The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, July 23,1980-Page 7
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Daily Photo by JIM KRUZ
AN ARTIST RELAXES as prospective patrons mill over his work during last year's Art Fair.
South, East University artists
juried by acceptance committee
artists
By SUSAN McCREIGHT
Ethnic foods on Main Street, hand-
made musical instruments on State
Street, and a children's craft area on
the front lawnof the Union are a sam-
pling of the University Artists and Craf-
tsman Guild's contribution to this
year's Art Fair.
Sponsors of the Summer Arts
Festival, the Guild is a non-profit art
association that operates year round in
the Union. The organization generates
all its own funds from studio fees and
membership dues, according to Celeste
Mellis, Guild director.
THE SUMMER ARTS Festival is the
largest fragment of the fair, concurring
with two other independent fairs and
annual summer sales by local mer-
chants.
Participating students are given a
reduced rate of two-thirds the regular
exhibition fee, one-half the membership
dues, and are given top priority when
applying to exhibit, said Helen Welford,
who will become Guild director after
the Art Fair. Still she said, most of the
750 artists and craftspersons who share
the 53 booths lining Main Street and
State Street are established
professionals from Michigan.
The Guild was initiated, Welford said,
to offer students and associates of the
University an alternative to the long
See 'U', Page 8
Ry TOM MIRGA
Before an artist can begin to set up a
booth along South or East University,
his work must first be inspected and
approved by the Ann Arbor Street Art
Fair Acceptance Committee.
According to Committee Coordinator
and local artist Jill Damon, the
screening process began at last sum-
mer's fair when participating artists
were juried on the street. '
EACH YEAR, ARTISTS who are in-
vited back consist of approximately 75
per cent of the exhibitors, leaving only
a scant 40 to 60 spaces available for new
artists. The acceptance committee
reviews approximately 700 to 900 ap-
plications, each accompanied by slides
of artwork, to fill these vacant spaces,
she said.
"Our main purpose is ensuring that
the fair has a good balance of many
types of media of a high degree of
quality," Damon explained. "We don't
want to see 80 artists exhibiting pottery
and only three exhibiting fibers. Also,
we don't want to see artwork that is
very similar to other works."
APPLICANTS TO the fair, she con-
tinued, are asked to submit five color
slides in the area of their
specialty-photography, pottery, or
wood carving, for example. Jurying
sessions are organized by area and, the
five-member panel of jurists are
assisted in their decisions by twenty
other artists in various art media.
As jurors view the slides, they grade
applicants on a scale of one to five. The
numbers are averaged for a final score,
and those artists with top marks are in-
vited to exhibit in the fair, she ex-
plained.
Damon said the acceptance commit-
tee maintains standards and guidelines
to ensure as much original artwork as
possible is exhibited at the fair. "For
example," she said, "we require that
photographers do their own processing,
and that printers do their own prin-
ting."
THE COMMITTEE coordinator said
her group's responsibilities are "quite
important" and are vital to main-
taining the art fair's high standards of
quality. "Without the screening
process," she said, "this would be just
like any other fair."
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Damon said the committee is
represented by "a good mix" of both
traditional and experimental artists
who contribute to the art fair's wide
range of works. "It's hard to predict
what the jurors will favor from one-
year to the next," she said. "This year
people coming to the fair will see a lot of
unique, experimental works. It's hard
to say how the crowds will react."
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