QN & Internet

Andrea Lewis, Dairy Barn Arts Center Executive Director, and Kathleen Dawson, Quilt National Projector Director, have written the following note to Fiber Arts Magazine:

In response to Sandra Sider's article: Quilt National and the Internet, the ineligibility rules for Quilt National are very simple: 1. any work that has appeared in an American Fiber Arts Exhibition that draws visitors from more than 100 miles from its venue; 2. Any work that has appeared prior to the QN opening in a publication that has national or international distribution; 3. Any work that has appeared on a website other than your own is INELIGIBLE

This exhibition was the first of its kind, and to maintain the high quality and integrity of Quilt National it is always our goal to have a premier exhibition of "new" work. It is clearly stated that the first acceptance to the exhibition is "preliminary" and final acceptance is not granted until the work arrives at the Dairy Barn for final viewing. Quilt National reserves the right to disqualify any work that varies from the entry materials or violates the rules of this competition.

After discovering that the work submitted by a few artists appeared to have violated the rules the following steps were taken to determine if the work was eligible. Each violation was documented. We then contacted each organization that reproduced the image to determine if permission was granted by the artist. Finally we contacted the individual artists for clarification on the individual work.

In the case of Amy Orr, she chose to submit her work for an exhibition that contained a body of her work at the Philadelphia International Airport. In a conversation with the exhibition coordinator at the facility, it was confirmed that it is protocol and practice of the Philadelphia Int'l Airport to have any artist exhibiting in the venue sign a release stating that: the images of the work may be used to promote and publicize the exhibit, which includes the appearance on the website. Furthermore it was also confirmed with the Roanoke Times, a second website that included images of the submitted work, and the freelance writer who published an article that featured her work; that images associated with articles are not reproduced until permission is granted from the artist in writing, and after publication become property of the Roanoke Times. From these original conversations it was determined that permission was granted to these entities and that the artist had violated the rules, and was disqualified.

Sandra's article brings up a very real problem, artists do not always have control over who reproduces images of their work; however it was misleading in the case that was stated, because in this instance permission to reproduce the image was granted and documented in writing. The artist chose to submit an entry to Quilt National more than 6 months after separate entities publicized and reprinted images of her work, and violated the rules. As an organization that helps to bring visibility to the numerous artists who participate in our exhibitions and is continually promoting art quilts as a fine art medium, it is paramount that we market our exhibitions and disperse information to the media through various outlets. Most institutions and galleries require artists who participate in exhibitions to sign a blanket release allowing the reproduction and distribution of images of the submitted work for print and electronic media for promotion of the competition and entrants, our organization requires this type of release as well. The lesson that artists should walk away with, is that by choosing to exhibit your work, you are also choosing to market your work, and in-kind the institutions that represent you will do the same. Each of us should always maintain awareness of the participation agreements that we sign, and for the purposes for which we sign them.