Tuesday, December 1, 2009

It's already December!

Well ladies and gentleman, December is here and the art doesn't show signs of stopping! Today I will be in South Florida soaking up Art Basel Miami Beach and playing shutterbug for all those not able to attend.

I received a call about two weeks ago from visual arts teacher Patricia Calderon from the Osceola School for the Performing arts asking if I'd like to chaperon with a group of 24 students on a mission to experience the U.S. version of the Holy Grail of Art Expos... I think it took me a nano-second to blurt out ABSOLUTELY! Which was immediately followed by a severe case of 'happy dance'.

As if that wasn't the best news ever, today also happens to be the deadline for the Annual Osceola Art Festival which will be taking place on February 13-14, 2010 at the Valencia Osceola Campus on 192 in Kissimmee. This year we took a chance and decided to use an online festival service called Zapplication.org. This is a free virtual application process for artists to upload booth and artwork photos and with a few extra strokes of the keyboard, and credit card in hand they can apply for shows in minutes, not only saving time but also going paperless... 'be a good artist and save a tree'.

This year we have received over 180 applications and look forward to a few mail via snail mail. Just to put that into perspective, the last few years have shown a decline in artist submissions ending in last years final count of only 95 participating artists. This year we will be wait-listing quite a few artists and turning away many more than we had to in the past 4 years. Suffice it to say that as the numbers started to rise so did the lump in my throat when I realized that we would actually be adding 50 booth spaces to the event area this in addition to a section devoted to local artists and galleries called 'Locals Lane' at a reduced booth price.

So all in all this month is booming with great opportunities and a levity of spirits for this artist...
Be sure to check back about Art Basel and the final outcome of the Center's jury process next week!

Good luck with your art endeavors and may your December be Merry and Bright!

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