Well, nothing like a jury smackdown to keep you humble! I applied to a show I've done for years with a new media....I want to continue with the jewelry so they told me I had to make a separate application for each category. Okay, so I did that. But since the new "stuff" had already won a Best in Show, two international awards and sold for high dollar, I thought it would be just a piece of cake. Hahhhh! Although I was accepted in my usual category of jewelry, I got a resounding "No, thank you" on the new work.
This isn't a complaint......more a laughing at myself that it does no use to feel a little smug about something because it's so easy to get put in your place even after 45 years in this business. Oh well, a glass of wine, a little whine and whimper and then back to work...the show must go on!
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Dang! There goes my new work, kitty cats and puppies painted using stencils bought from crafts magazines, printed on shower curtains, T-shirts, stick-on tatoos, and pet bowls. I guess I'll have to stick to serious fine art!
I do have one question: what is a "substitute paint"? And can they be used in unimportant areas? And what are "important areas"?
Ah yes, got one of those this week.
The joke (sorry, I'm not bitter, not really) is that the same jurors have judged applications for this one area show for the last 20 years or so. As a result, the show tends to have a carbon copy feel - lots of watercolor, lots of jewelry, lots of yard art. To be fair, they do try to mix things up by bringing in at least one Central American musical group, which also happens to sell flutes and mini-tambourines made in China.
I'm not bitter, really....
I prefer the terms Fine Art and Fine Crafts along with artist and artisan. I have been both, depending on what I'm interested in at the time.
Bottle caps and beer can planes, while I appreciate they take a certain skill and time, would be more likely to fall into a craft category that would be featured in street festivals, bazaars, etc. My gallery is in a tourist town that has many, many "craft" oriented stores filled with whatever the wholesale gift shows were selling....we refer to them as "toxic cute".
Go figure.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
One would think that a jury would consist of people that know art work when they see it and can determine when a craft is trying to sneak in. Better qualification checks maybe the answer? I just don't get how the town grocery manager, not that there is anything wrong with grocery store manager, but you know what I mean when dog cookies are considered artwork and are accepted by a jury and impressionist paintings are not?
http://www.douglaschambers
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