In case you’ve never heard of the de Young Museum of Art, it’s a world-class art museum in San Francisco, in the heart of Golden Gate Park and across a plaza from the California Academy of Sciences. It’s affiliated with the Legion of Honor, which is also a world-class art museum. The de Young’s focuses are on American art from the 17th century to the present, textile arts, African art, Oceanic art, art of the Americas, and international contemporary art.
Once every three years, the museum hosts the de Young Open, which is open to artists in all media in the nine counties comprising the San Francisco Bay Area. There’s no entry fee. Each artist can submit just one piece. They receive thousands and thousands of entries, from which only about 10% are chosen. To say it’s a big deal is an understatement. With an “Oh why not, you won’t get in if you don’t enter” attitude, I submitted my “All That I Once Was Is Lost” on June 6.
On August 14, I got an email with the subject “Results for Your Submission to “The de Young Open 2023″”. I took a deep breath before I clicked on it. “All That I Once Was Is Lost” was selected! There were 7766 entries, and mine was one of the 883 chosen. I bounced up and down in my chair as I read the email over and over to make sure I’d read it correctly. At the time, “All That I Once Was Is Lost” was already on display in the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara in their annual Salon at the Triton statewide 2-D competition, in which it won 3rd Place in Drawing. (For that show, there were over 1700 entries, from which 141 were selected, so that was already exciting!)
I was impressed with the information the de Young provided in the email: links to a map and very clear instructions on how, where, and when to deliver my artwork, a FAQ, and even a link to a social media toolkit to help artists promote the exhibit and their achievement.
On delivery day, September 6, I was a little apprehensive since driving in San Francisco is never fun and parking can be a problem. But I was in and out of the de Young in fifteen minutes, so quickly that I didn’t even have to pay for parking in the underground garage. The receiving staff was cheery and efficient and I could tell they would take good care of my artwork.
On September 26, the de Young held a private “artist preview day” just for the accepted artists, before the official opening of the exhibit on September 30. Wild horses couldn’t have kept me away! The whole place was abuzz with the hundreds of excited artists. Complete strangers congratulated each other and offered to take photos in front of the big, colorful entrance wall that listed all our names in vinyl lettering. As we filed in and our names were checked off the RSVP list, we were congratulated and given a well-made enameled pin to wear that declared “The deYoung Open Artist.” And every exhibiting artist received a free one-year membership to the de Young.
Over the next 2.5 hours, I made four passes through the entire exhibit. The first pass was overwhelming! Eight high-ceilinged rooms filled with art nearly from floor to ceiling (i.e., salon style) and packed with the artists who made it all. I bumped into three artists I know, and saw works by a couple of other artists I know. On the second pass I figured out that each “room” had a different theme (cityscape, portrait/figure, nature, abstract, etc.) and noticed that each room’s entrance had a “key” to the artists and artwork titles in it. On the third pass I noticed that the wall color throughout is not black but a deep indigo, which works well to show off all the art, and that every piece is somehow perfectly lit. On the fourth pass, I marveled at how the museum staff managed to arrange the hundreds of artworks to fit together. They must’ve used some kind of software to do that, based on the framed dimensions that we’d all provided with our entries. And I marveled at what a job it must’ve been to hang them all, especially the larger pieces up high. On every pass I noticed artworks I’d missed on previous passes–there was always more to take in.
Conversations between artists started with an exchange of “Congratulations!” and went on to topics like “How on earth did you get that here–did you have to rent a big truck?” and “What media did you use for this?” and “Where did you find this scene?” and “Tell me about your inspiration for this”, and “Show me which piece is yours?”
At the end of the day, I was tired and exhilarated, and it occurred to me that this is the difference between exhibiting in small shows vs. a world-class museum: the amount of planning and organization they can do with a large, professional staff that handles a spectrum of specialties and responsibilities, the facilities and materials they have, and the available budget they have to work with.
It reminded me of my first visit to Disneyland at age 49. Throughout my life, I’ve been to quite a few amusement parks, and I always thought “What’s the big deal about Disneyland? It’s just another amusement park.” And then when I finally visited it, I thought “Now I get it–all the other amusement parks aspire to be Disneyland!”
This is not to belittle smaller venues or local art club shows at all! They all accomplish remarkable things with the people, facilities, and budgets they have. I’m simply very grateful that I got to experience what it’s like to work with a world-class museum in my lifetime. Another personal art goal met!
The de Young Open will be on display through January 7, 2024. Go see it–the artworks on display are amazing! If you can’t make it, the entire exhibition is online here.
UPDATE 10/23: Last week I took my sister who was visiting from St. Louis to see the exhibit. I wore my special exhibit pin for fun. At the ticket counter I presented my new membership card, and to my surprise, both of us got in for free and the gentleman said “I see you’re one of our artists–congratulations again!” Isn’t it a delight to receive recognition like that in front of a family member? I hope all my fellow artists get that opportunity.
Denise J. Howard's Art Blog 