View the 2021 Competition Winners online exhibit.

Eligibility

The LAND Fine Arts Competition is open to any student enrolled in a credit class at a public Michigan two-year college during the 2022 calendar year.

Each entry MUST be sponsored by a faculty member (full-time or adjunct) who has reviewed the student’s work and attests that it is appropriate for the contest criteria and competitive rigor at the state level. Any work submitted without faculty sponsorship will be rejected.

Note: This competition is designed to highlight the artwork of our community college level students in their first years of college education in the visual arts. Therefore, students with extensive art experience, such as a professional artist, years of making/selling their artwork, past art education or degrees, or faculty taking art courses are not eligible to enter.

Theme

This year, there is no theme. The Fine Arts Competition is open to the best work of the students regardless of theme, concept, or media.

Specifications

Entries may be in either 2-Dimensional, 3-Dimensional, Photography, or New Media artwork. All artwork submitted for jurying must be the student’s original artwork. Copies of other artists’ work are not acceptable. The LAND Fine Art committee retains the right to reject or remove any work deemed not original or that does not meet the stated specifications.

For the 2022 Competition, due to being fully online, there are NO SIZE LIMITS on any category.

• 2-Dimensional: All traditional and contemporary, and non-traditional and experimental 2D media accepted, including but not limited to Drawing, Painting, Illustration, Printmaking, Digital, Mixed Media, etc. See note below under “Display of Art Submissions.”
• 3-Dimensional: All traditional and contemporary, and non-traditional and experimental 3D media accepted including but not limited to Ceramics, Wood, Mixed Media, Cardboard/Paper, 3D printing, etc. See note below under “Display of Art Submissions.”
• Photography/New Media: Photography can be any photographic process, digital or traditional processes. New Media are artworks that utilize technology as an integral part of the creation and presentation of the artwork, including but not limited to Online Media, Video, Performance, Installation, Interactive, Game Design, Sound, etc. See note below under “Display of Art Submissions.”

Deadline

The deadline for the 2022 competition is 11:59 pm, Friday, December 16, 2022.

Submission Criteria

Number of entries is limited to 2 per student.

All 2D, 3D and Photography must be submitted as exhibition quality jpeg (300dpi) with nothing distracting in the background.

For 2D and Photography the jpeg should be of the artwork only: no mat unless it is part of the composition and no background.

3D must have a plain neutral-color background (grey, black, white, brown) and no other objects in the photo.

A detail or 2nd angle jpeg is encouraged for 3D.

New Media artwork must be submitted in the most accessible format. This could include a website link, url, MP4, MP3, YouTube link, etc.

All entries are submitted through this Google docs form: https://forms.gle/2VAHrcDiYEcEuewQ7

Each JPEG sent must be labeled with:

• Title
• Artist First Initial and Last Initial
• Student Number

For example, if Jaylen Andrews submits a piece called “Ode to Me,” the label should look like this:

Ode to Me-JA123456

Each student submission must include a completed entry form with jpegs/PDF of the entered artwork.

Display of Art Submissions

The Fine Arts and Illustration/Graphic Design competitions will be both an online exhibition and a physical exhibition at the LAND Conference. The full exhibition will be installed at the conference for attendees to enjoy in person as well as accessible through the LAND website. It is imperative that the photographs/jpegs of your artwork are of the highest quality since that is one way they will be viewed by the conference attendees and by the public, but also the Juror will decide the awards from the photos submitted.

Talk to your faculty about how to take a good documentation photograph of your artwork. Remember: the artwork is the focus, so be clear in your documentation photograph; avoid artistic of creative “flares” with the composition of the photographs.

If there is any question about photographic quality, please feel free to contact Jjenna: jjenna.andrews@mcc.edu

Here is a link to a short video of how to take good 2D photographs: https://youtu.be/8ETAkGX11i0

Judging

Entries will be juried by an art professional to determine prize winners.

The LAND Fine Arts Competition will award a certificate and cash to 1st, 2nd, 3rd in each category. There will also be Honorable Mentions which will receive a certificate only.

Criteria

Entries will be evaluated for the originality, creativity, quality of the concept, design and craftsmanship. Artwork conceptually/visually inspired by other artworks are welcome, however, artworks/exercises that are replications/copies of an original artwork/masterwork are not eligible for entry and will not be accepted.

The LAND Fine Art/Design committee retains the right to reject or remove any work deemed not original or that does not meet the specifications above.

Copyright

Students retain the copyright to their submissions to the LAND Fine Arts Competition. However, students need to grant LAND the right to reproduce any submission on its website or any other LAND publication regardless of medium of publication.

Artist/Designer Release

By submission of artwork, the student artist grants permission to LAND to reproduce (without further remuneration) any selected artwork. The student also attests to the originality of the design submitted.