aoga6-9/dnessd y, July 19, 1978-The Michigan Daily Artists must qualify to exhibit work in fair By SHELLEY WOLSON It's not easy to become one of the select artists who get to show and sell their works at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs. Being a good artist in no way guaran- tees one the honor of exhibiting. The three different art fairs follow their separate procedures, and each has an acceptance committee which decides the lucky artists-to-be. For the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, which runs along both South University and East University Avenues, the 300 artists are carefully picked from hun-. dreds of applicants. Commonly known as the "juried show" because of its rigorous screening process for exhibitors, the selection begins at the previous summer's Art Fair. Each year, returning artists comprise about 80 per cent of the fair, leaving 30 to 60 spaces available for new artists. To fill these spaces, the acceptance committee sifts through hundreds of applications, each accompanied by a few slides of artwork. The acceptance committee chairperson appoints the jurors who will select the artists in each area. As the jurors view the slides, they grade each applicant, and a certain number of artists in each medium are chosen, depending on their ranking as a result of the grade. The jurors are chosen from people actually working in that particular art medium, in order to have qualified judges making the final decision. The State St. Art Fair, though the smallest in size, is not lacking in quality exhibits. All artists are judged the previous summer, and all exhibitors awarded an excellent rating are invited back. Applications with slides are sub- mitted for the remaining spaces, as in the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. The judging board, comprised of the board of directors of the State St. Area Association, review the applications and make the difficult choices. "We try to have a mixed media," said co-chairperson Geri Willson. "It's such a painful procedure - you have so many magnificent artists and you just don't have the space to choose them," she added. The Main Street Art Fair is com- prised of student artists who are mem- bers of the Artists and Craftsmen Guild. Memberships cost $15 while F OL L E T T 'S CELEBRATES ART FAIR! We're celebrating with a salute to MILT KEMNITZ illustrator of Ann Arbor Now and Then and London and Back. Selected prints available. Kemnitz Art Fair t-shirt And with a huge interdisciplinary BOOK SALE Selected textbooks at /2 off. Selected tradebooks at discounted prices. Browse through the selection. FOLLETT'S MICHIGAN BOOKSTORE_ 322 South State Street booths cost $45. Non-students may also join the Guild in hopes of exhibiting, but there is a long waiting list for these ar- tists. For those who decide to exhibit their works, there is a lottery for the available spaces as there are a variety of locations, with some areas hotly sought after. Ann Arbor merchants who wish to sell their merchandise on sidewalks directly in front of their property during the fairs must apply for a street occupancy permit from the city. The permits will not automatically be issued to artists who wish to participate in the fair; they can only be obtained by participants designated by the Art Fair sponsors or merchants who are selling their goods in front of their established business location. This permit policy rose out of a recen- tly approved City Council ordinance controlling issuance of the permits. Super umbrella tops it By SHELLEY WOLSON A unique exhibit, "Superumbrella," will make its debut at the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair this year, joining its fellow artifacts on South University. "Superumbrella," which weighs 150 pounds and covers a circular area 34 feet in diameter, was developed by University Architecture Professor Kent Hubbell and his architecture class. Using funds from a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the work was developed in Hubbell's design studio and the stretched mem- brane structure will replace several of the previous wooden coverings sheltering the outdoor exhibits in the past. "We were interested in using fabric structures to cover the exhibits instead ' of the usual wooden covers. We went ahead with the designs which ended up being the superumbrella," said recent University graduate Pat Hagerty, who participated in the structure's design and conception. According to Hagerty, this year's ar- chitecture class project was to study the use of canopies for, short term fun- ctions, such as art fairs. One of the main features of the course is a real project, with a real client, but the task must be small enough to be completed by the end of the term. This summer the prototype Superumbrella will be fabricated and tested as a shelter for the Ann Arbor Potter's Guild exhibition area at the corner of South University and East See SUPERUMBRELLA, Page 20 OPEN 9am - 8pm DURING ART FAIR