ArtiGras Emerging Artists – Homegrown Artists All Grown Up!

Suppose you are a budding artist. You’ve never participated in an outdoor show, much less one as impressive and successful as the ArtiGras Fine Arts Festival, presented by the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and running from this year February 19 to 21. Hosted by the Northern Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce and held at Jupiter Abacoa Town Center, it’s one of the top fifty fine art festivals in the country.

How do I set up a booth? How do I write an artist’s statement, price properly and rent a tent? What about prizes, jury procedures, reproduction policies? Those questions and more need to be answered.

In 2008, under the direction of Suzanne Neve, director of the NPBC Chamber’s Programs & Services, and the creativity of the late artist Joseph LaPierre, the ArtiGras Emerging Artists Program was formed to teach and assist potential artists how to effectively exhibit their work.

Many of the “homegrown” artists who have participated over the past three years are still using the tools from this program in their continued art businesses.

“The idea for the program came about when I attended a conference in 2006 for the National Association of Independent Artists,” explained Neve. “It was brought up that because of the difficulty, the number of artists entering these outdoor festivals was becoming a dying breed, so to speak.”

Neve returned home and discussed this concept with LaPierre, a successful and experienced pallet-knife acrylic painter. “He agreed to help me set it up and helped get artists to mentor the students,” she said.

Basically, the program offers one four-hour seminar several months before ArtiGras. After that, each artist is assigned a mentor, a prominent local artist or show director that guides the student through the process of entering and appearing in ArtiGras.

“The reason we mentor,” Neve said, “is to encourage students to love art and to show how exciting and profitable an artist’s life can become. This program will set them up with the important tools to accomplish success.”

Potential participants need to consider a few regulations. Artists must reside within sixty miles of Jupiter, more than 10 percent of their income cannot be currently coming from artwork sales, they must not have ever displayed their artwork in a fine arts festival, and they must submit an application and be juried into the program.

“The program is limited to no more than eight artists and this year there were twenty-four applications to be juried,” Neve said. “Our current class includes Lawrence Bertin, Roberta London, Jeff Houghtaling, Andrea Spirazza, Amber Moran, Leslie Liss, Shari Lynn Jesteadt and Victor Maisonet.”