Prospectus

Mosaic Arts International 2015

SAMA’s Annual International Juried Exhibition

Painted Bride Art Center

March 11 – April 25, 2015

Introduction
The Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA) invites artists working in mosaic media to submit applications to Mosaic Arts International (MAI) 2015. Held in conjunction with SAMA's annual conference, the juried exhibit presents the best in contemporary mosaics from SAMA's diverse international membership. Mosaic Arts International 2015 will be held March 11 – April 25, 2015 at The Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA . Painted Bride Art Center brings together artists, audiences and communities to push the boundaries of how we create and experience art. The center, located in Old City, Philadelphia, cultivates an environment for critical dialog and playful exchange to transform lives and communities. SAMA is honored to present Mosaic Arts International exhibition in one of Philadelphia’s most vibrant multi-disciplinary art venues, and looks forward to engaging with the Painted Bride Art Center community. The 2015 Conference – The American Mosaic Summit will be held at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel – Philadelphia.

Mosaic Arts International unites compelling materials, innovative design, and masterful technique currently explored by a selection of the best international artists working in the medium. The Society of American Mosaic Artists is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating, inspiring, and promoting excellence in mosaic arts.

Calendar

Selection Process

The choices of the selected entries are solely decided by the jurors. SAMA Board Members and/or Staff facilitate the administrative aspects of the jury process and in no way influence the outcomes. The decisions of the jurors are final.

Jurors (alphabetically)

Sophie Drouin, Kitchner, Ontario, Canada

Sophie Drouin is an award-winning mosaic artist who specializes in abstract designs. She first studied with her Italian-trained artist father, and has travelled to Italy and France to learn from mosaic masters such as Verdiano Marzi.

Sophie teaches mosaic throughout North America, at her home in Canada as well as in the US, where she has taught in Miami, Oakland, Chicago, Boston, San Diego, Austin, Lexington and Charlotte. She is an award-winning member the Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA), a member of the British association for Modern Mosaic (BAMM) and the International Association of Contemporary Mosaicists (AIMC). She has exhibited in Canada and the United States, as well as Europe where she has also won a number of awards.

Ms Drouin is the English Language editor of Mosaïque Magazine, an excellent publication with a focus on international mosaic events and artists throughout the world.

George Fishman, Miami Shores, Florida, USA

George Fishman’s involvement in the arts combines studio practice, community and media projects. He helped found two major studio complexes in South Florida. For twenty years he designed and created commissioned mosaics for cruise ships, domestic and religious clients. He delivered conference presentations and co-edited Groutline for five years. He has written for several trade publications.

An 18-month stint hosting a Blogtalkradio program that profiled arts professionals led him to start QRartguide, a service that uses QR codes to deliver audio commentaries via mobile devices. He currently produces audio guides for exhibitions, public art installations and performances.

A regular Miami Herald contributor, his stories include gallery and museum reviews and such topics as art conservation, artist talks and the Maker Movement.

Awards - Totaling $5000

Best in Show - $2000 - work receiving highest collective marks from Jury though all rounds of review.

Technical Distinction - $750 - work that exemplifies excellence in the methods, materials, and execution of traditional mosaic making. Selected by jury consensus.

Contemporary Innovation - $750 - work that best encourages experimentation and challenges the definition of mosaic art. Selected by the jury consensus.

Juror’s Awards (2 given) - $600 each - individual award of merit selected by each juror.

Members' Choice - $ 300 Selected by the attending Membership of the 2015 American Mosaic Summit.

Eligibility

Open to all current SAMA members, age 18 and over. Applications will not be accepted by SAMA until membership status is verified. (Dues may be paid in the SAMA Store at www.americanmosaics.org if applicant is not a current SAMA member or if membership term will expire prior to time of submission). Only one accepted work per artist will be exhibited. In the instance that a submitted mosaic is a collaboration, ALL collaborators must be current members at the time of entry for the work to qualify.

Submitted artwork must be artist’s original design, completed within the past two years (January 2013 thru December 2014) and not previously exhibited in a SAMA exhibition. If an entry was created in a recognizable style or influence of another mosaic master artist, at the time of submitting your entry please identify this fact and that your influence was from another particular artist who is known, unknown, contemporary, or deceased. Art center or school open studio time projects will be accepted. Reproductions of ancient mosaics ARE NOT permitted. No Reproductions of "copy-free" or copyrighted material (even with permission) allowed unless it is copyrighted by the submitting artist. No work executed during an educational experience such as a technical workshop, master course or directed study may be submitted. Obvious copyright infringement will result in removal of all work for consideration prior to jurying.

Entry Requirements

Each artist may enter up to three (3) original works.

Each entry may be one of the following categories: Wall Mosaic, Free Standing Mosaic, Large Scale, or Architectural Mosaic.

Fine Art Category Definitions

Wall Mosaics - Mosaics that are mounted to a vertical flat surface that are 2 dimensional panels, bas relief panels, or wall sculptures.

Free Standing Mosaics - Mosaics that are sculptural or 3 dimensional in form that stand by themselves on a pedestal or floor surface.

Large Scale Mosaics - Wall and Free-Standing Mosaics that exceed weight and size limits for gallery display and are not permanently attached to a fixed structure or building. To be exhibited by photographs.

Architectural/In Situ Mosaics - Mosaics that are permanently attached to a fixed structure, building, or designated environment that may include community projects, private commissions, or art in public spaces. To be exhibited by photographs.

Weight and size limits:

● Wall Mosaics – 65 lbs and no wider than 48” total (including spacing between multi-sectional work).

● Free Standing works placed on a pedestal - 50 lbs. There are no height or width limits for Free Standing work.

● Free Standing work on the floor - 70 lbs. There are no height or width limits for Free Standing work.

If a work is selected to the exhibition and is within the weight and size limitations, it MUST be shipped or hand delivered to the venue to be placed on display. If a work is too large and/or too heavy to meet the size and weight limitations, it should be entered in the Large Scale category and will be shown by photographs if selected.

Artwork should be sturdy and ready for hanging or installation at the time of delivery.

● No saw tooth hangers.

● No Pressed wood frames.

● The hanging wire and frame grommets must be well secured and the frame, hanging wire, and grommets must be weight appropriate to hang the artwork.

The SAMA Exhibition Committee reserves the right to decline hanging/staging an entry if the guidelines are not followed and will return the entry at the artist’s expense prior to the opening of the exhibit.

Image Guidelines

The jury process will take place by digital image review. Slides are not accepted.

● All submitted images shall be formatted in the following file size and resolution as a jpeg:

Images must be sized at 3600 ppi (on the long side of the image) at 300 dpi.

● Submit your primary image as the best overall image that you want to have printed in the catalog.

● If there is a frame around your finished mosaic, you MUST include it in your image submission.

● Digitally altered images may be disqualified.

● Images should be accurate representations of the work.

● Architectural works should include a photograph of the work “in situ” showing the finished mosaic in its permanent surrounding environment.

● Images WILL NOT be reviewed if all guidelines are not followed.

● SAMA reserves the right to pull a work from the exhibition if it should arrive for installation and not match the image submitted for the jury process.

● SAMA reserves the right to not include a work in the catalogue if the submitted image does not meet the specifications for print quality.

Important: the quality of photography contributes greatly to the clarity, sharpness, color, lighting, and understanding of your artwork that assists the jurors in their decision making process and offers the highest quality photograph for printing purposes.

Remember : You are a professional so think like a professional!

Here are some professional photo tips if you want the best quality images that better your chances of getting your work selected into the exhibition.

● Use a 35 mm digital camera with at least 12 mega pixels. Do not use iphones or point-and-shoot type cameras. Or, hire a “professional” to photograph your work according to the image requirements stated above.

● Always photograph at the highest resolution the camera will provide.

● Make sure that the complete image is in focus.

● Front-light the object being photographed. Backlit objects will mute the colors.

● Never submit a bad photo that you would not want to see on a website or in print.

Digital Submission

All submissions to the Juried Member’s Exhibition are required to be via digital submission through Juried Art Services, www.juriedartservices.com. If you are not already registered with Juried Arts Services (JAS), you will need to register prior to submitting your application. Once registered, you will also be able to access other exhibition opportunities available to you through the JAS site. Members without internet access are encouraged to visit their neighborhood library or other institutions that provide free use of computers with internet access. Those with extreme circumstances regarding no internet access, may contact the SAMA office to discuss possible solutions, however, keep in mind, only digital images (no slides) will be accepted. If you experience difficulties submitting your entry in JAS, please review the HELP section of the JAS website for directions, guidelines and helpful hints in preparing your application information and images for submission.

Incomplete applications submitted to the JAS Website will be deemed ineligible.

Your application fee entitles you to enter up to 3 SEPARATE artwork ENTRIES. ENTRIES CONSIST OF 1 PRIMARY IMAGE (this image is to include framing and any presentation elements that are integral to the presentation of the work) AND UP TO 2 DETAIL IMAGES FOR EACH ENTRY for a maximum of 9 images total. Pleases provide the same information for the detail image as you do for the primary.

For each work, you will need: Height, Width, Weight, Year Created, Insurance Value or Total Sales Price, category designation (Wall, Free Standing, Large Scale, or Architectural/In Situ) and a brief listing of materials . Be precise in the description of materials (ie. "glass" is insufficient and should be identified as "vitreous glass", etc.) A term such as "mixed media" is also insufficient without some description of the most important materials included. Description of the substrate is not required. For Architectural/In Situ works please include installation location (including city, state, and country). SAMA reserves the right to edit all lists of materials and dimensions to a common standard for labels and catalogue text.

Important Tip: Please prepare all text in advance of working on your application at www.JuriedArtServices.com so you can have it readily accessible to enter into the system.

When you complete your digital application at www.JuriedArtServices.com, please pay the entry fee on the Juried Art Services website. Payment must be made with debit or credit card. The entry fee is non-refundable.

Through December 13, 2014, Entry Fee is $45

December 14- December 15, 2014, Late Entry Fee is $50

Digital Application Checklist

Please have the following ready before going to www.JuriedArtServices.com. The process is estimated to take 30 minutes.

● Digital images for a maximum of 3 works, one full view and one or two details for each artwork entered.

● For each work, you will need: Height, Width, Weight, Year Created, Insurance Value or Total Sales Price, category designation (Wall, Free Standing, Functional/Decorative, Large Scale, or Architectural) and a brief listing of materials. For Architectural works please include installation location (including city, state, and country).

● Debit or Credit Card information.

● Current SAMA membership.

Selected Works

Artists selected for the exhibit will be asked to provide an Artist Statement about the work selected to be used for exhibition and publication purposes. All Final statements of work accepted to MAI may be edited for publication and presentation consistency by SAMA and will not exceed 200 words.

For more information on appropriate content for your artist statement please do your own research. There are several great tutorials, worksheets, questionnaires, and samples available all over the internet, here are a few to get you started… https://www.artbusiness.com/artstate.html

https://www.mollygordon.com/resources/marketingresources/artstatemt/ , https://www.artstudy.org/art-and-design-careers/artist-statement.php

Note that artists whose work is selected to MAI 2015 must maintain their membership status through December 2015.

For the Architectural Category and Large Scale Mosaics too large for Gallery display only:

● After your work is selected, there will be an additional fee of $50.00 for materials to display your work at the Gallery -- a printed 18” x 24” image to be exhibited in the gallery. (Architectural and Large Scale Mosaics applicants will have no shipping charges to the event.)

● You will be required to submit an additional set of 4 to 6 images sized at 1024 ppi (on the long side of the image) by January 15, 2015 to be exhibited digitally as a slide presentation next to your printed image. High quality video of Architectural works and Large Scale Mosaics selected for inclusion in the exhibition MAY be considered for inclusion in the digital display. Do NOT include video with entries.

Images of selected works will be retained for the SAMA Library. Submission indicates granting of rights to SAMA to reproduce work in a print catalog, publicity poster, on the SAMA website, and in additional publications and websites for publicity purposes. The printed catalog will be sold for SAMA fundraising purposes as well as used for marketing of SAMA. Artists retain all copyrights to their individual works.

Selected work received that differs from the submitted images will be excluded from the display. No substitutions of accepted work will be allowed.

The SAMA Exhibition Committee reserves the right to decline hanging/staging a selected work if the guidelines are not followed and will return the work at the artist’s expense prior to the opening of the exhibit.

If it is proven that eligibility requirements and submission guidelines have not been adhered to after a work has been selected by the jury, the work will be omitted from the exhibition and the member will not be eligible to enter work for consideration in future MAI exhibitions for 5 years.

Artists who decline to exhibit selected work will be ineligible to enter SAMA shows for five years.

Insurance & Liability

Indicate the fair-market insurance value on work that is indicated as not-for-sale (NFS). Artists are to secure their own insurance for transit. SAMA and Painted Bride Art Center assume no responsibility for works while in transit to or from the exhibition. Artwork must be in good condition and able to withstand the ordinary strains of transportation. Artists will be notified of any work that arrives in damaged condition to determine insurance claim needs. The SAMA Exhibition Committee and Painted Bride Art Center reserve the right to decline hanging/staging an entry if the artwork is received in a damaged condition and will return the entry at the artist’s expense prior to the opening of the exhibit. SAMA and Painted Bride Art Center will provide insurance on all works while exhibited.

Sales Price

Set your total sales price to include a commission of 30%. Work will be sold at the price entered on online submission form. All work must have a sale price that includes the 30% commission or, if not-for-sale, a fair market value for insurance must be indicated. Money received from any sales will be split with 30% for SAMA and 70% for the artist. The artist’s share will be issued to the artist within 30 days of the sale of the work. The 30% commission donated to SAMA is to be redirected to cover promotional expenses and storage of empty artwork shipping containers.

Shipping

The work MUST be received at the venue by the dates specified.

Shipping instructions and identification sheet will be included with notification of acceptance. Artists are responsible for:

● paying shipping costs via Trackable mail (UPS, Fed Ex, DHL, etc.) to the staging site.

● checking with the chosen carrier regarding insurance and correct packing procedures and customs documentation for international shipments.

● ensuring that work is shipped in a substantial, reusable-shipping container that meets shipping standards with proper protective cushioning and support for the artwork installed inside the container.

● ensuring that hanging hardware is installed on the work prior to shipping.

● including any relevant instructions for hanging and repacking.

ABSOLUTELY NO FOAM POPCORN OR SHREDDED MATERIALS PACKAGING.

Artists will be notified of work that arrives in a damaged condition. The SAMA Exhibition Committee reserves the right to decline hanging/staging an entry if the guidelines are not followed and will return the entry at the artist’s expense prior to the opening of the exhibit.

Return Shipping: Shipping of artwork back to the artist after the exhibit is at the artist’s expense

● The artist MUST provide a return ‘Shipping Label’ barcode sticker that is prepaid for the return destination and can be scanned by the return expediter. SAMA will work with Artists outside the US to arrange for return shipping when pre-paid label is not possible with shipper in their country. SAMA will charge additional handling fees on a case by case basis in circumstances where prepaid returns by artists are not possible. Work that is not able to be shipped or picked up within three days after the close of the exhibition, becomes the property of SAMA.

● Please state on identification sheet, included with your work, if the work will be returned air or ground.

● If the return destination changes during the running time of the exhibition, then it is the artist’s responsibility to send the corrected prepaid labeling via snail mail to SAMA by March 15, 2015. Work will only be returned to a street address. NO POST OFFICE BOX NUMBERS will be accepted for shipping.

● Neither SAMA nor Painted Bride Art Center will be responsible for breakage due to incorrect packing or an insufficient container when returning artwork as it was originally shipped.

Entry into the exhibition confirms acceptance of all conditions above. Please read all conditions in detail.