SOJE opens entries for new category

The Southeast Open Judged Exhibit has begun its call for submissions and new this year is a category for entries from educators.

“I know we had a couple of schools that did submit student artwork into SOJE for the juvenile (category), but we didn’t have a process set up specially for educators to submit that artwork… it makes it easier for the teachers to submit several pieces of artwork,” said Camila Funes-Giesbrecht, assistant arts instructor coordinator.

Another new development for SOJE this year is the allowance of two pieces of artwork per category compared to last year’s one entry per category. The change is due to the expansion of the Hall Gallery, which was made possible by a donation from the Steinbach Community Foundation.

Also this year, is the restructuring of the categories so that they are not condensed into a few groupings.

“For example, digital art was placed with photography when they’re completely different things. This year we made sure to split those up a little bit so artists can have more range when they put the artwork in and it can be judged more fairly according to their medium,” said Funes-Giesbrecht.

Last year, SOJE had more than 115 submissions. This year, Funes-Giesbrecht hope that there will be more applications to fill the new expansion.

What judges are looking for in their appraisal of each piece of art varies from one judge to another, but Funes-Giesbrecht said the judges do get a guideline on how to score the art based on technique, experience, creativity, and other factors.

“At the end of the day, it’s not really about the score. I’m sure it’s really exciting when you place first, second, or third or I know sometimes we have an honourable mention, but at the end of the day we’re just so happy to be able to combine the Southeast artist community, to welcome them to our building and have them exhibit their work.”

There are three application categories: Adult, Juvenile, and Educator with competitive and non-competitive categories in each.

For the adult category, artists must be 18 years of age or older. Registration fees for the competitive and non-competitive categories are $10 each to be paid upon registration. All fees must be paid by February 13, 2025. For the juvenile and educator categories there are no fees.

Application submission dates are between Nov. 14 to Jan. 24, 2025. The showcase will open on Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. and the artwork will be open for public viewing from Feb. 28 to March 27.

Visit the Steinbach Arts Council website to register.