Resources

What is visual art?

The visual arts are art forms that create works that are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video, film making and architecture. These definitions should not be taken too strictly as many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts are the applied arts such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and decorative art.

The current usage of the term “visual arts” includes fine art as well as the applied, decorative arts and crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term ‘artist’ was often restricted to a person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking) and not the handicraft, craft, or applied art media. The distinction was emphasized by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement who valued vernacular art forms as much as high forms. Art schools made a distinction between the fine arts and the crafts maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of art. (From Wikipedia 2012)

What is Public Art?

Public art is exactly that, art in public spaces. The term “public art” may conjure images of historic bronze statues of a soldier on horseback in a park. Today, public art can take a wide range of forms, sizes, and scales—and can be temporary or permanent. Public art can include murals, sculpture, memorials, integrated architectural or landscape architectural work, community art, digital new media, and even performances and festivals!  (Americans for the Arts)

What is an UVA Exhibition?

There are a variety of elements in an exhibition, so not every entity will have precisely the same definition. 

For UVA, a good exhibition is, first of all, meaningful yet still provides a strong learning environment. It can promote passion, purpose, issues, ideas and solutions, social change and justice, and memories. It should showcase art and artifacts, selected by a curator, in an organized and cohesive manner that helps invoke an important message (s). The design of the exhibition should draw the audience into that learning environment by being stunning, spectacular and/or unexpected in its own way. A number of different types of presentations, displays and stations may need to be employed, since audiences learn and enjoy in many different ways. Most importantly, an exhibition is a piece of art in itself, created by one or more persons to convey feelings and emotions. To assist the audience, every good exhibition needs the following prepared and/or managed by a curator: an overall statement, a program guide or catalog, an online presence, and individual art and artifact labels that are descriptive, insightful, accessible and easy to use.

An UVA exhibition includes these main components:

• Fine art by local, living artists
• Independent curator and exhibition designer
• Cultural and/or contemporary social theme
• Learning experience and interpretation

A full list of exhibition components includes:

• UVA independent Guest Curator
• Good educational themes that spark interest among UVA artists, the public, and the exhibition venue
• Dedicated exhibition space in which the art is safe and properly presented
• Fine art insurance against art damage and theft (provided by UVA)
• Exhibit postcards designed and printed (provided by UVA)
• On-line exhibits with an on-line art shop to purchase the art (provided by UVA)
• Printed exhibition programs or catalogue with curatorial statement, artist statements and artist biographies, and artwork prices (provided by UVA)
• UVA exhibit designers to plan the exhibit and manage the full installation (provided by UVA)
• Lead publicity person to manage all printed and on-line publicity and marketing (provided by UVA)
• An entertaining opening reception organized by UVA with:
  • Live music (usually jazz, acoustical or classical)
  • Plenty of good food
  • Wine
  • Short artist talks
  • A raffle for great door prizes
• Organizing post-reception educational programming, such as artist talks and demonstrations, curator talks and panel discussions (managed by UVA)

UVA curators, usually guest curators, along with the exhibit designers are the main organizers of UVA exhibitions.  The curator, if they are also an artist, does not include their art in the exhibit. Their tasks include:

• Recommend an exhibition theme and educational storylines.
• Recommend the exhibition title that captures the essence of the exhibition.
• Prepare a curator’s statement of approximately 150 words. This is not an artist’s statement, but can include artist’s quotes and ideas.
• Prepare a shorter version of the curator’s statement for the press release (approximately 50-75 words)
• Organize the narrative biography of the artist(s) for the press release
• Prepare a narrative biography of the curator for the press release
• Write a 1-2 sentence summary of the exhibition for postcard
• Write the artwork labels that identifies the individual artwork (artist, title, media, dimensions, price) and a short interpretative statement about the artwork, if applicable
• Make suggestions for art installation and design
• Assist with the installation
• Assist in putting the entire exhibition with images on-line
• Prepare a printed exhibition program or catalogue that includes the curator’s statement, all artist statements and a price list. 

UVA Web Image Guidelines

(PDF Version of this information is available here)

The following guidelines should be used whenever images are being submitted by artists to UVA for the UVA website, other UVA internet-based sites such as Facebook and Twitter as well as UVA exhibition submissions. Non-artists can also use these guidelines as tips in taking and organizing their photographs.

Take quality high-resolution photographs of your artwork:

•  (digital camera preferred, but quality cell phone images may be OK)
• Set camera to highest quality (.jpeg or .jpg format OK)
• Shoot in north light or overcast day with little/no shadows
• Camera mid-position perpendicular to artwork or sculpture
• Avoid unwanted motions/reflections/glare or shadow effects (photos should be to taken without protective glass, acrylic or plexi)
• Use simple backdrops/lighting to enhance 3D/sculptural pieces
• If necessary, shoot the artwork outside for the best possible lighting
• If you don’t have a camera or are don’t feel comfortable taking photos of your artwork, ask a friend for help.

Edit your image:

• Neatly fit image to square or rectangular space
• Adjust edges w/Crop/Distort tools in Photoshop/Elements/etc.
• Adjust Hue, Saturation and Levels to match original artwork
• Save original photo of image for future use

Resize image to 1000 pixels on small side (i.e. 20 x 24 =1000 x 1200)

• Save your image for UVA use
• Use image saving convention:(ArtistLastName_title_version.jpg)
• For instance: vangogh_sunflowers_01.jpg
• Save as jpeg .jpg image (quality setting = 10)
• Hint: Naming in some programs, such as Mac’s Photo, requires you to save outside the program to give it a unique name.

Framing Suggestions and Guidelines

The appearance of two-dimensional wall artwork is oftentimes enhanced with the proper framing and matting.  Frames also protect and assist in displaying artwork. Briefly, framing consists of five components: molding, glass, matting, art, and backing and each choice should complement the other components. Both artists and non-artists can benefit by taking the time to select appropriate choices, even when cost is a consideration. 

Here are some suggestions and guidelines to consider when artists submit an artwork to UVA for an exhibition or when non-artists purchase an unframed artwork for their own use.

• Frames should not be overly heavy or grandiose. 
• Most contemporary works are better suited to simple black, white or clear frames.
• The width of the frame depends on the size of the artwork.  Narrow width tend to work well with all sizes but sometimes a wider frame is necessary.
• Gold frames with lots of carving are usually a distraction.
• Unless other-wise instructed, most frames should be securely wired in the rear of the frame.
• Matting can greatly enhance a painting or photograph.   Generally, that means that matts should be white, off-white and similar tones.  Alternately, you can choose a mat color that relates to the dominant color in the artwork.
• Mats should be wide enough to draw the viewer into the artwork.  A good rule of thumb is that the mat’s width should 15-20% of the smallest dimension of the artwork.
• Artwork on canvas can be unframed but new canvas floater frames work well even with oil and acrylic paintings.
• Artwork on wooden or similar type hardboard material boxes need not be framed. They are oftentimes used for encaustic and tempera paints.
• Glass and acrylic covers are almost always used for photographs, drawings and watercolors. If possible, avoid glass for large artwork because when an accident happens it can be very messy and a little dangerous.
• Frames and mats should be purchased together to ensure the best compatibility.  They can be purchased from an art supply store, a craft store that has a special framing section and from on-line distributors.
• If you have the time and can afford it, bring your artwork to a framing shop. Their professional experience will almost always pay off.