As published in: Glass Craftsman, Spring 2007
by Gina Hubler
Does your heart skip a beat when thinking of applying for an exhibition that is juried? Does the thought of a rejection letter, make you think twice about applying to show your work? DON’T LET IT!!! Something like, nothing ventured, nothing gained would be my take. On the other hand, forewarned is forearmed! Hopefully this bit of insight into our jury process at "The Atelier" will help you, take the leap and join the many successful first time and veteran artisans which successfully make the cut!
"The Atelier" is a gallery with artist studios and educational space. It is also home to the "Miami Mosaic Academy". As the educational director of the Mosaic Academy, I took myself out of the direct jury process, feeling that my input might influence the jury as a whole, for the Atelier's annual mosaic exhibition. I do hold a blind jury class (the artists names are not disclosed), which is open to students of the school, prior to the formal selection process. This is a wonderful opportunity for the students to see first hand the importance of imagery, as well as the dynamics of group selection.
Each student is given documentation denoting numbers for every entry. The entries of each artist are grouped together, and each entry is shown for aprox. 30 seconds on the screen. The participants may request to review particular images for clarity. There is often some discussion of the merits of individual work, technical style, and visual imagery. Each student juror will rate each entry on a scale of 1 to 5. At the end of this process, which can often take the better part of the day, the documents are collected, and entered into the computer giving each image an overall rating. The Mosaic Academy jury is referred to only in the event of a tie or draw with our professional jurors.
The professional jury has met in much the same manner during our first three years. With the advent of computerized jury services, such as Juriedartservices.com, it makes it easier than ever for both the artist and jury to interact, once the system is understood! It does however exclude artists who are not technologically savy, at best sending them in search of a friend, which may help them out! I found it a bit intimidating using the juried service for the first time last year, and thus we decided to continue with submissions going directly to the Atelier, however I believe that these services are the wave of the future. We are looking at biting the bullet for future shows.
Digital photography is more forgiving for the amateur photographer making it possible for the artist themself to get decent images. They can be viewed immediately, to see that you have a clear image, and the lighting is acceptable. Photoshop or like programs are invaluable to crop the images and refine your presentation. Jurors as well, are able to view the images on their computers, often in privacy, so that they might view an image as long as they feel necessary to make a decision regarding the acceptance of an artists work.
Professionals which have insight into a mosaicists work, as well as with expertise in the area of our annual theme. In previous years, we have chosen representatives from Public Art, Architectural, and Museum Curators. It is the guest jurors job to solidify the vision for the overall show. In our most recent exhibition, "Peace by Piece, Frammenti di Pace" our juror felt that the work to be represented in the exhibition should hold forth an overall quality of a peaceful vision. Interestingly enough this was achieved by Antonella Gallenda's "Ray of Light", depicted here in a photo reflecting an image of the Atelier's "Virgin of Guadalupe".
However even more important was that the work should have a level of technical competance, and be visually stimulating. The flawless technique of Mauro Tacconi's Pietra Dura was also exhibited in "Fattori di Pizano" a scene of women sewing in the countryside.
The range of submissions made it difficult to jury, making the jury process an intellectual, somewhat arduous through enjoyable exercise. Connotations of this theme were conveyed through a exceptionally executed Jesus Christ created by Liza Wheeler.
Eduardo Marquez's "Woman in a Chair" was pieced together seemlessly, peacefully fragmented, this work made the jurors pause and reflect. Quality of the work was considered to be the most important factor.
We are looking forward to our 2008 exhibition, "Global Perspectives", the entry deadline for this exhibition will be January 20, 2008.