As I type, there’s still a week left in 2023 but all of the art places are closed for the Holidays and the only outstanding entries I have left are scheduled to notify in January. It looks like the working year is over so let’s have a closer look at the numbers.
25 rejections compared to 12 acceptances. That’s at least the starting point but since you can use numbers and data to say anything you want, I’d like to look at the entire picture so that I’m not misleading in any way.
First, does this mean I applied to 37 shows/opportunities this year? No. The number is actually a little higher, but some notifications will not come until the new year so they will not be counted on the 2023 list. But still, that’s a lot of applications. And if you consider that 90% of them had an entry fee of $25-$45, that’s around $1,000 spent just on entering shows, so it’s a lot of applications and it’s a lot of money.
Second, what kind of applications are we talking about here? Many were applications to national level juried exhibits. These charge $35-$45 and allow you to enter 2-3 works of art for consideration. This generally involves uploading digital images of the artwork along with an artist statement, bio and a CV. On the best sites, this will take 15 minutes, including paying by card. On the worst sites, it may take an hour. I appreciate galleries and museums who use CallForEntry.org or Slideroom. Some applications were for solo exhibitions or for grants/fellowships. These take a little more time as they have to be customized for each venue and for each unique set of requirements. If you have your stuff together, you can do this in an hour
Third, does this mean I was in 12 shows this year? No. Some of the things I was accepted into will occur on the 2024 calendar year. I think one was even for 2025.
Fourth, am I sad? Quite the opposite actually. When I posted a new rejection throughout the year, many of my kind friends would send a sad face or express disgust with anyone who would reject me. That was super nice of them but I wasn’t really sad. At least not 5 minutes after the rejection. Actually, that’s not totally true for all of them. It did burn extra bad to get rejected from the Winthrop Alumni show. I was not a scrub when I was there and I’ve been pretty successful since leaving, so I thought I had a good shot at getting in. I totally did the comparison thing when I saw what was accepted and I judged things harshly, but I got over it. It just took more than 5 minutes. Either way, going 12 for 25 on the year is pretty amazing. I had a lot to be grateful for in the art world.
Fifth, should I explain that more? Yes, I should. Any artist applying for exhibits and opportunities should expect a lot of rejection. It is part of the daily life of an artist. I teach my students to expect a 90% rejection rate. Apply for 10 shows and expect to get in 1. Some artists I know don’t even get that. This is just getting into a show, we’re not even talking about any awards. I know many artists who have never won an award of any sort. I think I got some sort of merit award this year, so 12 letters of acceptance and an award? That’s great. Well above the expectation. If you apply to 10 shows and get accepted once, you should feel really good about yourself. Anything above that 10% is a bonus.
Sixth, what’s hidden by these numbers? When I started the list at the beginning of the year, I thought it would be accurate to track just rejections and acceptances. My assumption was that I would apply for all the things and just keep track of the notifications. I did that and did it well. The thing I didn’t really plan for was how to track things that just happened without me applying. This isn’t a thing that happens regularly, but from time to time, someone will have an open exhibition date or be trying to fill a calendar and they’ll contact an artist to see if they’re interested in showing. Since I didn’t know to track this, I didn’t write it down and at my age, the brain is pretty full so unless I know it’s important, we just discard those memories immediately. A few months ago I could remember between 5 and 7 things like this happening through the year. Some of these events occurred this year and some will happen in upcoming years. At this point, there may have been 10 or so of these things that just happened to me without applying for anything. So there’s a lot more success than what shows up on paper. These are more reasons to not be sad.
There’s also artwork sales to consider. I’ve sold a decent amount of things this year which means that someone liked my work well enough to invest in it and to live with it on a daily basis. I probably don’t even think about this enough, but if you consider that someone chooses to wake up and see your work in their home every day, that’s sort of a big deal.
The other consideration is positive comments. This is also something I probably don’t think about enough, but sometimes people say really nice, encouraging things. This year, I was told I was “brilliant”, “amazing”, “extraordinary” and “crazy” and I think they meant crazy in a good way. Several people told me in passing that they loved my work or that they were “fans”. Sure, you could argue that some of these are just happy talk but remember, if you believe the bad, you have to believe the good too. I definitely let the bad comments linger, so I need to let the good ones linger too. All of these things make the rejections a tiny bit better.
Seventh, is it painful to be rejected 25 times? Of course. It always stings. In the moment, I feel judged as a failure. For that 5 minutes, I feel that my art is not good and that everyone hates me. Luckily, the old man brain helps me forget things quickly so after 5 minutes, I’m usually good. If you’re wondering if it gets any easier, I don’t think it does. You get better at dealing with it, but a no is always a no.
So there’s that. If you’re an artist, you get it. If not, I appreciate you reading this to understand better. Many people think that artists just live this romantic life of doing what they want to do all day. I don’t know a single artist who does that. Most people outside of art never have to consider what it’s like to make something with all your heart and to immediately have that thing judged as good or bad, worthy or unworthy. It’s tough out here for a thug. Artin’ ain’t easy.
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