Restrictions on creation date in calls for entries?

[winger]

I've recently read the rules on several calls for entries for local groups and exhibitions. Nearly all say the work entered must have been created either within 2 years of the entry or 3 years. Is this common? I mostly wish I'd known about these rules two years ago and I would have entered them all then. The last two and a half years have been my least productive. But is this normal in the world of group shows and such?

 

[artonpaper]

My experience is it's not uncommon. I'm still printing negatives from 10 years ago, but they are usually negatives that I have not yet printed. Is that new work or old? (In this regard I've known painters who have worked and reworked paintings over decades. They consider it created when they're done with it.) I guess when one considers the way our culture equates NEW with IMPROVED, it shouldn't come as a surprise.
Best, Doug Schwab

 

[SuzanneR]

I've noticed this as well, and think that if a local non-profit art groups or small museums have an annual "Call for Work", then they want to avoid seeing the same work from year to year. Personally, I think it would be easier to simply state in the rules that any work shown in, say, the last 5 years is not eligible instead of the 2 or 3 year rule.

 

[DWThomas]

It's fairly common, in painting as well as photography, to put a limit on the age of the piece. The art club I belong to does it, one of the stated reasons being to encourage artists to do new work. We also don't accept work entered into previous years of the same show. The hitch with all this is that it's pretty much honor system and/or relying on the fuzzy memories of the committee. Didn't we see those orange eggs in the purple frying pan last year?