Apply to Join SEMVA
Thanks for your interest in showing your art SEMVA Art Gallery. This page explains the steps to apply, jury, and potentially sell your work at our retail store and other locations.
Participation in SEMVA Art Gallery retail store or DoubleTree Gallery requires you to submit your art for Jury review and then to get on the waiting list and become a member of SEMVA.
Membership in SEMVA is open to all artists and others interested in the visual arts. Membership is $24 a year. Membership entitles you to receive mailings, attend board meetings, vote, and if juried and you live in Southeast Minnesota*, participate in sales though the retail store, galleries, or popups. To join, send a $24 check to SEMVA PO Box 142, Rochester MN 55903. You do not have to be a member of SEMVA to jury, but after jury, you must become a member to be on the waiting list for the Gallery.
Here are the steps to jury:
1. Send an email to semvaart@gmail.com and request a invitation to jury.
2. You will be sent a link to our jury application form
3. At this link you will fill out basic information and upload 5 to 8 images of your work. These images should represent the style of your work. If you plan more than one kind of major style or medium, include at least 4 images for each kind or style. For example, if you do both photos and paintings and jewelry, include 4 of each. If you do flat art such as paintings, please include half of your images of framed works.
4. You will be informed of our next upcoming date for jury. Within a day of the jury, you should bring in one representative piece. You will pick up this piece within 48 hours.
We will let you know within one week after the jury date if you are jury approved. If so, you are eligible to be put on the waiting list for display space at the SEMVA Art Gallery retail store and DoubleTree display space. Please note the jury process does not guarantee a place in any SEMVA display space, only that you can be put on the waiting list for an upcoming opening.
To get on the waiting list after jury, you must be a paid up member of SEVMA as described above.
When a space opens up at the Gallery or DoubleTree you will be contacted by the Gallery Manager and offered a space, which, if you accept, you will be expected to sign a contract for a minimum of six months.
If you have questions you can contact Brian Cragun (cragun@gmail.com or call 507-990-6728).
Here is more detail about SEMVA:
SEMVA Art Gallery retail store. This store (re-)opened September, 2017, after relocating from a long-term downtown location. Artists rent space at nominal cost, assist with staffing, and pay a modest percentage on sales. Gallery space is limited. You must be juried in and a paid up member to get on the waiting list. When space becomes available for your medium, the gallery manager will contact you, and if you elect to take the open space, you will be required to sign a contract. SEMVA balances jewelry, flat art, and three-dimensional art so that the Gallery has the right mix, determined by the Gallery Manager. Thus an opening created by a vacating ceramics artist would go to the next three-dimensional artist on the list, even though a photographer may be higher on the list. The space rental is $100 per half panel (4’x4′) or half space, and $190 per full panel (4’x8′). Staffing expectations are 4 hours per month per half panel/space. SEMVA retains 20% commission on each sale to pay for other gallery expenses.
SEMVA display at DoubleTree Inn. Painters and photographers rent for a modest fee a rod which holds one or two medium sized works. No sales fee is charged. Art is changed out each quarter. Display space is limited. You must be juried in and a paid your membership to get on the waiting list. When space becomes available, the DoubleTree display manager will contact you.
Pop-ups. Periodically pop-up show opportunities are made available. SEMVA rents the space and artists sign up and share it. There are no recurring pop-ups. Each pop-up and arrangements are different. Opportunities are made known through membership communications. You must be juried to participate.
Jurying. While membership in SEMVA is open to all interested parties by paying dues, displaying and selling art at a SEMVA venue requires approval by a jury of board members. Art must meet both artististic and presentation quality. Jurying is a one time process for a style of art. For example if an landscape oil painter decided to do abstract art, the artist would submit the new style for jurying.
*Southeast Minnesota is these counties: Olmsted, Dodge, Steele, Wabasha, Goodhue, Houston, Blue Earth, Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn, LeSueur, Mower, Rice, Waseca and Winona
