Show Information: The Sun Valley Center Arts & Crafts Festival is ranked among the top 100 best art and craft shows in the country by the Art Fair Source Book. The Larry Harris List of the Nation's Best Art Festivals ranks the Sun Valley Center Arts & Crafts Festival among the top 20 in the Pacific Northwest and California. Sales for the 2009 show, which included 130 artists, were approximately $409,000 based on taxes collected by the City of Sun Valley. Attendance is free of charge and entertainment and educational programs are scheduled throughout the weekend. The area is a level, grassy field surrounded by high alpine mountains. Artists must supply their own booth and they must have a white canopy tent unless prior permission has been received from the Director. Booth spaces are 10ft x 10ft and 10ft x 20ft: Twelve inches in between booths will be allowed for support systems. A shared area in back of each booth for storage will also be available.
Rules & Eligibility: Artists in all fine art and fine craft disciplines are welcome to apply. Artists agree to be present during all show hours, all three days, and will show only their own work made by their own hands in the category in which they are accepted. We encourage that exhibited work for sale not be older than five years unless prior permission has been received from the Director. No commercial agents, dealers or manufacturers may enter. Kits, tumbled stones, embellished objects, manufactured objects, imported objects, mass-produced goods, exhibitor posters, edible items, candles and personal care items are unacceptable for sale during the Festival. Any off-set printed reproductions must be labeled as such with a clear definition of the reproduction process displayed and available for the general public. All artists must disclose materials and processes used in on-site signage. A standardized format for artists' signage can be found at
www.naia-artists.org. If two or more persons collaborate to produce original work, all must be identified on the Application. Artists who wish to exhibit in more than one category must submit a separate application for each category. The categories are defined as follows.
Please note, category definitions have changed, please review carefully. The categories are defined as follows: You may choose only one category per application. Artists are welcome to apply in multiple categories, but must submit separate applications for each category. Artists may not exhibit work from multiple categories at the Festival. The categories are defined as follows:
CERAMICS: All original clay work is acceptable in this category. No machine-made or mass-produced work is permitted. Painted greenware is not eligible.
DRAWING: Original works executed in pencil, charcoal, chalk, pastels, pen, ink etc.
FIBER: Includes basketry, weaving, papermaking, leather and fine wearables. No machine tooling, machine, screened patterns or miscellaneous forms of mass production are permitted. All factory produced non-wearable items, regardless of additional modification or enhancement by the artists, are prohibited.
GLASS: Original works only, no mass production work is permitted.
JEWELRY: No commercial casts, molds, settings or production studio work is allowed.
METALWORK: Functional, non-sculptural metalwork.
MIXED MEDIA: Includes 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional and work that incorporates more than one type of material that is non-sculptural.
PAINTING: Oil, acrylic, watercolor, tempera, etc.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Prints made from the artist's original image must be processed by the artist or under artist's direct supervision. Photographers are required to disclose both their creative and printing process, especially with regards to any manipulation.
PRINTMAKING: Hand-pulled original prints that are signed and numbered in limited editions by the artist.
SCULPTURE: 3-dimensional original work done in any medium.
WOODWORK: Original hand-tooled, machine worked or carved work.
Jury Process: Five images and one booth image of your current work that you plan to display are required for jurying. A booth image is mandatory and must be representative of presentation and work to be displayed. The jury prefers a booth image of the whole booth. Booth images will be used to determine scale of work, balance and overall presentation. All images are juried anonymously; therefore artist's names or business names must not appear in any images. Each set of six images submitted by an artist is viewed as a group. Each group of six images is viewed by category in the order received by The Center.
DESCRIPTION: We request a three-sentence description of your work that will be read to the jury. Anything longer than three sentences will not be read. No other information is considered during the jurying process, except what is given in your image description.
SCORING: Points are awarded on a scale of 1-5 for quality, creativity, originality and craftsmanship. Prior to scoring each category, jurors review all of the slides within the category. During this time a member of the jury who is an expert or professional in the related field may be asked questions about certain techniques or problems particularly related to the category by the rest of the jury. Each juror assigns each artist a score. Scores are then totaled for one cumulative score per artist with 35 being the highest possible score. Jurors are instructed to score independently and they do not discuss their scores with other jurors during the scoring process.
LOCAL ARTISTS: All local artists, those living in Blaine County (as full time residents), will automatically receive one point before jurying to encourage participation and ensure an environment for local artists.
THE JURY: The jury consists of a panel of 7 professional artists, collectors and community members. The majority of the panel rotates on a yearly basis to ensure objectivity. The same jurors who judge the slides are also asked to judge Best of Show and Best of Category Awards during the Festival. Jurors are not compensated for their time financially or otherwise. There are no quotas for categories.
JURY EXEMPTIONS: The Best of Show winner, Best of Category winners and People's Choice award winner from the previous year are exempt from the jury process. The Best of Show winner may participate as a jury member for the following year. In addition, the Festival Director reserves the right to invite up to 4 artists to preserve the history, continuity and growth of the show. The Festival Director has final discretion on accepted artists.
Festival timeline
- April 9: Notifications mailed
- May 7: Booth fee due
- June 4: Booth fee refund deadline
- August 12: Artist registration and set-up
- August 13-15: 42nd Sun Valley Center Arts & Crafts Festival
- Hours: Friday & Saturday 10am – 6:30pm and Sunday 10am – 5pm
Fees and Cancellation Policy: Fees & Cancellation Policy 2010
When applying, a non-refundable jury fee of $25 is payable through Zapplication.
Booth fee is due upon acceptance, deposited upon receipt. A full refund will be given if
written notification is received by June 4.
Any returned checks will incur a
$20 penalty fee which will be payable immediately upon notification.
Booth fees are $450 for a 10ft x 10ft space and $900 for a10ft x 20ft space. Booth placement priority is given to the previous years award winners, all other artists are placed in the order that they applied to the Festival.
The Sun Valley Center for the Arts highly encourages artists to prepare digital images and apply online. In the event that an artist requires assistance, the Sun Valley Center staff is available to answer questions or process your paper application for an additional $50 fee for a total of $75 (application fee is $25).
Artist Services
- Scheduled set-up and tear-down times
- Festival program distributed at the Festival and at select locations prior to the Festival
- Security provided from the end of the show in the evening until the following morning and during tear down
- Booth-sitters
- Discounted show merchandise
- Coupons for local restaurants and businesses
- Free and convenient parking
- An Artist's Reception at The Center after Thursday set-up
- $1,000 Best of Show Award, winner receives automatic acceptance the following year
- Best of Category Awards and People's Choice, winners receive automatic acceptance the following year and a small cash prize
- Referral services provided throughout the year
Atkinson Park Festival Map