Watching the process

Years ago, I had the fortunate experience of watching a juror choose work for an exhibit at the local nonprofit arts gallery. At the time, I believed a juror picked the best work and rejected the rest and therefore if my work was not chosen, it meant it was not good enough. As I watched, the juror selected about 25-30% of the work and removed another 25% of work, leaving a good third to half the submissions in the “maybe” group. With the chosen work laid out in front of him, he sat for a long time looking at the pieces before slowly choosing from the “maybe” group. He explained he had found that when jurying, there was a strong group of work that was going to be in the show no matter what, and a group of work that did not rise to a comparable level. After that, several exhibits could be created from the remaining work. Contemplating his first pieces, he decides what kind of exhibit it will be, and which work to add to create a successful and cohesive show. That experience helped me understand the process involved more than whether work was “good” or “bad.” To this day it stings when I get a rejection, especially when I think my work is a good fit, but I no longer believe my work was less-than.

Taking part in the process

When I was asked to jury an exhibit entitled Printed and Stitched for Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and California Society of Printmakers (CSP), I felt honored, a bit nervous and quite excited. I worried about curating an exhibition for a space I had never been to and would not see due to it’s far distance. Perusing the organizations’ websites, I recognized the high degree of professionalism and quality of members’ work. I met with the exhibition coordinators to discuss the particulars (theme, timeline, number of submissions expected) and found then, and throughout the process, how organized, supportive and helpful they were.

In January, I received the submitted images and my process began. It paralleled the experience I had witnessed with the juror many years before. After several run throughs of all submissions, I chose a grouping of work that best reflected the theme and intention of the exhibit. Another several run throughs and I eliminated another group whose work did not best reference the theme or intent. It took me considerably longer to choose the rest of the work. I printed scaled pictures of the chosen pieces and all those in the “maybe” category.

It became a puzzle then to pick pieces that added other viewpoints, interpretations, or broadened the reading of the original themes. I moved the work around, adding and subtracting, sometimes going back to the submissions to swap out choices to better enhance the overall breadth and visual impact. Many considerations come to mind: is the piece emblematic of the theme? Does the piece add another dimension, point of view, material handling that stretches the interpretation of the criteria? Is there a balance of scale, color, and use of materials? What conversations begin to emerge between the work? What new, unique, themes emerge as the work begins to speak? What work stretches boundaries of the materials and theme in unique and powerful ways? Being on the other side of the jurying process was more difficult than anticipated!

A difficult process begets an exciting exhibition

I made my final choices and looked at the conversations between the chosen work; the pieces creating a whole larger than the sum of its parts. I so want to physically be in front of this work to be able to admire these pieces, see the delicacy of the layers, evidence of the hand and the way in which this work fills and holds a space. As this is a traveling exhibit, venturing to multiple venues throughout California and Nevada, I am hoping to be able to do so!

Learn more about SAQA and CSP:
Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA)
California Society of Printmakers (CSP)

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