Submission Instructions

Congratulations to the accepted artists for Bridges 2012. Please review the updated section below, “Upon Acceptance.”

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Welcome, artists! We look forward to reviewing your artwork for the 2012 Bridges Conference taking place in Towson, Maryland from July 25-29, 2012. Please read through the following instructions carefully.

Introduction

At this year’s conference, there will be space for exhibiting 2D and 3D mathematical art, ranging from computer graphics to quilts to geometrical sculptures. In addition to the traditional display of art during the Bridges Conference, there will be a professional art gallery exhibit installed in the College of Fine Arts Gallery, directed by Professor Christopher Bartlett from the Art Department of Towson University. This art exhibit will open June 29 to the general public and remain on view through July 29. There will be published announcements and media releases to advertise the exhibit.

Artworks to be displayed in the College of Fine Arts Gallery will need to be shipped or delivered to Towson University and arrive by June 15. They will be required to be presented in a manner that meets gallery standards. The two exhibits will be held in the same building in which the conference talks will be given. For the purpose of submitting and jurying of artworks, the two exhibits will be considered together to comprise the Bridges 2012 Exhibition of Mathematical Art, subject to the limit of three artworks total per artist. For each artwork you submit, you will need to indicate whether you would like it considered for the longer exhibit in the College of Fine Arts Gallery.

For the month-long exhibit in the College of Fine Arts Gallery, there are no restrictions on the size of submitted artworks. However, for the traditional display of art during the conference, flat works will be limited in size to 24” x 36” (including frame), and 3-D works will be limited to 24” x 24” x 24”.

Space is limited, nevertheless, so submission of large works, particularly multiple large works, may reduce the chances of a work being accepted.

If you would like to submit your work, please follow the instructions below. Nonconforming submissions will not be entered into the review process.

By submitting your work to Bridges and/or exhibiting your work at Bridges, you grant Bridges, for any accepted works, non-exclusive rights to use your text and images on its website, in its print and CD proceedings and catalog, and for promotional purposes. You further grant third parties the right to reproduce your text and images in reports on and reviews of the conference. For collaborative works, or works submitted on behalf of another individual, the submitting individual warrants that he or she has obtained any rights necessary to grant the rights described above. Bridges will make a reasonable effort to ensure that all text and images are properly attributed to the artist(s).

Review Criteria and Scoring

This art exhibit will be curated by Robert Fathauer. All submitted artwork will undergo a refereeing process by a panel of jurors.

The exhibit space will only accommodate a limited number of works, which may necessitate rejecting some good quality pieces. Review criteria include:

• Math content (This is a mathematically sophisticated audience.)
• Esthetic appeal (This is admittedly highly subjective.)
• Medium (A variety of media will make for a more dynamic exhibit.)
• Craftsmanship (The level of skill and effort that goes into making an effective presentation of the idea.)
• Originality (It helps if the submission differs appreciably from work that has been submitted previously.)

Expectations

The primary intent of the art exhibition is to foster active exchanges between exhibiting artists and conference participants. Thus we expect all artists to attend the conference and require them to register once they obtain the notification that their work has been accepted. Work of non-registered artists will not be exhibited and will not appear on the conference CD or web site.

Please note that the works to be exhibited in the month-long exhibition are required to be presented in a manner that would be appropriate for a mainstream art gallery. Artists should make their best effort to present artworks for the shorter exhibition in similar manner, though some allowances will be made for the difficulties of international shipping and travel. This is to be contrasted to a poster session or technical illustration look, which most mathematicians are more accustomed to. For examples of the sort of works that are appropriate, see the recent art exhibits from the Bridges Conference and Joint Mathematics Meetings.

Deadlines

Submissions must be completed between February 15, 2012 and March 15, 2012. Notification of acceptance will be made via e-mail by April 15, 2012.

Requirements and Submission Process

Log in with an existing account or create a new account

All artists must have an account on this website in order to submit to the 2012 Bridges Conference. If you already have an account from previous exhibitions (Bridges 2010, Bridges 2011, JMM 2011, or JMM 2012), click Log In. If you have forgotten your username or password, click Request new password and enter the email address you registered with previously. The system will email you a one-time login link that will allow you to recover your username and set up a new password.

If you don’t have an account, click Create a new account and provide a username, valid email address, and password. Once you create your account, you will be automatically logged in and can create your submission.

Creating and editing your submission

Log in to the website and click Add Submission, and fill out the form. Note that required fields will be marked with an asterisk (*). When you are finished, click Save. You can go back and edit your submission at any time up until the submission deadline by clicking My Submission.

Image Requirements

You may submit 1 to 3 artworks. In the event the jury is forced to choose among submissions that received comparable jurors’ scores, artworks will be selected in the order in which they appear. You may wish to consider this when ordering your artworks.

Images should be JPEG files with a dimension of 1800 pixels in the larger direction, RGB format, saved with maximum quality.

Upon Acceptance

1) Check your page carefully and edit your text if you’d like. To edit the text associated with your artist profile, click on “My Submission” and then click “edit”. Any changes must be made by May 15 in order to be included in the print catalog and the version of the website that will be available to the public and will go on the conference CD. With so many submissions, the jury is not able to edit text, check spelling, etc., so it’s important that you check your text carefully. In your artwork descriptions, make sure that you have explicitly addressed the math content in your work. There were some descriptions that were weak in this regard.

2) Check your thumbnail image on the home page of the exhibition. Two entries still lack a thumbnail. In some cases, the thumbnail may be related to a work that was not accepted, in which case you should change it.

3) Check your image for each artwork and be sure it is the image you want to appear in the catalog. If you submitted a computer graphic of a sculpture, please note that a photograph of the physical sculpture is required for the catalog. These should be uploaded by May 15.

4) If you haven’t already done so, you will need to register for the conference at www.mathartfun.com, by May 15. Click on the link for the Bridges Conference and follow the instructions. If you can’t attend the conference, you are still required to register in order for your work to be included in the exhibition. If you can’t attend, please let me know. For general information and issues other than registration, please visit the conference website at http://bridgesmathart.org/bridges-2012/.

The two exhibits will be held in the same building in which the conference talks will be given. The artworks will be handled with professional care but not be insured while on display, so the artist assumes all risk for damage or theft. Both galleries are guarded when open and locked and alarmed when not.

For the month-long exhibit:

• This exhibit will be installed in the College of Fine Arts Gallery, directed by Professor Christopher Bartlett from the Art Department of Towson University. The exhibit will open June 29 to the general public with a formal reception and remain on view through July 29. There will be published announcements and media releases to advertise the exhibit.
• The 2-D artworks should be matted and framed properly (prepared for a professional art gallery exhibit). For works on paper that are to be shipped, framing under acrylic (not glass) is recommended.
• Artwork should be shipped to Professor Bartlett in such a way that he can receive them by June 15 to be able to properly locate each artwork in a special place in the College of Fine Arts Gallery. For artwork shipped from outside the US, to be on the safe side, depending on the location of the sender, the artwork should be shipped ‘door to door’ at least by May 15 to guarantee that it reaches Towson University by June 15. This will help the sender to resolve any possible issue such as customs requirements and delivery period. Normally, an artwork insured expensively under the category of “artwork” will stay in the customs and the sender is responsible to pay Customs to release it. However, it seems that packages shipped under “educational work” with inexpensive insurance will be released from Customs faster. Nevertheless all the related Customs issues should be resolved by the sender directly as there is not any conference organizing member to assist in this regard. The shipping address, for the month-long exhibit only, is:
  Center for the Arts Gallery
  Art Department
  Towson University
  8000 York Road
  Towson, MD 21252
• All the participant artists should remove their artworks from the gallery the afternoon of Sunday, July 29 or no later than the morning of Monday, July 30. If works in the CFA gallery cannot be picked up arrangements for prepaid shipping may be made. Towson University will ship back works in the original packing but the artist must provide shipping instructions and prepay shipping costs.

For the conference-only exhibit:

• The conference does not normally provide for receiving and shipping of artworks, and this will be the case for the conference-only exhibit this year as well. You will need to either hand deliver your artwork yourself or make arrangements for someone else to deliver it. For travel planning purposes, you should plan to deliver your artwork in the afternoon of Tuesday, July 24, preferably by 3:00 PM. You should plan on helping to unpack and display artwork if help is needed. Artworks should be picked up on the final day of the conference, Sunday, July 29, in the afternoon.
• 2-D artworks can be displayed either on table-top easels or by hanging on walls. While we encourage artists to present their art in a manner appropriate for a mainstream art gallery, some allowances are made for the difficulties of travel and shipping. It is acceptable to mount paper works on foam core or other board for display without framing, but matting and framing is encouraged.

Questions

Questions related to the art exhibit or to the use of this website should be addressed by e-mail to artsubmissions@bridgesmathart.org.