The purpose of the Jamie Gagarin Gallery is to bring high-quality art to the community. The Oliver Wolcott Library Cultural Committee welcomes submissions for consideration for the Jamie Gagarin Gallery and strives to expand the community appreciation of art and promote the Library as a cultural entity by selecting and exhibiting the work of artists of the highest possible caliber within the Jamie Gagarin Gallery, located in the Oliver Wolcott Library.
How to Submit Art for Consideration for an Exhibit
All artwork exhibited is selected through a competitive, juried process by the Cultural Committee appointed by the President of the OWL Board of Trustees. The Cultural Committee uses guidelines in its selection including artist’s technique, price range of work, size of proposed work, type of medium, type and style of framing, and artistic credentials of the artist. The Cultural Committee strives to select varied mediums in order to showcase and illustrate the broad range of high-quality art to the community. As such, type of medium is an important element and scheduling are important points of consideration during the juried process.
The Jamie Gagarin Gallery is also the Oliver Wolcott Library’s community room. It is where all events at the library take place from preschool story hours, after-school programs, author talks, lectures and more. Since these programs invite a wide range of ages to the room, this space offers a wonderful opportunity for visibility of the artwork at the Gallery, and the Cultural Committee also considers community standards including standards of decency and respect when reviewing and selecting artwork in the juried process.
Along with showcasing art to the community, another purpose of the Gallery is to provide funds for the library’s operations. The Library receives 25% of all sales and all artwork presented must be the artist’s original work and available for sale.
Gallery Dimensions
Submission Process
Phase I Submissions are due by April 30, 2025.
Phase I: Introduction
- Prepare a short biography of yourself and a description of your work (one page).
- Include a tear sheet, color copy, or postcard, or a link to a website representing the kind of work you would like to show in the Gallery. Please include at least three examples of representative work and when using a website, be specific on what work the committee should focus on.
- The Committee strongly recommends that artists think deliberately about their presentation and that the artist provides the Committee with the highest quality representations possible. All aspects of the presentation, including but not limited to the color-quality of the examples provided, are important factors in the decision-making process.
- Please include information on the general size of your work as well as the price range.
- Generally, there are approximately six exhibit opportunities throughout the year which run 6-8 weeks each. In 2024, the selection process may be for an individual show, or for exhibiting as part of a thematic group show. A group show allows artist who may not have a full galley of work to enjoy the exhibiting opportunity offered by the library. At the time of submission, please note in your materials if you are not open to being considered as part of a group show.
- To Submit your Phase I submission:
- email all information to Caroline King at [email protected] or
- mail it to Oliver Wolcott Library, Attn: Caroline King, PO Box 187, Litchfield, CT 06759
- The Committee will do its best to notify all artists within 30 to 45 days if the Committee is considering them for Phase II.
Phase II: Consideration of Work
- If accepted for consideration by the Committee, artists will be asked to meet with the Committee and bring at least three framed/completed pieces of work for the Committee’s review.
- All artists in Phase Two will be notified within 60 days of the Committee meeting about the status of their work.
- Artists who are selected to show in the Jamie Gagarin Gallery will be assigned an exhibit date that is mutually agreeable to the Gallery’s exhibit schedule and the artist’s schedule.
- It should be noted that the Committee generally tries to schedule no more than one and half years in advance.
- Artists who are selected will be asked to sign our artist agreement form that notes their responsibilities, date of hanging and take-down, date of opening, and other information pertaining to exhibiting.
- At the time of exhibit, if an artist’s work has changed significantly from the work that was shown to the Committee, then the artist needs to notify the Cultural Committee at least 90 days before their exhibit for another juried review.
Artists who have shown in the past
The Library welcomes the return of artists to our Gallery. In fairness to the number of applications for the limited space and to offer our patrons the broadest variety of work, Gallery Artists are eligible to reshow after four full years. All artists (whether they have shown here in the past or not) must follow the procedure as outlined above.
Waiver by Artist
By submission to the Cultural Committee, the artist hereby agrees to be bound by the decision of the Cultural Committee, and agrees to waive any and all claims that the decision of the Cultural Committee was based on any criteria other than the guidelines as outlined above.