John Pototschnik: 2012 ARC Salon selects winners

Well, 2100 entries, 800 participants, and six categories later, my painting "Winter's Dance" was awarded Third Place (Landscape Division) in the 2011-2012 Art Renewal Center 8th Annual Salon. Two other paintings were named 'Finalists'.

I really am honored to receive this award because I know quite well just how difficult it is to even be named a 'Finalist' in this tough international competition.

Winter's Dance - 30"x 40" - Oil (Third Place, Landscape)

Fred Ross, founder of ARC said, "The quality as a whole and the sheer number of highly skilled, creative, and original works submitted was staggering. I was particularly pleased with the landscape entries this year,which as a category has taken an enormous step up in quality, and was along with figurative, the most difficult category to judge".

Cornish Promontory - 30"x 24" - Oil (Finalist, Landscape)

The Art Renewal Center is the largest on-line museum in the world, over 80000 images of the greatest works of art ever produced by over 7100 artists can be seen in high-resolution. I strongly encourage you to visit and support this incredible resource.

Field Tracks - 27"x 24" - Oil (Finalist, Landscape)

Why enter art competitions?

Pros

Art is judged by one's peers
Personal satisfaction of attaining a goal. For some the goal is just summing up the courage to enter, for others the goal is to win 'Best of Show'
It's a means of measuring one's skill level relative to others, and judging progress
It can be a reality check highlighting one's abilities or deficiencies
Exposure to a broader audience
Opportunity to win prizes
Can lead to other positive, career advancing opportunities
Success can lead to further success
Forces artist to think seriously and professionally about their work
Encourages artist to work harder, study more, and improve quality of work
Can add to the credibility and value of one's work

Cons

Doesn't really matter much with most art collectors
They can increase one's discouragement, and feelings of rejection and failure
Acceptance or rejection is based only on the opinion of one to four jurors
Is not, probably will not be a game changer
Costly

Cautions

Submit only what you consider your very best work
Submit only a professional quality reproduction of your entry. Absolutely essential
Everyone gets rejected at some point. Count on it. Don't let it get you down. Move on. Use the opportunity to question how your work can be improved
Learn from others. Be gracious to others who had more success than you

Top award winners by category