a pleasure just being nominated?
So my fragile little inner artist ego took a beating recently and I just haven't had a chance to tell the story until now. Every March, I submit two paintings for a juried exhibition. The competition is stiff, there are usually 250-300 pieces submitted and about 30 get in (sometimes two from the same artist.) Every year, I pack up two of my babies, drop them off, pay my $20, and wait. It goes like this: If you get a phone call from the gallery before 8pm two days later, you're in! I typically spend that fateful day envisioning jurors pointing and laughing maliciously at my work. But, if your phone doesn't ring, you suck up your shame and go back the next day to pick up your rejected art.
My phone did not ring.
For the fifth year in a row, I returned to get my work. I have come quite close to getting in at least one year, apparently... I swear, I'm like the Susan Lucci of this exhibition. Now this year, there was a twist. Here are the two pieces I submitted:
The top one, you'll notice, has a lot of red in it. The bottom one, a lot of white/cream tones. Pay attention to this for later. As soon as I walked in, the curator (also a friend) looked panic stricken and proceeded to tell me that something happened to one of my paintings. Apparently someone submitted an oil painting, and did not inform anyone that it was still wet. Yes, WET paint. At some point this painting brushed up against mine, and... you see where this is going. As my eye darted over to my pieces, I saw that right in the middle of the WHITE background of ACRYLIC painting #2 was a big RED splotch of OIL paint. My painting, my rejected painting, had also been branded with a scarlet letter. Deep breathes.
The curator was horrified, and immediately promised to take it to a conservator to be professionally cleaned. No home remedies. I know it wasn't her fault, she's so nice, and this has never happened before. My first question was whether that person got into the show. They did NOT, which gave me some satisfaction.
So the painting is now being cleaned somehow. On the weekend Michna showed me a newspaper article covering the show, and the picture was from the jury selection process. You can see my work in the picture, so I still got 15 minutes of fame!
Anyhow, I'm not sure how I feel about these juried things. You never hear constructive criticism except that the accepted work all has a 'fresh, never seen before approach to the subject or medium'. Ok really, how subjective can you get? And what hasn't been done before?? I take some comfort that the jurors would have a very high standard this year, one of them was a renowned Canadian artist, curator and critic. At least he's seen my work, even if he didn't like it! There's just something about these shows that makes you feel like the kid who didn't get picked to be on the team in gym class. Sure it's rite of passage, character building and all that, but it sure makes you want to give your work a hug and then avoid the easel for a while.
Anyhow, to balance out my luck, yesterday I learned a juried outdoor art show is likely going to accept me for August (the jury is not quite the art elite of other shows, but hey that's ok!)
My phone did not ring.
For the fifth year in a row, I returned to get my work. I have come quite close to getting in at least one year, apparently... I swear, I'm like the Susan Lucci of this exhibition. Now this year, there was a twist. Here are the two pieces I submitted:
The top one, you'll notice, has a lot of red in it. The bottom one, a lot of white/cream tones. Pay attention to this for later. As soon as I walked in, the curator (also a friend) looked panic stricken and proceeded to tell me that something happened to one of my paintings. Apparently someone submitted an oil painting, and did not inform anyone that it was still wet. Yes, WET paint. At some point this painting brushed up against mine, and... you see where this is going. As my eye darted over to my pieces, I saw that right in the middle of the WHITE background of ACRYLIC painting #2 was a big RED splotch of OIL paint. My painting, my rejected painting, had also been branded with a scarlet letter. Deep breathes.
The curator was horrified, and immediately promised to take it to a conservator to be professionally cleaned. No home remedies. I know it wasn't her fault, she's so nice, and this has never happened before. My first question was whether that person got into the show. They did NOT, which gave me some satisfaction.
So the painting is now being cleaned somehow. On the weekend Michna showed me a newspaper article covering the show, and the picture was from the jury selection process. You can see my work in the picture, so I still got 15 minutes of fame!
Anyhow, I'm not sure how I feel about these juried things. You never hear constructive criticism except that the accepted work all has a 'fresh, never seen before approach to the subject or medium'. Ok really, how subjective can you get? And what hasn't been done before?? I take some comfort that the jurors would have a very high standard this year, one of them was a renowned Canadian artist, curator and critic. At least he's seen my work, even if he didn't like it! There's just something about these shows that makes you feel like the kid who didn't get picked to be on the team in gym class. Sure it's rite of passage, character building and all that, but it sure makes you want to give your work a hug and then avoid the easel for a while.
Anyhow, to balance out my luck, yesterday I learned a juried outdoor art show is likely going to accept me for August (the jury is not quite the art elite of other shows, but hey that's ok!)
posted by sugar mama at 7:20 PM
1 Comments:
I think it's fabulous that you go back year after year. It shows a lot of character. I know people who wouldn't even try. I have seen a fair degree of nepotism happen at these juried exhibitions, though, so I only enter Federation of Candaian Artist events (which are extremely well juried by artists with no vested interest int he outcome). And the randomness is annoying. I have had a crap painting accepted into a good show and at the same show the following year the quality dropped dramatically *and* my much better painting than the previous year was rejected. So it's a crap shoot. I think both your paitnigns are lovely. Have you thought of applying to the FCA? The bummer there is that the gallery is here in Vancouver.
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