Smithsonian Institution: Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013

Deadline: October 31, 2011 midnight MT {Mountain Time} (ONLINE)


The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery
Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture
Washington DC
March 22, 2013 to January 4, 2014



The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is currently scheduled as a triennial event. OBPC 2013 is open to all visual arts media.


Who May Enter

The competition is open to all artists, 18 years of age and older (as of January 1, 2011), who are legal residents of the United States or its territories with an address in the United States at the time of the competition. Employees, volunteers or interns, Regents, and members of advisory boards of the Smithsonian Institution and their immediate families (children, siblings, and spouses), competition sponsors, employees or immediate families of the judges, and their respective agents are not eligible. No work previously submitted for this competition is eligible for resubmission, but artists included in previous competitions may enter again, with the exception of the first-prize winner in a previous Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.


What to Enter

The work entered should be understood as a portrait in the broadest sense. It may be a traditional, representational work or it may be a more experimental portrait, but it must be based on the artist’s direct contact with any living individual (s). Self-portraits will be accepted.

Each artist may enter only one portrait, and it must have been completed after January 1, 2010.

Entries will be accepted in all visual arts media, including, but not restricted to: painting, drawing and watercolor, sculpture, weaving, ceramics, photography, prints, video, film, and other digital or time-based media.

Paintings, drawings, pastels and watercolors should be framed (strip frames are acceptable). Paintings should preferably be unglazed. Works on paper should be framed and glazed with UV filter glass or plexiglass. All two-dimensional work shall measure no more than 7 feet by 7 feet by 8 inches (including frame), nor should they weigh more than 150 pounds. The National Portrait Gallery will provide attachment hardware for works selected for exhibition.

Photographs and prints should be framed and glazed with UV filter glass or plexiglass. All two-dimensional works must measure no more than 7 feet by 7 feet by 8 inches (including frame), nor should they weigh more than 150 pounds. The National Portrait Gallery will provide attachment hardware for works selected for exhibition.

Sculptures may be freestanding or wall-mounted and may be composed of any sculptural medium. This includes, but is not limited to, stone, metal, fiber, clay, wood, paper, or resin. Sculptures should not exceed 7 feet (height) by 7 feet by 4 feet in size, nor should they weigh more than 150 pounds. The National Portrait Gallery will provide platforms, pedestals, or attachment hardware for sculpture selected for exhibition.

Video, film, digital and time-based media will be accepted, and special instructions for entering these works will be available in the online entry form. The online entry form MUST be completed.


Entry Method

The first round of jurying will be done online via Café.org/WESTAF so DO NOT send the original artwork. Online entry is required via this Web site and Café.org/WESTAF. Check the website for complete details. www.portraitcompetition.si.edu.

Online entry and image: You will need to fill out an online entry form and upload at least one image to the competition Web site via Café.org/WESTAF. You may submit up to 2 JPEG images of your portrait.

For online entry with uploaded images, the fee is $35, payable by credit card. All fees are nonrefundable.

The National Portrait Gallery reserves the right to limit the number of entries accepted and may close online entry at any time between September 1 and October 31, 2011.


Judging

Judging will be done by a panel of experts selected by the National Portrait Gallery, who will initially select approximately 100 semifinalists. On or before April 15, 2012, the National Portrait Gallery will contact artists who have been selected as semifinalists by e-mail.

Artists whose work was not selected for further consideration will also be notified at this time.


Prizes

The grand prize is $25,000. The winner will also have an opportunity for a commission to create a portrait of a remarkable living American for the National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection. The artist and the National Portrait Gallery will work together to select the subject of the portrait and the fee for the commission.

The second prize will be $7,500. The third prize will be $5,000. The judges may commend up to four additional works with prizes of $1,000 each. The People’s Choice Award winner will receive $500.

The decision of the judges is final, and no challenges will be permitted.

Winners of cash prizes are responsible for all taxes due on such awards.


Visit website for complete details including rules of entry: www.npg.si.edu/competition/about

After reading the rules and FAQs, if you have questions about the competition or entry process, email: portraitcompetition@si.edu


Smithsonian Institution
Donald W. Reynolds Center for
American Art and Portraiture
National Portrait Gallery
Eighth and F streets N.W.
Washington DC