Well, it seems to me that many artists out there are questioning the upcoming deadline for entries to Studio Visit Magazine. I’ve had quite a few hits to my blog searching for Studio Visit or Studio Visit scam. So, here’s something that I can discuss without getting into trouble for a change. Yes, you should enter! Studio Visit is the sister publication to New American Paintings. Both of which are published by The Open Studios Press. I’m sure many of you are unsure of Studio Visit because you’ve never heard of it. True, it’s new and fairly unknown, but I’ve noticed a remarkable increase in popularity over the past few years, so they are building a following. Studio Visit just started a matter of years ago- 3 or 4, if memory serves. They are lacking the legions of fans of New American Paintings, but that’s not to say they won’t build their own impressive fan base. Good things come to those who wait… or those who with good PR efforts. Regardless, the magazine is a good-looking publication. I’ve been in it before, so I can vouch for their slick presentation. The jurors aren’t too shabby, either. As with New American Paintings (or NAP, for short), they’ve managed to get prestigious museum directors and curators to jury their exhibitions-in-print.
I won’t say that getting into Studio Visit will be the overnight success you are looking for… then again, I wouldn’t say that about anything. However, it will get your work in front of galleries. The magazine is shipped out to galleries and museums all over the place, as is NAP. I can say that I’ve had a gallery contact me as a result and it helped grease the wheels to get me representation with another gallery. It jogs people’s memories and gets them thinking about your work. And when your work is in front of a gallery over and over again, your name starts to stick. So I leave you with this: if you’d like to have your work noticed by important people, in a high-quality publication, then the upcoming deadline is February 5th.
RE: Studio Visit Magazine. I applied last year, and received notice that I had been accepted into the magazine. Since they are affiliated with New American Paintings and I know some artists who have been in Studio Visit, I was comfortable paying my $225. But here we are, almost a year later, and the magazine has still not come out. I don’t quite know what to think. I thought they were reputable.
I know in the past, they’ve had delays due to rounding up the artists. Apparently not everyone turns in their materials on time. When this happened to me, they did notify everyone of the delay (via email) and sent periodic status reports. If you haven’t heard anything, definitely contact them.
Thanks for this post. I don’t know why but I’m more comfortable paying a smaller entry fee rather than paying something after being selected. It’s nice to read something good about it though, and when I’m pretty sure I could afford the fee (if selected) then I might try out entering.
Yes, smaller entry fees are definitely less of a risk, so I can certainly understand. I think because we are so used to vanity galleries, etc. asking us to cough up money, it makes it look bad for everyone that is legit. But I can say that Studio Visit is a slick, highly professional publication. And one of the galleries that now represents me is on their mailing list, so I do know that they truly send out those copies as they state they do. Good luck!
Amy, thanks for spreading the good word about Studio Visit. I thought I would take this opportunity to clarify a few things brought up here. First, we are legit! Our company has been helping artists through our publication, New American Paintings, for over 15 years. This particular magazine is sold to subscribers and through newsstands all over the country (and world). Studio Visit is an extension of NAP; our goal to help artists to get their work into the hands of important art world professionals.
In regard to timing. We do our best to release books as promised, but as Amy has indicated, gathering materials from almost 300 artists has proven to be quite a challenging task. Because we have been delayed a few times, we are no longer promising exact release dates of the publication. We are giving estimates early on in the process, so no one gets upset. Either way, the magazines do go out to our mailing list of 2000 curators and gallerists, and we pop left-over editions (usually around 500) to selected subscribers of New American Paintings.
As for entry fees…Fees alone would not support the production of the publication, especially if they are “small.” Remember, New American Paintings has a paid subscriber base, and this helps support the production and distribution (as do the entry fees). Because we send Studio Visit out for free, we do not have that method of financial support. So, we ask the artist to contribute. It is sent out for free because it takes years to develop a meaningful subscriber base, and right now our goal is to get the work out there to targeted individuals that can make a difference on an artist’s career. We know that for those contacted by these individuals, thanks to Studio Visit, that fee has been well worth it. Even for those not contacted, that level of exposure is, we feel, a good value.
I hope this clears a few things up, and if you do have questions, please email me at drew@openstudiospress.com
Thanks Amy, we appreciate your support and kind words.
Drew Katz
Association Publisher
The Open Studios Press
Studio Visit Magazine
New American Paintings
I attempted to apply to NAP this morning and after it said my CC number was invalid, a bit too quickly, I noticed that they do not use standard secure network protocols. In other words, your credit card numbers are out there for all the scammers to lift. I only hope I put in the wrong number. I would not recommend submitting your information to any site that does not start with https, it’s the (s) that’s important and is a standard form of encryption.
Thanks for the tip. I can’t check this out since I’m not in a region currently accepting entries but if I were you, I would contact NAP about it pronto. I know they used to take submissions by mail so maybe they would allow you to do so? It’s worth asking.