Hello and Happy New Year to all you lovely artsy individuals! 2023 is here, and we are in the final two weeks of the Call for Art! All submissions must be finalized by 11 PM on January 15. No, emailing us a week later and saying please will not help your situation. Our Call for Art is 45 days long, and we scream and flail about it for a month or more leading up to it, that’s a good amount of time.
Let’s Talk Sales
Let us veer away from the potential panic of looming deadlines for a moment and talk about art sales at the festival. All exhibition art is for sale, with the occasional very rare exception. For years the festival has maintained an exhibition sales average of 28% – which is higher than any other erotic art festival (yes, really). Recent festivals have seen that only get better! For all that 2020 was a rough and trying year, we managed to surpass our record with 34% of exhibition art sold, and 2021 was very close. In 2022 we sold…(drum roll)…46% of exhibition art! Forty. Six. Percent. Excuse me a moment, I have to fan myself.
Festival store sales are excellent, and a great opportunity for artists who make prints, cards, and other associated merchandise to accompany their exhibition pieces. Or even if you don’t have an exhibition piece! If you make adorable naughty little items all year round (pins, keychains, patches, stickers, jewelry, greeting cards, you name it) the festival store is the place for your wares. Last year the store sold out of about 70% of its inventory!
The first opportunity for art to be sold is actually at the Black Tie Affair, where our Art Activists get a sneak peak at all the exhibition art accepted into that year’s festival. During the exhibition, art sales are made by the docents. Docents are volunteers who take on extra hours to review and learn the art, and can be found either at the Art Sales table, or walking the exhibition floor. You can identify a docent at a distance by the white scarves they wear.
Last Minute Check List
So, before you all run off to put together your submissions (and double check what you’ve already submitted), we have some reminders and tips, straight from the desk of Drea Talley, the SEAF Artist Liaison.
- Only one piece of art per entry in visual. Yes, you can upload three photos of art in each entry. Those extra spots are for 3D works that can be viewed from multiple angles. If you try to submit multiple pieces of art in one entry, it will be disqualified.
- No watermarks or lettering on your submitted image. We understand the need to protect your art, and we would never post your art without your explicit permission. That said, watermarks warp the art and make it difficult for the jury to make a decision. Also, we use a blind jury, so identifying text on your images will get your piece pulled and disqualified.
- If you are using a pseudonym or professional name, make sure that’s the name you use in your bio. We will print what you give us. If you listed yourself as Biff Hardcheese but your bio says Leslie Von Trapp, we won’t change it before it goes up on our walls. We edit for grammar, consistency, and style, not for content.
- Double check all spelling and punctuation of art titles. Much like with the bio, we will assume that if you make a spelling, punctuation, or capitalization error in the title of your art, that you did it on purpose. If it seems really obvious that it was a mistake, we might reach out for clarification, but for the most part we assume you took artistic license.
- Just double check all your entries! Sometimes images and files don’t upload completely if you navigate away from the page early, or if your internet was interrupted at all during the process. Just take a minute and look over everything to be sure that it’s the way you want it to be.
As always, we are delighted that you all take the plunge and submit your art to us. We can’t have a festival without you. If you have any questions about art submission, feel free to email Drea at artisthelp@seattleerotic.org. If you have more general questions about the festival, email info@seattleerotic.org.