Blog

Recently I had the honor of being the juror for The Pastel Society of the Gold Coast’s “Passion for Pastels 2015” exhibit in Thousand Oaks, CA. I was thrilled to be asked and it was such a joy to view the many outstanding paintings in this show. The work inspired me on many levels and I had an EXTREMELY tough time choosing the award winners!! I had many more pieces short listed than I had ribbons for and it took a few hours to narrow it down. It was gut wrenching at times crossing off names that were completely deserving of an award. I myself enter a lot of art competitions and understand the agony when our work is not chosen for special recognition. I could have used at least 20 more ribbons, believe me! 

I’d like to share a little about my thought process as I juried this exhibition especially since I'm sure some would be surprised about my choices. This was a members show where members could bring in pieces without a juried selection process. I was the juror of awards, awarding the 8 ribbons for Best of Show, First, Second and Third Place as well as four Honorable Mentions to which I could add if I felt it necessary (I added one extra Honorable mention and could have easily added more!). I started out walking the entire room without looking too closely at details but instead responding to what pulled me in from across the room, what grabbed my attention and held it more than other pieces. I wrote these down and had a whopping 32 pieces on my list! On my next walk through I examined each of the 32 paintings more closely, analyzing what exactly had stopped me in my tracks in front of them earlier. Every juror looks for different things and of course our personal preferences also come into play, what we respond to on a gut level. I look for the following:

 

Strong abstract design and shapes: This is what pulls me in when viewing from a distance (or in a thumbnail online). All four top winners had very strong abstract design even though they were completely different styles!

 

Excellent composition and values: Is my eye guided by the artists’ use of skillfully placed light patterns and shapes throughout the painting?

 

Unusual subject matter and/or uncommon perspective: There were some stunning cloudscapes, landscapes and florals which were extremely well executed but didn’t quite make the cut because they seemed a little too familiar. With so many motifs repeated over and over an artist can grab a juror's attention by choosing a subject matter not often represented or painting a common scene from an unusual viewpoint.

It takes great skill to make a subject like an empty bathtub be so captivatingly beautiful that I wish I could add it to my collection because I want to look at it all the time!

 

Confident handling of the medium and interesting mark making: It is easy to tell when an artist has mastered his or her medium and applies it fearlessly. I also enjoy "seeing the hand of the artist" in their work, their strokes or brush work. There a so many different ways of applying pastel from crosshatching to scribbles and broad strokes, don't be afraid to experiment and see what fits your subject matter and personality.

Color: Whether a piece is almost monochromatic as Sydney Kopeikin’s Best of Show winner at the top or full of strong bright colors as Carrie Givens’ First Place winner “Canyon Gold” does not matter, but how I respond to it on an emotional level makes all the difference.

 

Content/Story: this is where your own artistic voice shines through, where you can make your audience linger, stir emotion and stimulate thought. In my opinion titles are also important for this because they add one more layer of connecting to your viewer, whether they arouse curiosity, clarify your intention or make us smile.

 

To sum it up, it did not matter much to me whether the work was abstract, impressionistic or realistic. If it pulled me in, held my attention, inspired strong feelings and left me in  awe it made “The List”.  The Best of Show award went to “Still Life with a Tub” by Syndey Kopeikin (see image at the top but keep in mind it does NOT do justice to the actual piece because many of the subtle color nuances and mark making don't show up very well here). Even with such minimalism of color, paint application and subject matter I found myself wanting to study this piece for hours! The composition is perfect, I loved the splashy watercolor underpainting with just a few expertly placed strokes of pastel, the beautiful depiction of light in the room, the barely there complementary colors of green and pink. I could see the hand of the artist clearly in the marks, felt their sensitivity and it made me want to see more of her work (which you can do on facebook here.)

 

A bit more advice in general:

- Pay close attention to your presentation of your work (matting and/or framing as well as hanging). It should not garner more attention than the painting (either positively or negatively) but needs to complement it to the highest degree. Don’t frame a contemporary piece in a traditional frame, choose the right color matting, make sure the mat is cut perfectly and the correct size.

- If you go to the trouble of entering juried competitions you might want to think about having an online presence, whether it’s your own website (easy and inexpensive to do nowadays) or an album on Pinterest or Facebook clearly marked as your art.  And keep it all updated! As I was writing this blog I wanted to show some of the work by the artists and get more specific but I had a hard time finding enough images online to be fair to all so I decided to make my comments more generic and only show the Best of Show winner. I wonder how many visitors to your shows want to learn more about you and view more of your work and give up out of frustration? I wonder how many exhibition visitors would be interested in purchasing other work from you? Make it easy for them to find you online!

 

I was asked to judge another exhibition in August, this one for the California Art League, but this time I will select the entries first from online submissions. I have done so before, for the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club's 116th Open exhibition at The National Arts Club in NYC in 2012 (you can read my post about being a juror of selection for this show here.)

While I enjoy being a juror and feel very honored to be asked it is always so tough knowing that some artists will be disappointed and others will totally disagree with my decisions. Just keep in mind that jurors are human with personal preferences and priorities in their process. Keep doing your best work and getting it out there! Let the award winners inspire you to raise your own bar. That's what I try to do whenever I get another rejection:)