Art show judging info needed

[luigi]

Art show judging info needed

I am a resident of The Villages, an active retirement community in
Florida, and a member of The Villages Arts Association [VAA], The
Villages Arts League [VAL], the Villages Woodworkers Club and the
American Association of Woodturners [AAW]. Although both the VAA and
VAL have had juried shows, they have always been dedicated to various
graphics media [pencil, watercolor, acryllic, oil, etc.]. Neither
organization has experience in judging [or showing, for that matter]
of Sculpture or Woodturning.

I have been trying to get Sculpture and/or Woodturning included in
art displays and the association boards have declined because of
concerns on display methods, judging, etc, etc. I think there is also
some concern about where to draw the line between 'Art' and 'Craft'.

My activism in this matter has resulted in my being asked to
investigate what precedent exists for adding Sculpture and/or
Woodturning to future VAA and VAL exhibits and shows. Then comes the
challenge of finding qualified local judges for a juried show.

Please let me know if you can offer any guidance, or point me to an
appropriate source.

Thanks for your help.

Robert Ridgard
r_ _rid...@yahoo.com

[robo hippy]

Thats a hard one. As one who has been judged, but hasn't judged, I
haven't seen any set criteria for judging. I have gotten into some
shows, and not others, where the quality of the other artists stuff
was the same. I have gotten into shows when others haven't and our
quality is the same. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Personally,
I would like for the judges to see my stuff in person, not in slides
or on photo.

robo hippy

> r_ _ridg...@yahoo.com

[Lobby Dosser]

robo hippy <reed...@comcast.net> wrote:

>> Art show judging info needed

There should be some information at the AAW site, or someone there can
surely direct the OP to folks with experience. They do a lot of judging
and, I suppose, have some guidelines.

<http://www.woodturner.org/>

[Andy Webber]

luigi wrote:
> Art show judging info needed
>

> My activism in this matter has resulted in my being asked to
> investigate what precedent exists for adding Sculpture and/or
> Woodturning to future VAA and VAL exhibits and shows. Then comes the
> challenge of finding qualified local judges for a juried show.
>
> Please let me know if you can offer any guidance, or point me to an
> appropriate source.

Take a peek at the guidance that is given to entrants on other competitions,
both for woodturning and for the more graphic arts. Does your league give
guidance to entrants for graphic arts?

For example, for one competition I entered, the rules stated (amongst other
things):
The judges will consider:
- the appeal of the design and appropriateness of the materials used,
- technical excellence,
- originality and difficulty of techniques employed,
- quality of finish.

Now, you can argue about which of these represents art and which represents
craft. But one could imagine very similar criteria being applied to many
different fields.

If you want to give the appearance of objectivity in judging, then allocate a
number of points to each category that you want to consider (appeal,
excellence, etc) then mark entries in each category and total the scores. Note
that if you over-weight on originality and/or difficulty then good "plain and
simple - but extremely well executed" entries will never get a placing.

[George]

"robo hippy" <reed...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1177814021.1...@p77g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...

Personally,
> I would like for the judges to see my stuff in person, not in slides
> or on photo.

Things must be different there. Jurying for entry is done from two
dimensions pretty much everywhere. Slides (If you can get the film!) or
photos. It's a way of cutting down the field to a manageable size. Most
places I go actual judging is done at the show, some even allow you to tag a
work you want judged.

There must be a category or categories to separate the 3-D folks from the
paint splashers, because the judges are normally painters and have a
predisposition toward similar work. Best of show never goes to wood
workers. I've seen a couple go to sculptors of the junkyard persuasion, but
overall people who paint or draw do so for a reason - they like it - and it
shows. Don't know how often I've heard judges tell me that what I do is a
craft, not than an art as they buy a couple of the freehand-carved,
one-of-a-kind hand sculptures I sell as spoons, or reserve a salad bowl to
be picked up after the judging. After all, they're _useful_ things.

Objective standards for judging? Sure, like craftsmanship points deducted
for cracks, finishes that shine, don't, bottoms that go in instead of out
.... Can't happen. Puts you in the business of deciding what's style and
what's substance, and I would rather not go there. Either that or tells
people to "make one of these" to get in your show. What appeals can be
filled out in words, so the judges do that for the winners, also-rans never
hear, which is the way it should be.

Head of the Art and Design department at the local college once gave a
workshop on how to get the ribbons. Her critique of my black ash
end-grained bowl with a crotch running through included such meaningful
observations as "it has two centers of interest," to describe the knots.
She also said "most turnings I've seen in galleries were thinner," than my
3/8 salad bowl. Almost every year I make at least one translucent-thin
piece in her memory that I have to put a secondary weight in to keep it from
blowing off the display. It's there sometimes a couple years, because
nobody wants to buy something so fragile, and they mention it. Diane's
bowl.