The Common Denominator

It's the time of year when I am knee deep in submissions. Yep, Art Fair submissions. Forms and slides and jpgs. I have talked(whined) about this before, the diversity in the applications, how it takes so darn much time to complete them and how it would be cool if there was an easier system that was consistent across the boards.

Of course Zapplication has done just that, at least for the shows that chose to subscribe to their service. It is way easy - Zapp gives each artist a file where they can upload and manage their images. When it's time to enter a show, you just clickclickclick and you are done. As you might guess, entries to Zapp shows are on the rise simply because it is so easy. Consequently, the competition for any show (not to mention the high end shows) is absolutely fierce with hundreds more artists entering any give show. The odds of most the good shows are around 10% or less that you will even get in.

So I was thrilled to learn that I was accepted into the 4 Bridges Arts Festival in Chattanooga. Woo hoo. Two years ago this was my "show of the year" which almost always means I never get in again because the Art Fair Gods have a very strange sense of humor. Imagine my delight when the director called me last week to say that a spot had opened up (I was on the wait list). Yippee!!! My positive mojo must have worked because I booked a hotel months ago in hopes I could go.

Chattanooga is one sweet lil town, offering all sorts of incentives to artists such as inexpensive industrial studio space, no interest loans to fund relocation, etc, etc. They really want to make the town an artist's haven. There are funky coffee shops, good eats, and a fair amount of culture, all set within a lovely mountainous environment. If family ties were not so important to me, I would consider moving there myself. Doing the show is surely the next best thing.