The Finger Lakes Native Plant Society (FLNPS) is sponsoring Living Light, a juried art exhibit whose theme is the beauty and diversity of the Finger Lakes flora. The show will be held at the Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) from January through March of 2010.
This document contains the rules and guidelines for both submission to and participation in the show; hence, it has two main parts. Please read both parts in their entirety prior to submitting your work. You will also need to examine carefully the separate Submission Details page (referenced below), and you may find it helpful to consult the Exhibition Calendar.
Please note that this "Rules & Guidelines" document, issued at the beginning of the submission period, expands upon and supersedes the earlier "Prospectus" document.
SUBMISSION
Media: The artwork you submit for consideration by the jury may include, but is not limited to, the following two- and three-dimensional media: painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, glass, and mixed media. Your submitted work must be of your own original creation.
Subject matter: Each work must have as its primary subject(s) one or more plants and/or fungi, featured in whole or in part. These subjects, whether treated in a more figurative or more abstract manner, must be able to be identified plausibly as being native 1 or naturalized 2 to the Finger Lakes region 3 (see numbered definitions below). The jury will give some preference to works featuring natives. (Works featuring solely cultivated or exotic plants will not be considered.) To help you in identifying appropriate subjects for your work, we've provided some references and links to botanical resources.
Members of certain plant groups 4 are often difficult to identify in photographs, even for experts. Hence we will, with works depicting members of these particular groups, need to require that a location, accurate to at least the county level, be provided with each submitted work and that this location be within the Finger Lakes region as we have defined it for the purposes of the show 3.
Definitions for the purposes of this show
- native = present in the region prior to European colonization
- naturalized = not present in the region prior to European colonization, but now persisting without cultivation
- Finger Lakes region = the area consisting of the following 17 counties: Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Onondaga, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins, Wayne, and Yates
- groups requiring Finger Lakes location info with submissions = mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and all fungi including lichens.
Entries: Anyone is eligible to enter, and there is no fee. You may submit up to five works for consideration. Submissions must be in the form of high quality digital images of your original work, accompanied by an entry form. These will be accepted using an online process, as described in the Submission Details. All entries must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. on October 17, 2009.
Selection process: Submissions will be prescreened by professional botanists to determine if they meet the subject matter requirements as stated above. Submissions meeting the requirements will then be reviewed by the jury, which will make its selections based on a variety of considerations. These will include artistic achievement by the individual artist, as well as botanical diversity and diversity of media and style for the show as a whole. Botanical accuracy will also be considered, although its significance as a criterion may vary with the style of each work. The jury will consist of three guest jurors, each known for his/her artistic excellence in a different medium, together with several FLNPS members.
We will email you no later than the third week of November to let you know whether your work has been chosen for inclusion in the show.
PARTICIPATION
If your work is chosen, we will send you a congratulatory email, along with a PDF form that you can print out, sign, and return to us. This will confirm your commitment to participate and to adhere to the rules and guidelines. It will also include a granting of permissions and a waiver of liability.
Permissions: You will need to grant FLNPS and TCPL non-exclusive rights to use images of your chosen work to publicize the show. We may also request–but will not require–your permission to use images of your work (with full credit given) on the FLNPS website after the conclusion of the show. In all cases, you will fully retain your copyright.
Liability: TCPL and FLNPS personnel will make conscientious efforts to assure the safety and security of artworks on the library premises; however, neither TCPL nor FLNPS can take formal responsibility for this. Hence, all chosen artists must sign a waiver of liability in order to participate.
Display prep: Chosen works must be suitably prepared for installation. For two-dimensional works this would normally include simple, good quality, gallery-style mats and frames and sturdy hanging hardware. (Frameless clip systems–e.g., "Uni-frames,"–should not be used.) Unusual types of wall hangings may be treated somewhat differently and will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Three-dimensional works must be able to sit or hang stably within the library's display cases (or on open display surfaces, if they are large durable sculptures), and any stands or other fixtures required for this must be provided by the artist.
Final Acceptance: If your work is chosen for inclusion in the show, you will be able to enjoy a high degree of confidence that it will in fact be hung. However, the hanging itself will constitute the final acceptance into the show. Organizers must reserve the right to reject delivered works for reasons such as the following: 1) the work is not suitably prepared for display; 2) the submitted image substantially misrepresents the delivered work; 3) there is insufficient adherence to other important rules and guidelines.
Delivery & removal of works: You will be responsible for the delivery to and removal from the TCPL premises. Drop-off may be done during the following times (which will be confirmed, and instructions provided, as the dates draw near):
- Wed, January 13, 1:00 pm - 8:00 pm
- Thu, January 14, 1:00 pm - 8:00 pm
- Fri, January 15, 10:00am - 4:45 pm
The show will close near the end of March. Works may be picked up during the last few days of that month, in a fashion similar to the drop-off. The exact dates and times for the show's close and for artwork pick-up, while not yet confirmed, will be communicated to you well in advance.
Sales: All artwork must remain on display for the entire duration of the show, including any work which may be sold privately during the show. Neither FLNPS nor TCPL will have any involvement with sales. They will, however, supply price and contact information for your work to interested parties, if you provide that information.
Educational component: Since the exhibit's purpose is both to inspire and to inform, we will make every effort to highlight the beauty and creativity of the chosen works while thoughtfully integrating them with a variety of interpretive materials. We may also conduct appropriately themed workshops in conjunction with the show, and we may, as part of this planning, request the use of images of selected exhibited works.
Show opening: The show will open to the public on Saturday, January 16, 2010. The show's official opening reception will be held on the evening of Friday, January 22, in conjunction with the Light in Winter festival Gallery Night. We look forward to welcoming all participating artists at the reception. A presentation and/or panel discussion, with participation of select artists from the show, may also be part of the event.
MORE INFORMATION
If you have questions that are not answered clearly by this document or website, please email us. Also, if you'll not be submitting work immediately, please consider signing up to our email list so we can send you occasional reminders and updates about the entry process and the show. For either of these, click the "FeedBack & Forth" link below.
Thank you for your interest!