Frequently Asked Questions

Towson is located in Baltimore County, Maryland, just north of Baltimore City. Home to both Goucher College (located just behind our venue), and Towson University, Towson has a strong art community, and offers convenient local attractions for our attendees.

Yes! The Sheraton Baltimore North has an on site bar and restaurant, and the area surrounding the venue offers additional food and beverage options at a range of price points.

Towson Town Center mall is within walking distance from the venue, and includes a number of restaurants as well as a food court.

The nearby Towson circle area (where York Road, Dulaney Valley Road, Joppa Road, and Allegheny Avenue meet) is reachable by ride share or, whether permitting, a 10-minute walk. Towson circle offers shops, bars, and additional restaurants.

There is no requirement to enter into any competition in order to attend Baltimore Miniature Art Show. We encourage artists of all skill levels to enter their work, but our goal is to celebrate miniature art and grow the community. If you are just interested in viewing the competition entries, spending time with other artists in Sterling’s Studio, or want to see what miniature art is about, we would love to welcome you to our show!

The open format applies to all of our art competitions, and describes what can be entered and how entries are selected for awards. With the open format, there are no limitations for entries based on the type of model used for painting, or the medium used for sculpting. Additionally, multiple artists are typically awarded for the bronze, silver, and gold tiers. These awards are based on the quality of the art achieving that level of excellence, not a direct comparison or ranking of one entry against another.

The Open Competition uses this open format for judging, and is for artists who wish to enter for judging on both painting and sculpting. The Open Competition is ideal for artists who both sculpt and paint their entries, or for a team of artists (one painter and one sculptor) to enter a piece that they have collaborated on.

Standard class is geared towards artists who are newer to the hobby, or towards artists who have been painting for years but mostly paint for tabletop, rather than display. If this is your first miniature art competition, we typically recommend entering at the Standard class. If your work is exceptionally high quality and warrants evaluation at the Master class level, our judges are able to elevate your entries to the appropriate class.

If you still aren’t sure which class is right for you, our art team is happy to help you choose the best fit, and you can contact us before the event, or talk to our art team at registration when submitting your entries.

Entries in the Painting Competition are judged on painting and artistic composition, while entries in the Open Competition are judged on both painting and sculpting along with the artistic composition.

If your diorama does not include any custom sculpting or modifications to the figures used, it should be entered into the Painting Competition.

If your diorama includes custom sculpts, or significant modifications to the figures used, and you would like it to be judged for the sculpting work as well as the painting, it may be entered into the Painting Competition. All sculpting work must be your own, or submitted as a team entry with the sculptor with appropriate credit given.

Entries to the storytelling category of the painting competition have a clear message or story, which is the focus of the work, rather than a focus on a particular figure or figures within the work. The key aspect of entries in the storytelling category, is that they use the models, scenery, composition, and atmosphere to create something more than the individual components and evoke an emotional response from the viewer.

If an entry is telling a unique story or shares a unique message that belongs to the artist who created it, rather than the sculptor or the creator of the figures, it is perfect for our storytelling category.

There is no limit to the number of entries. Artists can enter multiple entries and enter into multiple competitions.

Team entries are permitted only in the Open Competition. A permissible team entry includes work that is created by two artists, one who is responsible for the sculpting, and one who is responsible for the painting on the submitted entry.

Entries in the Sculpting Competition and the Painting Competition must be entirely the work of the artist who is submitting them.

Artists planning to enter a piece that is larger than 10″ x 10″ x 12″ (25.5 x 25.5 x 30.5 cm) must receive prior approval from our team to ensure that we can accommodate displaying the entry. Large entries that have not received prior approval will not be accepted for competition.

Contact us to request approval for large entries. Make sure to include details about the size of your entry and other information that our team may find helpful when reviewing the request.

Once you’ve purchased a ticket for each of your entries, no further action is needed before arriving at Baltimore Miniature Art Show! During intake, our team will help you register your entries and assign them each an entry ID.

If your entry is fragile or requires special care when handling, alert our art team members when dropping off your entry for the competition. Our team will properly mark it as requiring care to ensure that members of our art team and judges take appropriate caution when moving or handling the piece.

We encourage all artists who enter the competition to join us for the Baltimore Miniature Art Show awards ceremony on Sunday. However, we understand that this is not always feasible for all of our artists.

If you are unable to pick up your entry yourself, you must designate another attendee to pick up your entries on your behalf. Contact us before the show, or see us at intake during the show, to let us know the specific individual (including their badge ID) who will be picking up your entries.

A full weekend or Sunday day pass for Baltimore Miniature Art Show is required in order to attend the awards ceremony on Sunday. No additional tickets or sign up is required, and the awards ceremony is open to all attendees, not just artists who have entered a competition.

Yes! Our awards ceremony is not limited to entrants, and we encourage artists to bring friends or family to celebrate with them. Anyone interested in viewing competition entries or attending the awards ceremony must purchase a badge. See our badge types and purchase information here.