends on your goals and strategy for where you want to go with your career.

As a college professor, I needed to be particularly conscious of building my resume--as an artist, exhibitions replace the publish or perish criteria for tenure. Now that I'm off that track, I don't worry about my resume so much (but maybe I should!)

A lot of the value of competitions depends upon the quality of the venue and juror. This may be another argument for local competitions, since you are in a better position to make those judgements.

Now that I live in the New York City area, competions are less appealing. A much larger pool of artists cut down on award opportunities, and a larger proportion of what I see seems dubious. Perhaps I just haven't done the legwork.

Best of luck,
Andrea

Thanks Michele! This is a lot of very helpful insight. I've set a goal to enter a competition a month for the next year, or until I manage an award or two (so maybe the next 15 years).

Yes, Andrea, Ohio is a lot like Wisconsin. Between BGSU, Toledo U, and the Toledo Art Museum, there are a surprising number of pro artists here. We're also close to Ann Arbor. Thanks for your help!

Lisa

Besides all the wonderful points already made, I feel you might benefit from a few personal observations I have made, while having been in the position of organizing a nationwide portrait competition and accepting slides from artists.

1. Judge your abilities very critically.
In nationwide competitions an artist should take a very critical look at the piece they are planning to submit and compare their skills to those of the best contemporary artists they know. Looking through any of the Artists

Know thy judges
 

Some judges only choose work like their own-it becomes a who can paint just like me contest. Others will choose without regard to this. You can tell which way the wind blows after seeing the results of a few shows.

I personally think it is a shame when art leagues or associations (same thing) that espouse "traditional art" choose the impressionistic "flavor of the month" to judge their shows. Six or 7 names show up all the time as judges for national shows; ie. Kevin MacPherson, CW Mundy and the results of their efforts are not very incouraging. CWMundy gave Macpherson the award at the Salon 2002. How much tighter can that get?

The large portrait shows do a far better job than almost any one else at this, as they use several qualified people.