Art Gallery

Artist Application

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Location & Times

Art Gallery will be located downstairs, connected to the hangout space in the Nevada Room.

Times may be subject to change.

  • Friday - Patrons 2p, Sponsors 2:30p, Everyone 3p-8p
  • Saturday - 12p-7p
  • Final Bidding - 7p-8p Sat
  • Sunday Checkout - 11a-8p

Setup time

  • Thursday - 1p-8p
  • Friday - 11a-1p

Opening Gala

This year, we will host an opening gala, with wine and cheese, where you can peruse the art gallery, make your initial bids, and socialize with some of the artists on display. Please join us! Patrons enter at 2pm, Sponsors at 2:30pm, on Friday.

Rules for Bidders

Bidder Agreement
All BLFC registrations are automatically accepted as art show bidders. By registering for the con, you agree to purchase the artwork you bid on if you win, and agree to pay fines if you can’t afford your bids. You must be 18 years old to bid in the art show.
Bidding Procedure
First, ask the art show desk for bidding stickers; protect these stickers like cash. To bid on an item, select an unclaimed price on the item’s bid sheet and place your sticker next to that price to claim it. You may only choose from the pre-printed prices; you may not write in your own price.
Final Bidding
On Saturday evening, we will go through the panels one at a time, asking for any final bids. After the panel is closed, no more bids will be accepted. Items never go to “voice auction,” we will simply keep adding bid sheets if needed.
Checkout Procedure
The final auction winnings will be publicly posted by Sunday morning (probably Saturday night). Checkout begins at 11am. If you leave contact information, staff will also contact you. On Sunday, bring your photo ID to the art show to pay your balance due and claim your winnings. If you do not claim your auction winnings by 8pm on Sunday, you will need to pay shipping in addition to your art show win.
Charity Items
Some charity items will be up for bid during the art show, like the regular items, and will not be in the voice auction on Sunday afternoon. Select items will be sold by voice auction on Sunday afternoon; they will be on display in the art show for Friday and Saturday.
Proxy Bidding
Proxy bidding is unavailable. We recommend you come to the close on Saturday to defend any items you want, or place a bid high enough to drive off competitors.
Hands Off
To protect the art on display from damage, the art show is strictly hands-off unless labeled otherwise. Please do not touch artwork that is on display. The only thing you may touch is the bid sheets, to apply stickers.
Bags, Food & Drink
Bidders entering the art show area must check bags, cameras, sketchbooks, folders, and any food or drink with art show staff. Staff might eat food you leave with them if it looks very very tasty.
What Happens if You Can’t Pay
Budget carefully; don’t bid if you can’t pay. You will be charged a 25% fine on any bids you don’t pay for, and will be banned from participating in next year’s art show. You will also be banned from attending BLFC until your fine is paid. For example, if you bid $100 on a piece and then don’t pay for it, your fine will be $25 which must be paid before you can register for the convention again.

Rules for Artists

Important! A confirmation will be emailed to you upon approval for Art Gallery. Please keep an eye out for it! If you do not receive communication from us, or have further questions, please contact the art show lead.

Participation
You must be available at the convention (or have an agent named for you) to participate. We are no longer accepting mail ins. Art must be placed by you or your agent by 1 pm Friday. If you are unable to make this deadline, your space will be re-purposed!

Putting art in the Art Gallery is free for your first two panels. After an item sells, the convention will take a 15% commission from the final price (8.1% for NV Sales tax, 6.9% for the convention). The convention will accept payment for sold artwork from the winning bidders, and handle sales tax and optional charity donations for you. Your funds will be provided before July 15th, 2018. If your art doesn’t sell, you won’t be charged for it. :)

“High Value” items (pieces with a starting price over $100) will be subjected to a $3 listing fee, which will be reimbursed upon item sale.

Display
You may submit as much or as little art as you like! If your work cannot take up a full panel, we reserve the right to combine it with another artists work. Panels are 2 feet wide wire grid sections/air wall displays. Two will be free with your submissions, but any additional panels or tables will be $20 each. Tables are also available for displaying non-hanging works. We will be providing hanging hardware, or you are welcome to bring your own. We encourage you to protect your pieces with a clear plastic film, frame, or matte while on display!

Adult art constitutes as anything displaying nudity, violence, or sexual acts. There will be an adult section of the gallery for those pieces specifically. You are welcome to display all your work in the adult hall if you’d like to keep them together, or divide your work into both sections (recommended).

You or your agent must come in to the art show to pick up unsold artwork by 5pm on Sunday.

Charity
If you chose to donate profits to charity, we will reduce our commission by 1% for every 5% donated. This means a 35% donation has no commission (however, 8.1% sales tax will always be deducted.)

Whether or not you are an Art Gallery participant, you may donate items to be sold entirely for charity. If you chose to donate items for charity, thank you! Make sure to display and clearly label these pieces in our charity specific area, instead of your personal auction panel.

Items/art may also be auctioned for charity. Items must be in generally good condition and not require any more than basic assembly. Most charity auction items will be available for bid and will be sold from the Art Gallery, but some pieces will be in our live charity auction Sunday. For the pieces going to live auction, they are display-only inside the Art Gallery, and you have to attend the live auction to bid on them.

Liability
Staff will be actively watching the entire Art Gallery while open, and it will be locked while closed. We will take every precaution to prevent damage to or loss of your submitted artwork, but we can do only so much. By submitting art into the BLFC Art Gallery, you agree that neither BLFC nor its staff can be held liable in any way for damage to or loss of submitted art. Submission of art serves as acceptance of this agreement.

Bidders who do not pay their bids by 5:00 pm on Sunday will be fined 25% of their total unpaid bids, will be banned from bidding in next year’s art show, AND will be blocked from attending the con again until their fine is paid. If this happens, the artist will be contacted and given the option to either offer the piece to the 2nd highest bidder, or cancel the item and have it returned. Any fines collected from the bidder will be paid to the artist.