CPSA Explore This 7! call for entries

The Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA) issued a call for entries for the seventh Annual Online Exhibition - Explore This! back in September.

If you're thinking of entering, there are now just over two weeks left to organise your submission.

The purpose of the Explore This! Exhibition is to:

• enable artists to display their work to a broader audience. 
• increase the number of artists exploring the possibilities of coloured pencils (and how they might be combined with new materials)
• encourage the participation of artists who are not primarily colored pencil artists.

This is a Juried and Open Exhibition and the juror (an experienced Museum Director) is independent of CPSA.

Key features of the Explore This! exhibition are as follows:

• Acceptance into three Explore This! shows within a 10 year period enables an artist to have a new signature designation - CPX. 
• The winners of the top three awards are invited to send their pieces for display in the CPSA International Exhibition that year and 
• Works can be available for sale and entries selected for the exhibition are displayed at www.cpsa.org for a full year. 
• In addition, a full-color issue of the CPSA newsletter To The Point will showcase the accepted entries.  

Overview Image of Works accepted for CPSA Explore This! 6

Who can submit work?

You can enter this art competition if you are a living artist, aged 18 years or older, living anywhere in the world regardless of geographic location.  You do not have to live in the USA or be a member of the CPSA.

What work is eligible for the exhibition?

You can enter two works but only one piece per artist may be accepted into the show.

Guidelines for the exhibition stipulate what is eligible.  Perhaps the most important aspects are that it must be solely the artist's own work and the work must be ineligible for normal exhibitions eg it is not 100% coloured pencil or has been created on a surface which is not normally eligible for exhibition.

Artwork not meeting these specifications will removed from the show, the acceptance will not count toward CPX Signature status, and any awards will be forfeited.

Note that CPSA last year eliminated from exhibition pieces after it was put online - so they are serious about this point!  These are pieces that were eliminated due to non compliance with the exhibition rules - so read the following (and the rest of the guidance) very carefully.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Artwork must have been executed after November 15, 2007 and not previously hung in any national CPSA exhibition (International OR Explore This!)
• Concept, design and execution of the artwork shall be solely that of the artist. No work copied from copyrighted or published materials. No collaborations.
• Artwork must include some element that makes it ineligible for the CPSA International Exhibition. For example, 3-dimensional works, works with media other than colored pencil, collages, etc. The media used must be predominantly colored pencil pigment and that should be listed first when entering the media.
• Information on submitted entry regarding size and price cannot be changed. Artwork cannot be altered after submission of entry. Price of artwork can be changed to NFS (not for sale) anytime during the exhibition.
• CPSA reserves the right to disallow a work if it fails to meet the specified criteria.

Submission Process and Key Dates

The Prospectus and Entry Information can be downloaded from the CPS website.

Artists may submit

• one digital image for each 2-dimensional work and 
• two digital images for each 3-dimensional work (sculpture).

Entry for this online exhibition is by way of a digital file uploaded to the Call For Entry organisation (CaFÉ^TM).  Guidance is also available on Image Preparation - how to create and submit a suitable image of the right size and resolution.

The deadline for entries approaches with the important dates being as follows

• November 15, 2010 – Deadline for entries at CaFÉ^TM
• January 3-10, 2011 – Entry and awards selection
• January 15, 2011 – Acceptance list posted online at www.cpsa.org 
• February 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012 – Artwork posted online at www.cpsa.org 

The process for submission is quite complicated (as opposed to diifficult) and prospective entrants are recommended to read the guidance about to submit entries online very carefully - and sooner rather than later!