Philadelphia Pastel Society
Signature Status Guidelines
A Philadelphia Pastel Society member may be considered for Signature membership after one year of membership in our organization.
Artist members who wish to apply for Signature membership should keep track of achievements that may affect their qualification for Signature status.
Regardless of which method a candidate uses to approach Signature status, he/she should submit a formal application through the PPS website.
A one-page resume of an applicant’s art-related experience should be sent via email to the Signature Status Committee at PhiladelphiaPastelSociety@gmail.com. The resume should include information about exhibitions, awards, professional memberships, and art-related education and training. Digital images of an applicant’s artwork should accompany the resume.
A $20 fee will be required with the formal application.
The chairperson of the Signature Status Committee will present committee recommendations to the PPS Board of Directors for review and approval.
There are 2 possible paths to Signature Status:
Earned Signature Status
Achieved by acceptance into 3 juried national pastel exhibitions.
At least one of these shows must be a PPS national exhibition.
Paintings accepted into these exhibitions must be three different artworks.
Artist members who feel that they are ready for Signature status based on their acceptance into 3 national exhibitions may submit their application at any time.
Applications will be evaluated by the Signature Status Committee and presented at the next scheduled Board meeting.
Artists must provide the following as part of their online application:
The name and year of each qualifying national juried pastel exhibition.
The titles of each artwork accepted into the exhibitions.
The following must be emailed to philadelpiapastelsociety@gmail.org:
Provide digital images of the three qualifying artworks in jpeg format, 300 dpi, at least 1200 pixels on longest side, file size ≤ 2 mB.
One page resume
Juried Signature Status
Achieved when a candidate is accepted by an internal jury panel that examines a body of work submitted by an artist member.
Beginning in March 2025, PPS will conduct a jury process once a year in March for candidates who wish to apply for Signature Status based upon their body of work.
The jury panel will be composed of five PPS members who have achieved Signature Status.
Applications should be submitted by March 1st of the year in which an artist wishes to be considered. The Signature Status Committee will evaluate any applications submitted and present their recommendations to the Board of Directors by March 31st.
Jurors will consider the following factors as they evaluate artwork submitted by applicants:
Composition
Drawing
Competent use of color and value
Originality of subject matter
Mastery of medium
Overall creativity
When applying to be evaluated by the Jury Panel, candidates must submit a representative body of their work along with their application and resume.
Artists should submit their work according to the following guidelines:
Paintings must be in traditional dry pastel, not oil pastel. If you use an underpainting, the surface must be 80% pastel.
Photograph only the paintings, without frame or background.
Copy your original high quality .jpg image, and name the file with artist name and the title of the painting. (Example: Jane_Smith_FlowersInSpring.jpg)
Size the image to 300 dpi and at least 1200 pixels on the longest side.
Size the file to no larger than 2 mb.
Email your images and one page resume as attachments to philadelpiapastelsociety@gmail.org.
Include the title and the unframed size of each piece on your application.
Your artwork should be original and not copied from other artists, published materials, or photographs not taken by yourself.
Paintings should be completed within the last three years.
All styles and subjects will be accepted by the jury, but there should be a consistency of artistry among the five images.
Artwork may not be created in a school setting, workshop, or in the presence of an instructor.
Have you completed the steps above and are you ready to take your membership to the next level?
A Signature Status artist must maintain membership in PPS in order to continue as a Signature member. At the discretion of the Board of Directors, a grace period of up to one year may be granted when membership dues are late.