St. Albert is known as a city of artists and it follows that many of those artists want to show their art to the world.

Since art school doesn’t include a class on how to go from the home studio to the public exhibition space, the Art Gallery of St. Albert has a special one-night-only workshop to cover all of the bases during the application process.

“It has to be professional. It has to be orderly. It has to follow the rules otherwise it’s not fair to everybody,” explained Glenda Haughian, the education curator at the public art gallery.

Inside Scoop is the gallery’s way to bridge the gap. Now approaching its third edition, the popular event walks prospective artists through the steps and all of the necessary details. It’s meant to benefit the artists but it’s an obvious effort at a win-win situation since the gallery would benefit from more and better applications and ultimately better exhibitions.

“We were finding that good art was slipping through the cracks,” she continued. “We decided to do it because we were finding a lot of submissions were coming in incomplete.”

“They didn’t follow the guidelines. Some artists didn’t understand what a CV was or an artist statement. We thought this is a crime because some good art was coming our way but we couldn’t bring it to a jury.”

The evening will start in the gallery’s exhibit space itself to give attendees a good look at not only where they could be hanging their art but also to see what is expected from a strong and cohesive show. Margaret Witschl’s Game Pieces (on until Feb. 2) is a surreal and cerebral show filled with provocative imagery and complex visual designs. It’s an excellent example of what the gallery is looking for.

The upstairs art rental and sales gallery will also feature on the tour.

Participants will also get to meet Haughian herself as well as gallery director Frances Gagnon and exhibition curator Jenny Willson-McGrath. The submission process will be discussed at length including the basic principles of photographing your art and the requirements of submitting digital images.

There will also be lessons on framing, presentation, artist contracts and insurance forms, curriculum vitae and artist statements, and educational programming around exhibitions, among other things. Proper protection and transportation of art will also be discussed.

Apart from all that, Haughian added that the evening is a wonderful opportunity to network with the gallery and other artists in the community.

She said that there were more than 100 applications for shows in 2013 but only 14 were accepted. Inside Scoop is about putting your best face forward.

“Not everybody can have a show. We want to try and increase your chances of getting in.”

All of this vital information will still give the hopeful throngs plenty of time to get their submissions in order. The deadline for applications for the 2014 exhibition schedule is 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 2.

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