St John's Church, Florence
St John's Church, Florence

The Coming Light: A Vision of Advent

December 1, 2024 – February 15, 2025 St. John’s Church, Florence SC
Deadline was October 8th. Open to all South Carolina artists.
St John's Church, Florence: The Coming Light: A Vision of Advent promotional image

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Deadline for entry was October 8, 2024
St. John’s Church in Florence, South Carolina invites artists to submit two-dimensional visual artwork addressing the theme: “The Coming Light.”

In the Christian calendar, Advent is a four-week season preceding Christmas, drawing Christians to consider the mysterious coming of Jesus into this world. Early Christian writings refer to this coming as “light shining into the darkness.” St. John’s Church invites South Carolina artists to explore these themes through visual art.

The artists awarded and their completed artwork will be displayed on campus, and featured in church materials and media, through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany (December 1 through February 16). These artists will be invited to participate in a reception honoring their work, and may be invited to share about their work at that time.

A 30% commission fee will be collected by St. John's from any artwork sold to support the nonprofit Help for Kids, which provides meals for food insecure children in Florence County. Artwork insurance is the responsibility of the artist.

Awards

  • First place: $800
  • Second place: $600
  • Third place: $400
  • Honorable mention: $200

Artwork Delivery

November 4-14, 2024 (excluding Sunday) between the hours of 8am and 4pm, by appointment.

Shipping Artwork

Mail to:
St. John’s Church
252 S. Dargan Street,
Florence SC, 29506

Shipping costs are the responsibility of the artist.

Please include a return shipping label.

Artwork Pickup:

February 17-27, 2025 (excluding Sunday) between the hours of 8am and 4pm. by appointment.

Juror

Jared Seff

Jared Seff is an artist and instructor in Savannah, GA. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees are both from The Savannah College of Art and Design, where he currently teaches in the School of Foundation Studies. His portfolio includes portraits in several prestigious private collections, stained glass and other sacred art in several churches, and a book of sketches following the Camino de Santiago. Images of his work and details of his achievements can be seen on his website: jaredseff.com

Artwork Requirements / Eligibility

  • Artists must reside within the state of South Carolina and be 18 years old at the time of submission.
  • Artists may submit up to 2 works for consideration.
  • Work must be the sole work of a living artist, created within the past 3 years.
  • Work must be 2- dimensional due to spatial constraints.
  • Framing Requirements and 2-D Size restrictions: Artwork shall be no larger than 48” x 72”.
  • Two dimensional works should be framed with horizontal wiring or D-rings. St. John’s reserves the right to disqualify improperly framed materials.
  • St. John’s Church and the Juror retain sole discretion to decide whether artworks meet the requirements of the show standards.

Entry Fees

Submission fee $20 for first entry and $10 for an additional submission with a maximum of 2 submissions.

Sales

A 30% commission fee will be collected from any artwork sold during the Advent Artist program. Commission fees will go to support Help 4 Kids. Help 4 Kids mission is to fill the ‘weekend hunger gap’ for children in Florence County by sending food home with ‘food insecure’ students every Friday.

Artwork is not required to be for sale.

Liability

While every care will be taken for the artwork, St. John’s assumes no responsibility for damage or loss. Insurance of artwork is solely the responsibility of the artist.

By submitting their artwork for the competition, artists grant St. John’s non-exclusive rights to use their submissions (and images of those submissions) in church-related events and communications, including but not limited to services, events, public displays, publications, sites, and programs, without further permission or payment involved, indefinitely, with appropriate credit to the artist(s). Artists likewise grant St. John’s the non-exclusive right to allow this artwork (and images of it) to be used by its not-for-profit ministry "partners" such as the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina.

Additional Notification Information

Notifications will be emailed and posted in your ShowSubmit account by the end of the day on October 15, 2024.

You may view the notification in your ShowSubmit account by logging in and tapping the Notifications at the top right of the screen, or in your Entry History (Accepted works will be notated by a green check.)

If you do not receive your email, login and view the notification in your account. We cannot respond to inquiries regarding the status of notifications.

Note: Entries made prior to 2023 may not display the View Notification link.

Image and Filename Specifications

  • Submit your original JPEG image files.
  • Crop out all parts of the photo that are not the actual work; do not show mat, frame, etc, only the work itself.
  • Image must be displayed right side up.
  • You do not need to resize your image files.
  • You do not need to rename your image files.

Additional Entry Information

  • You will pay for your entry by credit or debit card using our secure checkout system.
  • After your entry is submitted and paid for, you may log back in to review your entry, edit artist and image information, and add or substitute images up until the entry deadline (October 8, 2024.)
  • Entry fees are not refundable and must be submitted and paid by the entry deadline.
  • Entries cannot be accepted or changed after the deadline. Incomplete entries will be disqualified.

Support

For questions about the entry process or this website please contact ShowSubmit Support at [email protected]. We will get back to you between 9am and 6pm Eastern Time, Monday to Friday. You can also view the Support Center, Entry Guide, or our FAQ.