Each time that I enter my work into a juried show, a humorous mix of emotions stream through me, ranging from complete confidence in my work to an unrealistic fear of not being good enough. What tends to happen is usually much more pleasant than the later, but artists generally never know or hear about what goes on in the jury process. Did he/she/they almost choose my piece? What was said or thought when the juror/s viewed my image or artwork? Did it almost win a prize, award or honorable mention?
Competitions are what you do as a good exercise ~ Maya Lin.
After a few years of entering these healthy resume boosters, it becomes quite clear to most who venture to compete, that it is strictly a personal choice made by one or more of the various art professionals chosen to judge art. Jurors are usually art dealers, gallery owners, art collectors, art historians, other respected artists, museum curators, college art professors or even art critics. Some like what you do, some don't. Not to say that judging fine art is so basic. Some art is just not as well put together as it could be, or sometimes even poorly constructed, while other artwork is so well made, it blows the socks off anything remotely close. Then there is use of media, theme or subject matter, and how the message is conveyed. In general, this kind of decision is respected by all.
If the juror has the opportunity to speak about their process at some point during a juried exhibition, this is a nice bonus, but often this is a general speech geared to promote positive intent and feedback, which is as it should be. There is always some statement made about how difficult it was to choose from so many diverse and well executed pieces of art. I think this is undoubtedly true in most cases, as trying to choose one, two or three winners from a large group of j-peg images submitted to be viewed on some small computer screen, could be more than a bit daunting. Because of this, often there is a second juried process to view those first chosen pieces in person…. a very smart idea. This is how the Hunting Art Prize jury process was done.
The Hunting Art Prize is one of the largest, yearly art competitions in this country, as well as one of the heftiest awards given to a single artist - $50000. This year, 110 finalists were chosen from 1600 entries from across the state of Texas. I (my artwork) was fortunate to be chosen as a finalist this year. I also was a finalist in 2007.
The winner, Leigh Anne Lester from San Antonio, was announced at the large gala that Hunting Oil Company put on for this event. The food was marvelous and there were plenty of artists and guests to visit and talk with… quite an enjoyable evening.
I felt a strong urge to do something different - to thank these professionals, who in this case happen to be two women and one man: Rachael Blackburn Cozad, Director, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Carol Damian, Director, Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami and Julien Robson, Curator of Contemporary Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
I cannot even imagine sorting through so much art to come down to the smaller list of finalists, and then to choose just one. You had quite a formidable task, and as a team, you achieved the mission most honorably. I am so grateful for your discerning eyes and your skilled perspectives in making your choices. It is because of professionals like yourselves who attribute to such an event, artists can participate in a healthy competition, lending to the valuable growth necessary to continue the vital process of creating. Thank you so much.
Art, at its best, is not a competition to outdo others or even ourselves. The focus is more appropriately channeled to reveal our hearts and to hint at the illumination of life that is mysterious and larger in spirit than in any single work of art. ~ Gregory Packard
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