Tallahassee Watercolor Society’s
2023 Brush Strokes
Prospectus
Annual Members’ Juried Water Media Exhibition
Tuesday, September 26, 2023 through Monday, November 27, 2023
Tallahassee City Hall Gallery
Awards Presentation: Thursday, September 28, 2023 6:00-7:00 p.m.
ARTIST ELIGIBILITY
All current members of the Tallahassee Watercolor Society (TaWS) with dues paid for 2023 are encouraged to enter.
This year no shipped paintings will be accepted. We do encourage all eligible members to enter the show, and if you are experiencing issues with delivering your paintings, you are encouraged to coordinate with others to arrange for transport and delivery to City Hall on September 22 between 9:00 A.M. and 11:00 A.M.
WORK ELIGIBILITY
Artists may enter one or two original water based media paintings executed in an aqueous manner on surfaces made for watercolor including paper, paper mounted board, clay board, or Yupo. Watercolor paint is encouraged. Gouache and acrylic are allowed if the paint is applied in a watery manner or as an accent. Oil based media, pastels, and air brush renderings are not allowed.
Paintings must be original. Copies of work, including published photographs and paintings by persons other than the artist are not acceptable. If a painting is entered using images by someone other than the artist, written permission is required and must be submitted with the accepted painting.
Work painted in a class or workshop with the help or direction of an instructor is not eligible.
Painting on top of a printed photograph or digital image is not allowed.
Collage is acceptable if the majority of the painting is water media.
Diptychs and triptychs are acceptable if they are in one frame.
The image size of each painting must be at least 10 inches on all sides. (The image size is the dimensions of the painting alone, without a mat or frame.)
The framed size must be no larger than 40 inches on any side. (The framed size is the outside dimensions of the framed piece.)
Paintings must be executed after January 1, 2021.
Works previously shown in any prior Tallahassee Watercolor Society Brush Strokes or Tri-State exhibition or at the Tallahassee City Hall Gallery are not eligible.
Note: City of Tallahassee policy prohibits exhibiting artwork with nudity or religious imagery.
Artwork submitted must be original as stated above. If a painting is discovered not to be an original, the TaWS Board will immediately withdraw the painting and/or award. Membership and exhibition suspension is a minimum of two years. Please use honorable ethics concerning originality. TaWS reserves the right to refuse, upon arrival, any painting of unacceptable quality or damage in transport. A painting that does not match its submitted digital image will be returned. If the juror or the TaWS board have any questions regarding the authenticity of the work or its being within the stated guidelines, the framed piece may be dismantled for closer inspection.
AWARD SELECTION
The juror will select works for the show at City Hall from submitted digital images. Awards will be chosen by the juror from actual paintings. No more than one prize will be awarded per individual artist. Awards of approximately $ 1,500 and merchandise are anticipated.
JUROR: Amanda Karioth Thompson, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AKT- Artful
Amanda Karioth Thompson is an independent arts consultant and founder of AKT Artful. She has 20 years of experience in arts administration and as a practicing artist. She is a well-respected and knowledgeable advisor, collaborator and interpreter. Born and raised in Tallahassee, Amanda attended Florida State University and earned two bachelor’s degrees in Studio Art and Art Education, and a master’s degree in Art Education.
EXHIBIT LOCATION
The location of the exhibition is the Tallahassee City Hall Gallery at 300 South Adams Street in Tallahassee, Florida.
DATES TO REMEMBER
July 28 Application deadline
August 25 Acceptance notifications e-mailed
September 22 between 9 AM and 11 AM Hand delivery of paintings
September 26 to December 4 Exhibition
September 28 from 6 PM to 7:00 PM Awards Presentation
November 28 between 9 AM and 11 AM Pick up of paintings
HOW TO ENTER
ALL APPLICATIONS WILL BE COMPLETED ON-LINE
The link to the application is provided at the end of this prospectus. Click on that link. Fill out the information, upload your digital images, pay your application fee and, if needed, your membership dues.
DIGITAL FILES
Entries must be in JPEG/JPG or PNG format.
Digital image files should be between 1MB and 2MB.
Image should be correctly oriented (vertical or horizontal) and should be cropped to include only the painting, not mats or frames.
Name the digital files with your last name followed by the title of the artwork with an underscore between each word. For example, if your last name is smith and the title of the artwork is "Summer Sunset", name the digital file Smith_Summer_Sunset.jpg
No digital enhancement is allowed.
If you need help, email Sam@tallahasseearts.org.
ENTRY FEE
An entry fee of $25 is required of 2023 TaWS members. Non-members can enter by becoming members and paying the entry fee of $25 combined with yearly dues of $30, for a total of $55. All fees are paid electronically through PayPal at the time of submitting the application. Those without a PayPal account can still go through PayPal using a credit card.
PERMISSION TO USE
Accepted digital images are retained for the TaWS archives. Permission to reproduce accepted images for TaWS publicity purposes and presentations is assumed with the submission of the entry. The submission of the digital entry is an agreement to these conditions.
PRESENTATION
All paintings must have museum quality framing: simple, lightweight, and ready for hanging with wire in place. Artwork may either varnished (ex. Sprayed with a varnish/fixative) or unvarnished. Unvarnished work must be matted and framed behind plexiglass. No glass is allowed. Mats must be either white or off-white. A color liner is permissible. Varnished work does not require a matt or plexiglass but must be framed.
TAWS will not re-frame, re-mat or repair artwork! All work arriving damaged, in poor condition, or poorly or improperly presented will not be accepted.
All paintings must be labeled on the back with:
Painting’s title, medium and price.
Artist’s name, address, e-mail and telephone.
DELIVERY AND RETURN OF PAINTINGS
Hand deliver and pick up accepted paintings at the Tallahassee City Hall Gallery at 300 South Adams Street in Tallahassee. The contact person is Sam Joslin at 850-224-2500 or Sam@tallahasseearts.org.
Shipped paintings will not be accepted. All paintings for the Brush Strokes show must be hand delivered.
SALES
All paintings must be for sale or marked NFS (Not for Sale). The price of a painting cannot be changed once the application is submitted. Submission of the application is an agreement to these conditions. Sales inquiries are referred directly to the artist. No commission is taken. Please specify in the application how you wish your contact information to be listed for interested buyers: phone number, e-mail or website.
LIABILITY AGREEMENT
Paintings are insured while hanging at the Tallahassee City Hall Gallery. Every care is exercised in the handling of paintings, but neither the Tallahassee Watercolor Society nor COCA is responsible for loss or damage in transit or in packing, unpacking, whatever the cause. Concerned artists should carry their own insurance.
SIGNATURE MEMBERSHIP
Acceptance of one or more paintings in the Brush Strokes Exhibition awards the artist one half point towards attainment of Signature Membership in the Tallahassee Watercolor Society. Signature membership requires a member to accumulate a total of three points awarded by the following system: one point per show for acceptance into a Tri-State Exhibition and a half point per show for acceptance in a Member’s Exhibition (aka Brush Strokes). At least two points must come from Tri-State acceptances.
EXHIBITION POLICY
The Board of the Tallahassee Watercolor Society has adopted the following policy relating to acceptance/display in any juried exhibition:
“Any TaWS member who attempts to influence, intimidate and/or harass a judge, exhibitor, board member, or exhibition committee member can be banned from the current show and from future entry into TaWS exhibitions by a vote of the Board. The juror’s decision will be final for the accepted paintings as will be the judge’s decision for awards.”
INQUIRIES
If you have questions about the application process or show, please contact the Brush Strokes Chairperson, Jennifer Lange at 850-345-8076 or jenlange@comcast.net. When inquiring by e-mail please put “Brush Strokes Inquiry” in the subject line.
APPLICATION LINK
Note: You will need to establish or log into an existing Submittable account.
Council on Culture & Arts (COCA) Submission Manager - Brushstrokes 2023 (submittable.com)