​The Creative Crafts Council (CCC) is an umbrella organization of fine craft guilds that sponsors a juried biennial exhibition of artworks from regional fine craft artists at the Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland, and supports and promotes craft-making across Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia.  The CCC's exhibitions of regional craft have been held since 1954.

The 2025 Creative Crafts Council 35th Exhibition will present some of the Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia region's top artworks in ceramics, enamel, fiber, glass, metal, mixed media, wood, book arts, jewelry and wearable art from Saturday, March 15, 2025 - Saturday, May 24, 2025, at the Mansion at Strathmore located at 10701 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. ​

Please visit the CCC website to learn more about the CCC and the 35th Exhibition. A good definition of craft is available from the Center for Craft in North Carolina.

Jurying

A panel of three experts select the artworks to be exhibited from among the artworks entered through this CaFÉ application.  

Fine craft artworks submitted will be selected for the Exhibition by three jurors based on:

• Quality of the design, creativity, and originality
• Execution and craftsmanship/workmanship
• Overall impact and impression of the work​

To accommodate the wide range of media, jurors with different specialties are selected each year.  This year the jurors are:

• Robert John Devers
• Michael Janis
• Mary Welch Higgins

Learn more about our jurors.

Jurors accept pieces into the Exhibition by category roughly in proportion to the number of artworks submitted in that category to ensure balance and diversity across the Exhibition. The media categories are book arts, ceramics, enamel, fiber, glass, metal, mixed media, wood, and jewelry and wearable art.

Awards

• CCC awards will be $300 for Best in Show
• Awards of $200 for first place and $100 for second place are given in each media category
• Honorable Mention awards, if given, do not receive a monetary award
• CCC member guilds also offer awards of excellence generally in the amount of $100
• A People’s Choice in the amount of $100 will be awarded at the close of the show
• Jurors make awards at their discretion and may also each make a Juror's Choice Award
• All awardees receive a letter of recognition from the CCC

Key dates

• Application closing date: December 10, 2024 at 11:59 pm Mountain Time
• Notification to artists about whether artwork is accepted: on or before February 3, 2025
• Accepted artists deliver artwork to the Mansion at Strathmore by appointment: February 27 – March 1, 2025
• Exhibition opens: March 15, 2025
• Exhibition reception on Thursday, March 20, 2025, from 6-9 pm open to the public: See the Mansion at Strathmore website for information
• Exhibition closes: May 24, 2025
• Artists pick up unsold artwork at the Mansion at Strathmore by appointment: June 2, 2025, 11 am – 4 pm

Application Requirements

Artwork Requirements

• Artists may submit up to four (4) craft artworks for this Exhibition.
• All artworks must have been produced in 2022 or later.
• Artworks must not have been previously exhibited at a Creative Crafts Council exhibition.
• An artwork may be a grouping of two or more objects intended to be a set, with a single price for the set and dimensions for the grouping (not the individual components).

Entry Fees

• $35 for members of sponsoring guilds
• $50  for non-members
• All entry fees are non-refundable

Before beginning submission, applicants should do the following:

• If you do not have a CaFÉ account, you will need one to enter. There is no charge to open a CaFÉ account. If you have questions about starting a CaFÉ account, contact CaFÉ, How to Apply for Artists | CaFÉ™ - CallForEntry.org.
• Upload photos of the artworks that you plan to submit into the “My Portfolio” section of your CaFÉ account using “Add Media” and answer questions about the artworks such as dimensions or is it art in public spaces? (answer: “no”).
  • Each artwork submission must be accompanied by one main photo.  Please use a unique title in “My Portfolio” for each artwork photo.  In addition to the main photo, one additional photo can also be submitted that shows additional details of the artwork.  Please title the detail photo with the same unique title as the main photo and add the word “detail”.  For example, if the title of the main photo is “Mona Lisa,” the title of the detailed photo would be “Mona Lisa detail.”
  • The photos for an entry should not include another of the artist’s submitted artworks in the photo.
  • The photos should be high-quality resolution, in JPG format, and with a maximum size of five megabytes (5 MB) and 1,200 pixels or greater on the longest side.
  • Learn more about resizing images here.
  • Tip: Be aware that image resolution may change when you transfer images between your devices. For example, images the artist emailed to themselves from their phone could have a lower resolution than they were originally. Check image resolution before uploading images to CaFÉ.
• Prepare an Artist biography (up to 3000 characters).
• Prepare an Artist statement (up to 3000 characters.  Please don’t include your name in the artist statement. Flying Arts Alliance, Inc. has a good webpage about writing artist statements).
• When uploading the main photo of your artwork, please use the “description” section to describe any unique techniques or processes used in the creation of the artworks that you’d like the jury to know about.
• Note that the “primary discipline” options during “Add Media” of “My Portfolio” are part of CaFÉ and not the media categories of the Exhibition.  During the submission process, you will be able to choose into which Creative Craft Council Exhibition media category you wish to submit your artwork.

Notification

Notifications will be emailed on or before February 3, 2025. Artists who enter more than one artwork may receive two different notifications, one for the invited artworks, and another for the artworks that were not invited.

Notification of INVITED or NOT INVITED will also appear in your CaFÉ account after the jurying has been completed.

Making modifications before submission

Artists may return to a saved application to modify any part and replace photos any time before they are submitted.  After submission, the Artist cannot modify the application. However, the Artist can request that the CCC Administrator change the application status to incomplete, thereby allowing the Artist to modify and resubmit the application. To make such a request, contact creativecraftscouncil@gmail.com with the words “Change my application to incomplete” in the subject line. The Artist can check that their application status has been changed to incomplete in their CaFÉ account.

Eligibility Criteria

• All artists living, working, and/or going to school in Virginia, Maryland, or DC or who are members of sponsoring guilds residing anywhere may apply.
• The artist created and authorized the artwork to be submitted for the CCC 2025 Exhibition.