An artist recently handed me their CV in the gallery. It was three pages long, printed in tiny font, and consisted entirely of regional juried exhibition acceptances and honorable mentions from the last two decades. They waited in silence, expecting me to be overwhelmed by their pedigree.
“With a resume like this, your collectors must be fighting over your new releases,” I said. The artist looked at the floor and admitted they had not sold a piece in six months.
As an artist builds their career, they naturally seek out the validation of juried shows. In the beginning, these accolades are vital for building confidence and securing representation. But at a certain point, the endless pursuit of ribbons becomes a massive distraction from the actual business of selling art.
The Golden Rule of Art Awards: The first five awards you win establish your credibility; the next fifty simply consume your time.
The 50% Impact vs. The 1% Drop in the Bucket
When you are first getting started, every single award has a massive statistical impact on your perceived authority. If you go from having two awards on your resume to three, you have just increased your total accolades by 50 percent.
That jump tells a gallery owner that your momentum is building. However, the math completely changes once you become established. When you go from sixty acceptances to sixty-one, that new line on your resume barely registers.
The energy required to submit the application, pay the jury fee, and ship the artwork offers almost zero return on investment at this stage.
The Psychology of the Collector
We need to look at this through the eyes of the person actually buying your work. A collector wants to know that you are a serious, validated professional.
They are looking for social proof. Once they see a handful of prestigious regional or national shows on your about page, a mental box is checked.
They think to themselves, “Okay, experts agree this artist is legitimate. I feel safe investing my money here.”
Collectors do not sit down and read a list of eighty-five identical exhibition acceptances. Overloading them with minor accolades can actually make you appear desperate for validation, rather than confidently established in the market.
Redirecting Your Energy for Better Returns
If you have already established your credibility, it is time to pivot. You must stop spending your valuable studio hours chasing juried entry deadlines and start building direct relationships with buyers.
Here is a strategic framework for redirecting that competitive energy:
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Systematize your inventory: Stop paying jury fees and invest that money into professional photography for your portfolio. Create a strict routine for getting new work off the easel and onto your website immediately.
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Write compelling artwork statements: Instead of writing artist statements to please a highly academic jury panel, write stories that engage your actual buyers. Tell them exactly what inspired a specific piece to spark immediate purchase intent.
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Nurture your collector base: Take the time you would have spent filling out lengthy exhibition applications and use it to send a well-crafted newsletter to your existing buyers.
One Final Takeaway
There is absolutely no limit to how many awards you can list on your website, but there is a harsh limit on how much time you have in a working day. Treating your art as a serious business means recognizing when a strategy is suffering from diminishing returns.
Let your early awards build your foundation, but let your direct sales and gallery relationships build your actual career.
Question for Readers
How many juried shows or competitions do you typically enter per year, and have you noticed a drop-off in their impact on your actual sales? Share your experiences and what you are doing differently in the comments below!
Hmmm. I see lots of give and take on this.. Many advisors recommend “entering many competitions” to expand exposure. So, it seems you recommend the same — but stop after winning a few. Please elaborate.
Something I’m curious about; does the fact that an artist has sold a fair amount of work influence collectors? And if so, how do you capitalize on that? Does that matter as much as being award winning?
This is a really interesting article and something I haven’t considered. Although I have noticed that I don’t have as many sales through the shows that I submit to. I usually submit to 5 – 7 shows per year. I have been turned down several times for a few national western art shows which I thought would give me the recognition I seek. Maybe not???
Thank you, thank you! Though I maintain good relationships, I stepped away from a couple of artists’ associations where I earned signature status and awards, which established “credibility”among my peers.
However, my husband’s recent unexpected death challenged me to make immediate decisions regarding my finances. I chose to re-direct my energy, time, and resources to my e-newsletter, to re-connect and engage with key collectors.
As a result, I sold several paintings from a one-day in-person Open Studio a week after Easter, increased online sales, and even added younger collectors.
Participating in juried shows is beneficial and a good way to network and volunteer, but shifting my focus solely on my art rather than on juried shows was a better, less stressful choice for me than padding my ego with fleeting recognition.
I am at this point right now. I started getting tired of applying to shows, paying fees, drive back and forth, go to openings…. And not see much return. At first i started applying to get validation and know if my work was “good enough “. Now when i get an acceptance I think “do I want to actually do all the work to exhibit there?” In a group show, your work gets lost between all the others. Now I am concentrating more on getting solo shows. I do fiber art and it seems like it is harder to sell than more conventional art. Any recommendations to increase sales is appreciated.
I have won several, maybe more than that, awards over my long painting career.
I do not list them
I do list valuable juried shows but after a time, especially with all these digital gallery shows, it becomes pointless. Being listed with a gazillion others is not an achievement, even with a small prize.
I have stopped entering nearly all of them as I have never seen a connection between acceptance and sales.
I’m putting my money into promotion, website updating and redesign, cataloging, preservation and storage etc.
it’s also time consuming and exhausting to keep digital ‘events’ listed.
Sorry to sound so negative but just being honest about my experience.
This!
I’ve been accepted into juried shows on all 3 coasts and other places across the U.S. It’s great for exposure, but I find that I usually sell more art in person. That’s true whether I’m at a juried show, my own gallery or some local outdoor market. I’m my own best sales person.
I also think that artists need to choose carefully when they enter juried online and in person shows. I try to research the jurors, the gallery and the region where the art will be shown then I can make the best choice. If it doesn’t look like a good fit then I don’t spend the money.
This is a very timely article for me to read as I contemplate my calendar of juried art show submission deadlines. I have the first two items from the redirecting your energy” section down pat. Most of my work to date has been commissions that have required a lot of time to complete. The big key for me now is developing enough work consistently and more efficiently, and then, figuring out the best means to reach a wider audience for the work. I have been operating under the assumption that entering juried shows would garner that audience. After reading this article and the comments offered so far, I am now questioning that strategy. Thank you for offering your professional experience on this, Jason.
When I was fully engaged as an arts educator, my outlet and exposure was juried shows. Early on, and because of the time constraints, I limited myself to entering at most 4 or 5 per year. I chose national shows and the annual local show unil it disbanded. That was the process until I retired from the classroom. I did fairly well but monetary awards were exceeding rare.
Once I devoted full time to my art production, and began to consider how one found collectors, my regimen for juried shows began to whither. Am I successful with collectors? Not especially, but I’m getting better thanks to good advice from gallerists and coaches. I will say that working with Jason has been a life changer, and one I can point to as being patiently responsuble for how I think and work today.
The juried shows look cool on the CV for sure, especially if the juror(s) have a reputationin the arts. I always look at the jurors and weigh carefully if my 3-5 seconds of exposure results in being a part of the show. The show itself counts on a single 3 hour “reception”. Mostly crickets after that. Some artists I know have gotten contacts from collectors who have stopped by the show, but I’m suspicious this is extremely rare.
Juried shows are an opportunity for co ops, galleries and art center to raise some money. I’m not against that and sometimes feel like I’m giving a donation weather I’m accepted or not. Just the other day I was thinking that I should start looking up juried shows again to apply to. This discussion however has told me that I need to put my efforts toward painting more. I’m a member of a local arts association. We just had our annual Spring members show and I sold my painting to our president. The painting was created at a plein air workshop on his property so personnel connections certainly account for a lot.
If having around five awards is a good amount, does it matter if they are current or can they be far the past? Is it as meaningful to have won an award ten years ago that served as a stepping stone or is gaining that type of recognition considered a way stay relevant? Same for group exhibitions (I’m guessing solo exhibitions are more meaningful.) I’m thinking how to get from emerging to mid-career. I just signed with a gallery and have had over a dozen publications, but like awards, unless those are particularly special, they’re good to have done but don’t move the needle much at a certain point.
This article made me check some of the numbers from the last few years. I found that over 50% of my yearly income for the past few years has come from sales and awards from juried art competitions. It has taken a number of years to establish myself at some of these shows and I have fine tuned the number of shows that I enter. The commission that the shows take is often a lot less than galleries and I have made many lasting friendships. As with anything there are exceptions to every rule and I get a lot of pleasure in competing and will continue to do so.