Artist Applications for the 2024 Webster Arts Fair are now closed

Celebrating 20 Years!

The 2024 Webster Arts Fair will be held June 7 - 9, 2024. This fine arts fair is set on the grounds of Eden Theological Seminary in the heart of historic Webster Groves, Missouri (63119), just 10 minutes west of downtown St. Louis. Webster Groves is a charming, upscale community nestled among beautiful parks, gardens, public art installations, antique stores, bistros, and boutiques. Supported by Webster Arts, a nonprofit organization, the Webster Arts Fair is celebrating twenty years in 2024 and features top-quality original art from national and regional artists, on-site food from favorite local restaurants, non-stop live music performances, and creative activities that draw 15,000 visitors and buyers from around the region each year.

Artist Amenities

Top-Notch Artist Amenities include:
Complimentary artists meals
Complimentary snacks, drinks and water delivered frequently to each booth
Booth sitters available
Air- conditioned artist break area with flush toilets
Close, free parking
Affordable accommodations at Webster University dorms wtihin walking distance of the fair
24- hour security
Easy load-in and load-out with volunteer assistance availble
200 committed volunteers

Application Details

Application Information: Applications for the 2024 Webster Arts Fair will open November 6th, 2023. All artists must submit a separate application/agreement unless applying as a collaborative team. Each member of the team must be listed on the application. Each team member must be present at the show.

Important Dates:
Call for Entry deadline: 2/7/2024
Jury notifications made: 2/29/2024
Confirmation (booth fee) Deadline: 3/17/2023
Refund deadline: 4/15/2024
Set-up date: 6/7/2024

(Must be set up by 4:00 PM or forfeit space)
Show hours: Friday: 6:00 to 10:00 PM;
Saturday: 12:00 PM to 9:00 PM;
Sunday: 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Categories: Please read the category descriptions carefully. Jurors and/or the Executive Director reserve the right to reassign an artist’s chosen category. Please feel free to call or email Webster Arts with questions.

IMPORTANT: All work exhibited must be created by the applying artist in his or her own studio. Artists may ONLY exhibit work in the juried category. Jewelry may ONLY be exhibited by juried artists in the Jewelry category. You may jury in more than one category, with a separate fee for each application. Please, DO NOT jury the same work in different categories.

ALL ARTISTS: PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY TO AVOID MISUNDERSTANDING.
Email or call with questions.
Commercially-produced items bearing your art ARE NOT PERMITTED at the Webster Arts Fair. Examples include coasters, cutting boards, mousepads, drinking glasses or mugs, books, etc. If you have questions, please call the director for clarification.
Lab-produced note cards are permitted in limited amounts if the images reflect the photography, painting, drawing, etc., that was juried.
One card stand is permitted within the confines of the booth and must be shown in the booth image.
Webster Arts reserves the right to consult with the artist on fixtures in the booth before invitation acceptance.
Reproductions of paintings on canvas are not permitted. A limited number of lab-produced reproductions of original art are permitted. Work submitted for jury must be completed within the last 3 years.

Ceramics/Clay: All original clay and porcelain work other than jewelry. No machine-made or mass produced work is permitted. If multiple pieces of the same design are displayed, each piece must be signed.

Digital: Any original work for which the artist, using a computer, executed the original image or the manipulation of other original source material. Work must be in limited editions of 250 or less, signed and numbered on archival quality materials. Note: Traditional photographs taken through digital media should apply in the photography category.

Fiber: All work crafted from fibers including basketry, embroidery, weaving, leatherwork, tapestry, and papermaking. No machine tooling, machine-screened patterns or other forms of mass production are permitted. No factory produced wearable items, regardless of additional modification or enhancement by the artist.

Glass: Hand-blown or fused. No forms of mass production are permitted. Jewelry must jury in the Jewelry category.

Jewelry: All jewelry, whether produced from metal, glass, clay, fiber, paper, plastic or other materials. No commercial casts, molds or production studio work. Work must be produced in the artist’s studio. Commercially purchased clasps or chains are acceptable. Beads must be made by hand.

Metal: Non-sculptural and non-jewelry metal work. No production studio work is permitted. Jewelry must jury in the Jewelry category.

2-Dimensional Mixed Media: 2D works that incorporate more than one type of physical material to produce. Includes non-sculptural work as determined by the artist.

3-Dimensional Mixed Media: 3-dimensional works that incorporate more than one type of physical material to produce. Includes non-sculptural work as determined by the artist.

Painting: (Oil, Watercolor, Acrylic, Pastels): Works created in oils, acrylics, watercolor, etc., on paper, canvas, gesso board, etc. Reproductions on canvas are not permitted.

Photography: Photographic prints made from the artist's original image, which have been processed by that artist are included in this category. Prints produced through professional/commercial labs are permitted. Photographers are required to disclose both their creative and printing processes on any prints, which have been properly signed. Work must be in limited editions of 250 or signed and numbered on archival quality materials. Significantly digitally manipulated photography should apply in Digital

Sculpture: Three-dimensional original work done in any medium, including built-up works in wood. Jewelry must jury in the Jewelry category.

Wood: Original hand-tooled, machine-worked, turned or carved work. Jewelry must jury in the Jewelry category.

Works on Paper (Drawing /Printmaking): Original drawings created with chalk, charcoal, pastels, pen, or pencil. Printmaking includes prints hand-pulled from traditional methods including etching, engraving, silkscreen, stone and plate lithography, linoleum block or woodcut. Prints should be properly signed in limited editions of no more than 250. Paper cuts and paper collages are also included in this category.

DIGITAL IMAGES:

Five (5) images must be submitted for each individual media category.
Four (4) images must be of individual pieces of work, produced within the last 3 years. No signatures or marks that identify the artist should be visible on the artwork work.
Image number #5 must be of the artist's booth set-up, showing overall continuity and presentation of the current body of work.
Images must be in 1920 x 1920 pixel format. For information on image resolution, please access zapplication.org/imaging_tips.phtml.

The fifth image is mandatory. If a booth image is not available, submit an image of a grouping of work representative of work to be exhibited. Images must accurately represent the body of artist's work to be exhibited. Note: This is a blind-jury process, do not submit booth images with identifiable signage or photos of the artist. IMPORTANT: Your booth image MUST accurately reflect the work to be exhibited. If we don't see a representation of the type of work in your booth image, you may not exhibit it. Also, provide a reasonable approximation of your set up. Booths that vary significantly from the booth image in quality of work, type of work, or set up will be closed. Fees will not be refunded. Please call or email with any questions.

Jurors

John Freise
John is a self-taught artist who has worked in a variety of mediums over the past twenty plus years. He has done a number of exhibits and art shows throughout the country. For nearly a decade, he has worked as a mixed media, assemblage artist who works primarily with repurposed and recycled materials.

Luisa Otero-Prada
Luisa is a visual artist based in St Louis, MO since 2004. Drawing inspiration from her native Colombia, Luisa fills her canvases with vibrant flora, people, and colorful abstractions. She weaves different aspects of her identity into her paintings to create enchanting passages that resonate with people from all walks of life. Before moving to St. Louis in 2004, Otero Prada attended La Salle University in Bogota, Colombia where she majored in Architecture. Luisa is active in her St. Louis community. She attended the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission Community Arts Institute in 2016 and their Teaching Artist Institute in 2020.

Through the Contemporary Art Museum’s Art Reach program, she served as artist-in-residence at Vashon High School, and she was also an artist-in-residence for two years through Artscope at Kairos Academy and St. Cecilia School. She coordinated the “Doors of North STL” project for PEACE Weaving Wholeness and has served as curator for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater St. Louis, Luisa was included as an “Emerging Immigrant Artist” at the Missouri History Museum in 2019. She has also facilitated workshops for the Contemporary Art Museum at the St. Louis Art Fair, Missouri History Museum, St Louis Art Museum and the Hispanic Festival “La Villita Arts”. She is a member of Zuka Arts Guild, St. Louis Artist Guild and LatinX Art STL. She recently was an Emerging Artist at the 2022-2023 St. Louis Art Fair. She currently serves as Youth Programs Coordinator for Bread and Roses Missouri, is a Mid America Arts Alliance (MAAA) Artist Leadership Fellow and an Artist INC facilitator. In April, Luisa was named the 2024 Community Impact Artist by the St. Louis Visionary Awards.

Kim Stahl
With a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) earned at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana in 2003, Kim pursued her dreams of becoming a jewelry artist taking her to New York City, where she honed her craft working with renowned names in the jewelry industry, like Charon Kransen, Alexis Bittar and Gwen Stefani.

In 2007, Kim's artistic passions expanded, leading her to explore the art of blacksmitthing. She embarked on this new creative endeavor by taking classes through the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Later, she embraced the role of studio assistant and apprentice under the guidance of Marsha Trattner at She-Weld in Red Hook, Brooklyn, until Hurricane Sandy brought unexpected change. Upon moving to St. Louis, Missouri, Kim continued to pursue her love for craftsmanship, working with a local artisan. However, her journey took a significant turn in 2015 when she was invited to participate in a national television competition on the History Channel's Forged in Fire. Notably, Kim made history as the first female contestant on the show.

Kim is currently teaching blacksmithing at Craft Alliance, an active member of the Midwest Metalsmiths and the Arch Reactor Makerspace, and serving as Secretary of the Gateway Area Knife Club.

Now, Kim Stahl brings her extensive background in jewelry and blacksmithing to the role of an art juror, where her deep understanding of these crafts and her diverse artistic experiences make her a valuable contributor to the art world.

Jury Process

Webster Arts respects the integrity of the jury panel review process and supports the decisions made by the jurors. Webster Arts, through the Executive Director and Jury Chair, do not tamper with the decisions of the jurors, but reserve the right to determine the final composition of the show and make adjustments as necessary. The Executive Director reserves the right to invite up to five artists at her discretion.

For 2024, 100 artists will be selected for invitation. A pool of alternates is selected by the jury to be invited if space becomes available. Vacancies are filled by category. The balance of the show determines the selection of an artist from the waitlist.

Awards

The Webster Arts Fair is proud to exhibit the high-quality work of the selected artists and will be awarding one Best in Show cash prize and multiple Awards of Excellence cash prizes. Jurors will be onsite to select award winners. Award winners are also invited back for the 2025 fair without going through the jury process.

Insurance

Webster Arts requires artists to have liability insurance. We recommend ACT Insurance if you are currently looking for a policy. https://www.actinsurance.com/