Art Pack Submissions

Thank you to all the amazing artists who entered this year's call for art! We had 125 submissions from all over New York State and the Northeast. I wish we could print enough new Art Packs for you each to have a pack, but we'll only be doing about 16 new Art Packs this year.

A few of this year's submissions. (In no particular order!)

I've been going through the submissions enjoying seeing your art, visiting your websites, and reading about your backgrounds. When I'm reviewing work, I'm looking at each individual artist while trying to keep an eye on the whole collection. I like to balance the seed pack set based on the overall feeling of diversity.

This means that there could be multiple very talented watercolorists, but that I'll probably only be choosing 1-2 water color pieces as a medium. I'm also looking at colors and making an effort to  have a range of pallets. Why am I sharing my selection process? Because this is the most difficult part of creating the Art Packs for me. I dread sending out the "rejection" letters each year. I want each of you to know that I value your creativity and your artistic contributions to your communities.

It will probably take me all week to get through all the entries. Once I've chosen about 32 artists, I'll spend some time playing matchmaker- pairing each artist with a variety that I feel is a good match for their style, vision, medium, colors, and voice. I'll then send out an email with my selections for Round Two.  Artists selected for the next round will have the opportunity to create sketch proposals for their assigned variety. From this pool, only 16 or less artists will be chosen to create packs this year.

Thank you each again for taking the time to submit work, good luck, and keep making art!