Jury Review & Standards

Work by / par: Alison Murphy

A Juried Member of Craft NB is a professional level craftsperson/artist creating exceptional quality hand-made contemporary or traditional items.

In order to become a Juried Member of Craft NB, an individual must first have their work reviewed and approved by a jurying committee.

Prospective juried members must submit their work to one of two of our annual jurying sessions in either Spring, and/ or Fall of each year. The work submitted must demonstrate excellence in workmanship, design and presentation. At Craft NB, jury sessions are lead by professional craftspeople within our membership and use our Jury Standards to review an applicant’s work quality.

To have work juried, individuals must fill out an application form, pay a twenty five dollar jurying fee, and submit five professionally-presented examples of their work to be reviewed by a peer-based jury. All items must have been made within the last 12 months. The five examples of work submitted must be in the medium in which the artist plans to sell. Members must be re-juried to sell products in a new medium.

Work by / par: Marcia Poirier

To be successful, the applicant’s work must demonstrate all the following:

Originality

Products must be original to the craftsperson or a skillful rendering of a traditional or classic design.

Work must show the ‘hand of the maker’ indicating a personal contribution that separates the work from that of other craftspeople. Work must demonstrate a clear, personal vision and unique, distinctive style.

Design

Products must demonstrate that the maker has an understanding of design, indicated by a careful consideration of concept, function, colour, texture and form.

Materials

Products must be made of high quality materials, suitable to the item produced.
Commercial, pre-manufactured components and recycled materials can be used if the original form is substantively transformed by the craftsperson.

Techniques

Must demonstrate a high level of technical skill and consistency of quality.
Must be sound and able to withstand normal expected usage.

 

 

Submitting to the Jury Session

Deadline 

NEW DATE: Application, Fees and work must be submitted by the deadline indicated. Drop-off deadline for next session is June 10th – 14th, 2024 – 830am to noon.

Application Form

Please download and fill out the application and ensure that it’s complete.

Work Samples

You must submit up to 5 physical samples to the jury. Please ensure that the quality of work reflects our jurying standards. Work must be shipped (A return name and address label must be enclosed with your work), or dropped off at the location described below.

Each piece submitted must be clearly labeled and correspond to the application form.

If the work is very large, arrangements may be made to have the jury process occur either on site or in close proximity to the maker’s studio.

In exceptional cases, digital images may be permitted, but this is not advised or preferable. Please contact the Project Coordinator for details.

 

Work Sample Delivery/Shipping Location:

Items must be shipped or delivered to The Charlotte Street Arts Centre. Please make arrangements for drop off by emailing communications@craftnb.ca

Drop off Dates: June 10th – 14th, 2024

If you need to arrange a different time or have any questions, please email: communications@craftnb.ca

Drop off address:
Charlotte Street Arts Centre
732 Charlotte St, Fredericton

Mailing address:
Attn: Craft NB
Charlotte Street Arts Centre
732 Charlotte St, Fredericton, NB E3B 1M5

To apply, please submit your application form along with the Jury Fee of $25+tax. The pieces you submit for Jurying will be securely stored until the Jury Session. Picking up your pieces after the Jury Session will be coordinated.

Jury Fee

Please ensure to pay the $25+tax jury fee along with your application and work samples. Pay online here, or include a cheque with your work samples.

 

Results

We aspire to notify applicants of the results within two weeks of the application date, and provide constructive feedback in written form. If the application is successful, applicants will also be invoiced for the current year’s membership fees at this time.

In the case that the application is not accepted, it is the hope that they will consider the constructive feedback and resubmit for the following jurying session. It may also be suggested that the applicant join Craft NB as an Emerging Artist and learn and grow their practice from this process in order to better prepare them for subsequent jurying.

If for any reason the applicant feels that there has been an error in the jurying process, they can appeal the jury’s decision. In this case, applicants must contact the Executive Director within 10 days of receiving results. A new peer-based jury will be struck to review the work. The applicant will be given notification of the outcome within approximately two weeks of the appeal date. The decision of the second jury is final.

 

Review

All Juried Members are encouraged to maintain the highest level of craft production in New Brunswick.

Members of the Standards Committee will circulate at all Craft NB fine craft festivals to ensure standards of quality and media designation. If problems are identified, the Standards Committee will notify the juried member in writing.

Members will be expected to make necessary improvements by the following craft festival.

If there are any unresolved issues, a panel will be struck to address these issues with the member.