Last week I had the privilege and the pleasure of serving as a juror for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College, PA. It was an intensive two days of jurying, facilitated by Festival Director Rick Bryant and his excellent staff and volunteers. Above I am posed with my fellow jurors--unbelievably, it was warm enough to step outside--L-R are Jimmy Clark, Ron Thurston, myself, Sharon Massey, and Karla Prickett. Visit the Festival blog for their bios; I was in very esteemed company!
Below is a shot of the jury hard at work. The submission process was done online, and viewing and ranking the images was done digitally. Each juror had a laptop, and in front of us were 5 digital projectors and 5 large screens. As the images came up on the screens, the artist's statement was read to us.
I am frequently on the other side of this equation, as I submit to a lot of exhibitions, and I learned a long time ago to celebrate any acceptances that come my way, but not to take it personally when my work is declined. This experience reconfirmed my belief that jurors take their responsibilities seriously, want their fellow artists to succeed, and make difficult decisions based on the criteria of the prospectus in order to showcase the best work available and help ensure that the event will be a success.
3 comments:
I'm looking forward to the results of your hard work. The arts festival is the highlight of my year. The hubby is always trying to talk me into entering, and perhaps one day I will. But those four days, I am completely immersed in the arts and crafts of others. What a joy!
This is a great event. I used to submit but lost it when it changed venue some years ago. I lived near by 'back in the day'.
It looks exciting- to see so much art.
Thanks for the blog and the memories!
Many thanks.
Post a Comment