Badass Jewellery

The Skull & Bones show is a kind of derby/lottery in which you get 3 chances to have a custom piece of jewellery modeled from the art item that wins the respective category. This is the first of what will be an annual event and I want a variety of skill levels, experience, and vision to set a precedent for the coming shows. In being a kind of derby, the time is limited to create a challenge and incite more spontaneous entries. I would encourage less consideration and more action in entering. I am hoping for entries from people unaccustomed to entering art contests and shows. If you haven’t made something in a while, come up with something now and send it off. Maybe you are at work right now, you might as well get paid to enter. If there is a piece in a portfolio or sketch book that fits the criteria then by all means send it. Maybe you teach or attend and art class, brilliant! Bring them in on it! Be an agent for a friend’s creative skill and twist their arm to enter. It need only be an original piece of work by your own hand (effort, etc). I want to see what ever you come up with.

Any Skull and Bones inspired artwork. Whether a photo realistic oil on canvas, a quality photograph of a graffiti mural, reasonably sized sculpture, a digitally rendered image, an original comic panel, a pen and ink drawing, even a quick minimalist sketch on the back of a business card or a book of matches. Just be creative and thoughtful. Likewise with the skull and bones theme. I’m expecting a little more than dozens of Jolly Roger variations (but if it strikes you, make it a good one). Stretch the theme, make it fit. Have fun with it.

BADASS Jewellery is putting on this show with The Smith Cafe and Gallery to basically have some fun with our respective businesses. In addition to this I am thinking of it as a challenge and social event in which I get to make 3 pieces inspired by others’ vision and work and give them those pieces as reward for effort and and just rising to the challenge themselves. I’ve often made pieces for the sake of making them inspired by others’ ideas (directly or indirectly) and frequently enough given those pieces to the people who inspired them. To me this is a natural continuation of how I started in jewellery arts. Similarly, the fine craft that is my stock and trade doesn’t always lend itself to all that many socially interactive occasions so I decided I had to invent one. I have only one true aim for the contest; to have as numerous and diverse participation as possible. Have fun, be creative, and send your entry in as soon as you can. I am sincerely looking forward to receiving your entry.

Each award category will have its winner receive an original piece of jewellery custom made from the style and inspiration of the winning piece. Each Award will be valued between $500 and $700 as a retail custom made piece.

Juried Award:

There will be a jury of 3 people to chose from the entries having arrived by the deadline of May 15th, 2008. Each juror will have a score sheet and assign points according to a clear and open system rewarding not only technical skill and style but also creativity in idea execution and general cleverness.

As entries are delivered the candidates will be posted on line to begin the popular vote. Anyone can vote and can cast a vote for as many pieces as they choose over time. ALL entries will be displayed online and all voting for this event will take place via email to popularvote@badassjewellery.com. It is the only open category so any qualifying entry can potentially win the category. The popular vote will only be tallied after the Juried Award is known. Should the popular vote also be the Juried Award winner the the entry with the second place entry in the popular vote will be awarded. There will be no clean sweeps; this is for as much fun as anything.

My personal favourite will be made an award as well based on as much qualitative and preferential reasoning as technical skill. I can’t give any reason or estimate of what might be the result. Whether it is a piece highly rendered and full of effort and vision or a fast and sketchy ink on the inside of a match cover. If it strikes me, it does. And that being said, if my favourite happens to be a winner of one of the other two categories they will also be awarded the Favourite award.

No more than three entries per person. Each entry must be the creation of the participant and it need not be current (i.e.: Not necessarily made for this specific show or even in recent history ) but it must be original. All pieces are intended to be displayed for show and sale. Should the entries be too numerous to all be displayed in the space available, the pieces favoured by the jury will be chosen for the show. All pieces will be returned upon closing of the show. BADASS Jewellery accepts reasonable responsibility for the care and handling of all items accepted in the contest and show. Any special handling or care information should be included with the item entered.

All entries in the Skull and Bones Contest remain the property of the makers and are assured to recieve return of the pieces after the show closing in May of 2008. Any items not accompanied by return shipping when needed or address for return will be safely stored and reasonable effort will be made to acquire the appropriate needs for the item’s return. Where possible please supply matting and/or framing for paper or print entries requiring it but again, every effort will be made to accommodate the proper display of pieces that come without. 3D objects should be thought of the same way but they will be accommodated should they be needing display assistance. In such cases, the display material will either be included in the item’s pricing or will be for sale without framing or display. It is my preference that the show receives an entry of paper or canvas in a shipping tube, padded envelope or the like than have a possible contestant pass on entering due to shipping a framed item. It is far more important that anyone who wishes to enter does so to make the entries diverse and the over all event more fun.

Final Submission deadline for contest qualification: May 15, 2008. All entries must be received no later than May 15^th to qualify for the Juried and BADASS Jewellery Favourite categories and consequently becoming finalist for the show. All submissions are eligible for the Popular Vote Award and the sooner the better. As entries are presented they will be displayed online and votes may be made right away. The longer the pieces are up the more voting may take place in their favour. Voters may vote for more than one as they may see others later that they favour. All voting will be done by email to popularvote@badassjewellery.com until June 21st, while the show of finalist is hanging in the gallery for the month of June. The Awards will then be announced and presented at the show closing.