Call Detail
StoriesToArt.com - Calling All Artists, Artisans, Poets and Songwriters 2018
Visit Organization Website
Contact Email: info@storiestoart.com

Entry Deadline: 3/1/19
Application Closed

Entry Fee (StoriesToArt.com - Calling All Artists, Artisans, Poets, and Songwriters 2018): $15.00
Work Sample Requirements
Images | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 6
Audio | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 6
Video | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 6
Total Samples | Minimum:Min. 3, Maximum:Max. 6
Call Type: Competitions
Eligibility: National
State: Virginia

Enter for Your Chance to Sell Your Art, Poems and Songs On StoriesToArt!

Everyone has a story, and we believe that any story can become a work of art.

StoriesToArt, a new online gallery, empowers art lovers to select exclusive pieces of art or commission art, music or poetry inspired by their own – or a loved one’s – stories and memories. The result is a one-of-a-kind treasure or gift that offers buyers unique creative input while allowing artists to maintain their style and creative license. Best of all, artists on our site keep 60% of their sales, and 5% of our profits go to arts education via StoriesToArt Gives Back.

We welcome distinguished artists from every field, and recent art school graduates are encouraged to apply to exhibit on www.StoriesToArt.com.

A Competition With Unique Inspirations...

Choose at least one of the stories at the bottom of this call as inspiration for one submission of art, poetry or music. Use our other stories as inspiration or submit up to 5 additional works of art along with the stories that inspired them. Stories should not be more than 150 words long. Each contestant must submit at least 3 entries and all entries must include stories (details below).

Think about how your unique style would best captures a moment or story - we can envision paintings, sculpture, illustration, comics, animation, industrial designs, jewelry, textiles, mixed media, photography, poetry and songs, but are open to all media.

Call Duration:  February 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019
Invitations to Exhibit on StoriesToArt.com:  February 1, 2018 – March 1, 2019
Artists will be invited to exhibit on a rolling basis between February 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019

The Awards

A panel of professional artists, poets and songwriters will choose up to 400 artists to invite to exhibit their work on StoriesToArt.com. Invitations will be sent between February 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019.

Submission Requirements

This call is open to any artist in any media. (Yay we love art!)

StoriesToArt embraces talent rather than a specific genre or medium. We welcome work from students, early-career artists and amateurs, as well as more established artists from the United States.

Each participant must submit at least 3 and up to 6 entries total of original art.  This can include work that has been sold as long as you still have the legal right to show such work on our website. However, at least 3 pieces entered must be available to sale on StoriesToArt in the event that you are invited to exhibit on StoriesToArt and you accept our invitation. All work must be dated (either in the description or on the piece).

All entries must include an accompanying story. At least one entry must be inspired by one of the stories listed below. Specify which story by entering the story title in the artwork description. Stories may not exceed 150 words – take our time and craft a story worth reading.

Registration is $15 (to cover uploading expenses). All submissions must be uploaded through this website.  You will not be required to provide your submission physically.  You may pay by credit card at check out or send a check to StoriesToArt, P.O. Box 343, Earlysville, VA 22936.

Go to www.StoriesToArt.com to check out our site.

Visual Artists:

Make sure you put each story that inspired each piece on the second page of this application.  See "How Do I Submit My Stories?"

Images must be at least 1920 pixels on the longest side. Subject matter must be viewable for all ages. Photography must be original or a limited edition of 100 or less. Contact artistsupport@storiestoart.com for tips for photographing your work.

3D artists, please provide front and back shots as well as detail shots of the surface.  You may email additional images to info@storiestoart.com.

Make sure that your work is signed and try to make it visible in the images or documents you upload.

Songwriters:

Make sure you put each story that inspired each piece on the second page of this application.  See "How Do I Submit My Stories?"

There is a 3.5-minute duration restriction for songs. Songwriters retain all rights to their songs but, if using lyrics, must credit the storywriter as one of the writers of the lyrics.

Songwriters, take care to ensure the sound quality is professional (e.g., free of extraneous sounds), whether they be home mastered or studio recorded. Contact artistsupport@storiestoart.com for tips on home recording.

Poets:

When completing "My Portfolio" you will be asked to upload media.  Do NOT upload your poetry at this step.  Upload your poetry on the second page of the StoriesToArt application.  See "How Do I Submit My Stories."

There is a two-page length restriction for poetry.

How the Judging Works

2-d and 3-d Visual Art will be judged on the following criteria: Technical Skill, Creativity, Voice, Design Fundamentals (as applicable to various media), and Story Conversion.

Poetry will be judged on the following criteria: Structure, Word/Language, and Story Conversion.

Songs will be judged on the following criteria: Adaptation of the story in the song, Creativity, Musicality of the recorded song, Overall pitch and timing, and Quality of recording.

Judges will not rate work by artists they know personally or professionally.

THE STORIES

1. His Safety Net
A bottom, clothed in a slightly damp diaper, was headed for my face.  This chubby little toddler was intently “reading” The Fuzzy Duckling.  He just stepped backwards and plopped in my lap, without ever looking back!  For that brief moment, I thought I had parenting down.  
By Tracy, age 55

2. The Light
We'll leave the porch light burning for a year, honey.
By Barbara, age 79

3. The Pink Tutu
It was the summer of the lawn party. Birthday parties, and everybody was young. Late afternoon and we gathered with sweat-beaded glasses of lemonade. Our children tumbled by and we watched for signs of fatigue or trouble, but instead we were greeted by fireflies, early summer shadows, someone on the back porch with a guitar.

We gathered our children when it was time to leave. Our daughter, this was the year of the pink tutu. She wore it everywhere, over her clothes. On this day, over denim overalls, a diaper, and nothing else.

One summer turns into twenty and our children duck into used cars. We wave to them from our own lawns now. Be careful, don’t speed, call when you get there—and they leave.

You get older. You forget so many things. Your glasses, your comb, and enormous scenes from your life. But some pictures remain. Some pictures cozy up inside you and never leave. On summer mornings, half awake, this is where you live: lightning bug tracers, clinking ice cubes, and a blue-eyed girl in a pink tutu, waving to you across the lawn.
By Jeff, age 58

4. Famoly
Famoly is nise, oh famoly is great. They will never hit you with a crate.
By Mason, age 7

5. Skating in the Snow
We were harried at the train station, running late, suitcase leaking, but we got you boarded, settled, and off to college. From the platform, we waved you off into your new life and wondered what to do with our own.

On the train, nearing Baltimore, you opened a discarded magazine and read advertisements for snowboards, skis, flannels and ice skates. Last winter, two weeks after Christmas, you skated on a pond near your home. You skated with your brother, and your parents tagged along on skates purchased that day from Goodwill. Cars and Coleman lanterns circled the pond. Headlights beamed on high. It was pretty, a few rogue snowflakes, the lights, and the blue, packed ice. We rested at some point with laced hot chocolate, and you skated alone and fast.

Driving home, we tried for light banter. Your absence felt immense, but still, we were so proud. We passed the Dairy Queen and the Wilco gas station, all lit up in the evening. Nearing home, we passed the pond, empty now, flowing.

I said, Do you remember? Of course, you said. I do.
By J.P., age 18

6. The Wedding Proposal
I’m better because of you. I laugh more. It’s the silly stuff you do, like becoming a human escalator, and disappearing behind the couch…peeking your head through the doorway and then having a hand appear from nowhere to pull you away by the neck.  I’m not forgotten. Every birthday I’ll get a hand drawn card with a somewhat cliché drawing and classic block lettering. I trust you. It’s not in you to cheat.  I’m never bored.  You’re like the old encyclopedias, full of facts that, thankfully, only reveal themselves when someone has an interest in turning the page. I’ll never be stagnant.  You’re up for new experiences. I judge less. You always consider another’s perspective. Will you marry me?   
By Anonymous

7. Nothing Beats Nature
Do you remember that horrendous storm, when the lights went out and we hid in the closet? Do you remember the next morning when that rainbow spilt over Glacier Park? You said nothing beats nature.
By Peggy, age 35

8. The Familiar
It’s the lemons that I remember. Not the weekly trek to the market, the skillful selection of the sweetest melons and heartiest vegetables, not the familiar banter with the farmers, not the rows of flowers in 5 gallon buckets, not the smell of coffee in your travel cup, but the lemons that you placed with such care on our farm table.
By Alice, age 27 

9. The Butterfly
 A turquoise butterfly landed on my father’s nose.  I must have been 7-years-old, max…  I remember thinking it was the funniest thing ever and then the sun hit the butterfly and half of it turned to gold.  It was magical.
By Elijah, age 42


 

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria