Art Show

The Windycon art show exists to give artists a place to show and sell their work. We strive to encourage the new, blossoming artists while also providing professionals with access to our convention attendees as an audience. In order to facilitate that encouragement our art show is not Juried and our artist costs are low to anyone who wants to participate. We also offer the service of handling mail-in art, this helps remote artists grow while expanding the variety of art displayed for the Windycon attendees.

Welcome to the Windycon Art Show!

If you have not displayed art at Windycon before, please take a moment to read through our detailed information on how to sell art. If you will be unable to make it yourself, you can still mail in your art. Our staff will be happy to hang your art for you!

Special Events

As always, we have our Art Auction on Saturday night. Make sure you set aside the time so you can defend your bid!

Art Show General Rules

• Cameras are not allowed in the Art Show.
• Food and beverage are not allowed in the Art Show.
• During normal operating hours Windycon art show is open to the public. Bidders/Buyers must be members of Windycon.
• AI Generated images are not allowed in the art show. This pertains to images that are completely created using only AI engines. The Windycon art show, and Windycon, want to support the people involved in creating their works and we do not consider prompt engineering to be an activity that truly supports the people executing the act of art work creation.

If there’s something that’s not covered in the above rules, we’ll talk it over and try to come up with a reasonable rule to cover the situation. And, yes, we really will try to be reasonable.

Please remember that Windycon is a volunteer organization. Everyone here is doing their level best to act in a courteous and professional manner—while making you some money—because that’s the way we ought to do it. If somebody’s doing a good job for you, thank them. It goes a long way. And if they’re not doing a good job, let the Art Show director know—or, if they're the one you think has created the problem, let the Windycon Chairperson know. Either or both can be contacted on the Contact Us page on the web site. We want to know what the problems are and we want to find solutions.

If you have any questions about the Art Show or Auction at Windycon, please send us an email at artshow@windycon.org.

Art Show and the Print Shop and What Goes Where

Windycon is a science-fiction convention, All artwork must somehow relate to science fiction, fantasy, or actual science. (Fortunately, this leaves lots of room to work in.) While Windycon encourages and has enjoyed a wide and varied assortment of styles and subject matter of art in the art show, we reserve the right to reject any art which violates local laws. Windycon will not allow AI generated artwork to be sold in our art show. Due to the growing number of children attending Windycon, we also reserve the right to move works to an adult section any art determined to be inappropriate for our under age attendees.

Art may be displayed in either the Art Show or the Print Shop, but the same image may not be displayed in both. The only exception is that you may display the original of a piece in the Art Show while selling prints of it in the Print Shop.

Just to be absolutely clear about it, yes, it’s ok to display a signed and numbered print from a run of 1000 or less in the Art Show, but you can only display one copy of that print in the Art Show. Multiple copies (or prints that are not signed and numbered) go to the Print Shop.

Display Space for Flat Art and 3-D Art

Flat art must be matted or framed and will be hung on sturdy commercial grid. Each section of grid is two feet wide and seven feet tall. You’re welcome to hang your art as low on the grid as you think is reasonable. Limited display space is available on grid that is up against a wall for those artists who worry about people seeing other art through the open grid, but that grid will have tables in front of it for display of three-dimensional art.

3-D art can be displayed on tables that are 6 feet long and 18 inches deep. If you have something that won’t fit in that space, let us know ahead of time so we can re-arrange and make something work.

We ask that you please reserve space in advance of the show by sending a check payable to Windycon for the approximate amount of your hanging fees and telling us how much space that you’d like to reserve. Our hanging fees are remaining $0.50 (50 cents) per-piece, but space reservations have changed to the following:

• 6 foot by 18 inch table only—not including the grid (shared bay).
• 4 foot by 6 foot bay without the table in front of it (shared bay).
• 4 foot by 6 foot bay including the table in front of it (unshared bay).
• 4 feet of grid—we have changed out layout away from bays—tell me how many four foot wide sections you will need.

We are adding in a total count piece limit of 30 pieces in our gallery. You may put as many prints as you wish in the print shop.

Please mail your space reservation checks to:

• Richard France
  505 Deerfield Ct.
  Schaumburg, IL 60194-2511

We reserve the right to rearrange displays in order to fit more artwork into the show.

Control Sheets and Bid Sheets

If you’d like, we’ll be happy to mail you control sheets before the convention. Just ask. You can also find the control sheets in fill-and-print PDF format here. You’re welcome to fill out your control sheets at the con, but if we get them by the mail-in deadline, we’ll already be entering them in the computer and may have bid sheets printed for you when you get to the con. NOTE: We are printing the bid sheets.

• Each piece that is displayed must be labeled with the artist’s name and title of the piece.
• Print shop pieces must include a price in addition to artist's name and title of the piece.
• Pieces displayed in the Art Show must include a minimum bid price or be clearly labeled Not For Sale (NFS).

Hanging Fees and Commissions

The Art Show charges a hanging fee of $0.50 (50 cents) per piece. Although there is no hanging fee for the Print Shop, space there is limited and once it is full, it’s full. Hanging fees must be paid when the art is checked into the Art Show.

Windycon charges a 10% commission on all sales from both Art Show and Print Shop.

Picking Up Unsold Art and Getting Paid for Sold Art.

Artists or their agents must pick up unsold artwork by 2:00 PM on Sunday. Art that is not picked up will be shipped back to the artist and the artist will be charged for shipping and an additional handling fee of $20.00.

If possible, we will write checks for sold art on Sunday. However you can expect that we will mail you a check within two weeks following the convention.

Mail-in art will be returned (and a check in payment for sales) within two weeks following the convention.

Purchasing Art

Bidders must be members of Windycon. As a handy side effect, we’ll give you a card to record the pieces that you’ve bid on for your reference (it’s the back of your badge).

Bidders may write in bids on pieces in the Art Show until 6:00 PM Saturday night. Bids must be in whole dollars.

Pieces with 1 or 2 bids as of closing on Saturday are sold to the current high bidder.

Pieces with 3 or more bids as of closing will be sold at the voice auction on Saturday night. The starting bid will be the last, highest written bid amount.

There will be no Sunday sales in the Art Show.

Pieces in the Print Shop may be purchased at any time when the Print Shop is open. Buyers may take these items at the time of purchase.

Picking Up Purchased Art

If you are the high bidder on a piece of art, you must pick up and pay for your purchase using cash, checks, travelers checks, Visa, or MasterCard. We use Square payment processing.

Art must be picked up Sunday before 2:00 PM.

If you are unable to pick up your art please contact the art show staff, we'll work with you. Other wise you run the risk of getting your registration put on hold until you can pay for your art work.

Mail-In Art

Windycon accepts mail-in art for display in both Art Show and Print Shop. All art that is mailed in must include:

• An email address and/or phone number where you can be reached.
• Check or money order payable to Windycon for hanging fees (Art Show only).
• A pre-paid shipping label or a check or money order payable to Windycon sufficient to pay for return shipping and insurance (if desired) on the artwork. Any excess will be returned.
• DO NOT SEND STAMPS as we cannot return overage.
• Filled out control sheet.
• A return mailing address label (your address, not mine).
• All packaging must be reusable so that we can send the artwork back in it.
• A hanging diagram is optional.

Please specify your preferred carrier for shipping artwork and the address where you want it shipped back on your control sheet. Be sure to specify if you want insurance and how much. Any not marked it will be returned UPS ground.

Mail-in art must arrive no later than Saturday, November 2th, 2024 and should be sent to:

• Richard France
  505 Deerfield Ct.
  Schaumburg, IL 60194-2511