Prospectus

Mosaic Arts International 2016: Fine Art
SAMA’s Annual International Juried Exhibition

Presented at the Women’s Museum of California, San Diego, CA
March 30 – May 27, 2016

Introduction
The Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA) invites artists working in mosaic media to submit applications to Mosaic Arts International (MAI) 2016: Fine Art. Held in conjunction with SAMA's annual conference, the juried exhibit presents the best in contemporary fine art mosaics from SAMA's diverse international membership. Fine Art is a segment of the Mosaic Arts International 2016 exhibition series that will be presented at the Women’s Museum of California, March 30 – May 27, 2016. The Women’s Museum of California is a women’s history museum and community educational resource dedicated to women and their stories by preserving the past and inspiring the future for women worldwide.

Additional segments of the Mosaic Arts International series will include a juried mosaic in situ exhibition presented online and in print and an invitational exhibition to be presented in San Diego’s NTC Arts & Culture District, at the Casa Valencia Galleria. The 2016 Conference—The American Mosaic Summit—will be held at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego, April 3 – 8, 2016.

The Mosaic Arts International exhibition series invigorates a new perspective of mosaic art in numerous contexts, and celebrates established, as well as, emerging artists working in the medium today. All segments combined represent a total of between 35 – 60 artists. The Society of American Mosaic Artists is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating, inspiring, and promoting excellence in mosaic arts.

PROSPECTUS

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)

Elaine M. Goodwin, Exeter, United Kingdom

Elaine M. Goodwin works exclusively in the medium of mosaic using precious Venetian golds and glass smalto. These specialized materials - so well understood by Byzantine artists for their light-emitting qualities and inherent spiritual power - provide her with a continual challenge.
Her imagery is celebratory. It includes translating her experiences and questionings of life - the Absolutes.

She travels extensively in Europe, the Middle East, India, and North Africa to gather inspiration. Elaine was born in England. Her early childhood was in Hong Kong. She was educated in the Far East, Europe and the United Kingdom. Her art training was at Exeter College of Art and Design in England. Her homes and studios are in Exeter, England and Marrakech, Morocco.

Sherri Warner Hunter, Bell Buckle, Tennessee, USA

Sherri Warner Hunter received her fine art training at the Kansas City Art Institute (BFA) and Claremont Graduate University (MA). Her extensive art career includes establishing and directing galleries in Los Angeles that focused primarily on contemporary crafts. She has curated and designed museum exhibitions, served on selection committees for public art, cultural grants, and exhibitions.

Since moving to Bell Buckle in the mid-90’s, Hunter has concentrated her studio time on community built projects and public art commissions. Her work can be viewed publicly at the Governor’s Residence of Tennessee, Edmondson Park, Nashville, TN and the Municipalidad de Puente Alto, Chile.

Hunter teaches workshops throughout the country and internationally, developed primarily from interests in the two books she’s written on working with concrete.

Bernice Steinbaum, Miami, Florida, USA

Pioneering Gallery Director in New York, NY and Miami, Florida since 1977, Museum Exhibition Curator, Lecturer, Professor, Author and upcoming-featured speaker at the 2016 American Mosaic Summit in San Diego. Ms. Steinbaum is the winner of the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art, the 2000 John Pappas Recognition Award for Visual Art Education, Art Educators of New Jersey and numerous other honors throughout her career. As an advocate for underrepresented artists, she has made a significant impact on the contemporary art world. She helped her artists achieve what they had previously thought impossible - exhibitions at major museums, prestigious awards and worldwide recognition. Her life is the subject of the award winning documentary, “Bernice” (2014) by Kristina Sorge.

Awards - Totaling $5,000

Best in Show - $1,800 - work receiving highest collective marks from Jury through all rounds of review.

Technical Distinction - $500 - work that exemplifies excellence in the methods, materials, and execution of traditional mosaic-making. Selected by the jury consensus.

Contemporary Innovation - $500 - work that best encourages experimentation and challenges the definition of mosaic art. Selected by the jury consensus.

Juror’s Awards (3 given) - $300 each - individual award of merit selected by each juror.

Members' Choice - $ 300 - Selected by the attending Membership of the 2016 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 Fine Art Exhibition unless multiple works by one artist is deemed necessary to the overall exhibition by the jury. Artists may also separately submit works to the Mosaic In Situ Exhibition and could potentially have work accepted to each of the MAI juried exhibitions for 2016. 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 the artist’s original design, completed within the past two years (January 2014 through December 2015) 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 the 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 in one of the following categories: Wall Mosaic, Free-Standing Mosaic, Large Scale only. Architectural and In Situ mosaics must be submitted separately and will be juried in a separate process.

Fine Art Category Definitions

Wall Mosaics - Mosaics that are mounted to a vertical flat surface and 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 in a video display within gallery, on SAMA Website, and in Catalog only.

Weight and size limits:

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

● Free-Standing work s placed on a pedestal - 50 lbs. and no wider than 5’ in its largest component so that it fits into the space.

● Free-Standing work on the floor - 70 lbs. and no wider than 5’ in its largest component so that it fits into the space.

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.

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

● SAMA reserves the right to pull a work from the exhibition if it arrives for installation and does 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 to follow in order to obtain quality images that improve your chances of getting your work selected into the exhibition.

● Use a 35mm 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 entered 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. A SEPARATE APPLICATION AND FEE MUST BE SUBMITTED TO JURIED ART SERVICES IF YOU WISH TO ENTER WORK FOR CONSIDERATION FOR THE MOSAIC ARTS INTERNATIONAL: MOSAIC IN SITU EXHIBITION.

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) 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. SAMA reserves the right to edit all lists of materials and dimensions to a common standard for labels and catalog 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 nonrefundable.

Through December 4, 2015 the Entry Fee is $45

December 5 – December 7, 2015, the 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, or Large Scale) and a brief listing of materials.

● 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 on 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 2016 must maintain their membership status through December 2016.

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 Women’s Museum of California 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 Women’s Museum of California 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 Women’s Museum of California 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 via 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 May 15, 2016. Work will only be returned to a street address. NO POST OFFICE BOX NUMBERS will be accepted for shipping.

● Neither SAMA nor Women’s Museum of California 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.