Winter 2009
Dear Friends,
Winter has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. It feels a little strange to say this because the trees on my street here in Austin, Texas, have just begun changing color. The temps are in the 50s and 60s F, and have only been getting into the 30s and 40s F at night.
This has been quite a contrast to last December, which I spent in Montana. The first two weeks I lived there it was -30F! Of course, we paid in advance for this mild winter with the unremitting heat and humidity of this past summer.
Over the coming winter months I'll be having several family members as guests, beginning this evening. Amazing how people from further north didn't want to visit in August, yet can't wait to come in February!
Thank you all for your ongoing support of my creative journey.
Warm regards,
Cynthia
In this issue:
Juried vs Judged
Eye of the Quilter Follow-up
Finding Inspiration in France
What I'm Working On
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Juried vs Judged
In the last Quarterly Art News, I promised you that I'd talk about juried vs judged exhibitions, and why I never enter one of them. If you read my my blog, you probably already know which I avoid.
A juried exhibit will often have a curator and a juror, possibly a panel of jurors. The role of the curator is generally to set a "theme" or a cohesive overview and/or philosophy of what the exhibit is about. Their work often includes writing supporting documentation for the exhibit, such as labels and catalog essays, and handling other organizational functions. Sometimes the curator is also the juror.
The juror is the person who actively selects specific artwork to be included in the exhibit. The job of the juror is to say, by their selection, that: a) an artwork is up to an acceptable level of design and execution; and b) that the artworks will form a cohesive whole when hung together. This is a very subjective thing, as you might imagine. A juror's selections will be based to a large extent on their own philosophy of "what is art." The best jurors can put aside their personal preferences, however, and see the exhibit somewhat objectively, as an entity on its own.
A judged exhibit is just what it sounds like... a person judges the artwork on certain criteria, thereby assigning relative "merit rankings" to the pieces, often so awards of one kind or another can be given. This is also a highly subjective undertaking, as one person's "enough quilting" may be another's "not enough." Often judges will have an actual list of criteria that they can check off to theoretically give an objective "score" to the pieces.
I don't enter judged exhibits. When I am creating artwork, I am not particularly concerned with someone else's view of it. I make what I want/need to make, and if it doesn't fit into an upcoming exhibit, well, that's not why I made it anyway.
Now, that doesn't mean I don't sometimes make work specifically for an exhibit call, but I only do it if it's something I might have made anyway. In fact, I've just started a large piece for a specific upcoming exhibit being co-sponsored by Austin Fiber Artists.
However, the fact remains that the quickest way to get me to not enter an exhibit is to tell me it's judged. I'll take my chances with juried exhibitions, but I have no interest in striving for that elusive blue ribbon or "best of show" prize.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eye of the Quilter Follow-up
In case you missed it on my blog, I did indeed have a photograph selected for the first photography exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this past October.
My photograph "Monument" was exhibited.
The exhibit was beautifully curated by Wilma Hart, and I was delighted to be included.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finding Inspiration in France
Recently we were fortunate enough to spend ten days in France. It was my first trip to Europe, and it was magically memorable!
I was thoroughly enchanted by the people, the architecture, the landscape, the slower pace of life. And it didn't hurt that the house we rented was directly across the street from the boulangerie in our little village; fresh croissants and baguettes for breakfast every day. Not hard to take!
A highlight of the trip was the time we spent visiting two artisanal Champagne producers in the Aube. Both M. Lassaigne and M. Bouchard were very generous with their time, especially since neither of them normally do tours or tastings. We were fortunate to have a friend of a friend in the business set up special appointments for us. These two men redefined for us what Champagne is! Find their wines if you can. They are worth seeking out. Here are their websites:
Jacques Lassaigne
Cedric Bouchard
I believe that travel is good for the soul and good for creativity. The best artwork seems to be created from breadth and depth of personal experience. A new perspective can help me affirm or discard an artistic path I may have been on, or suggest a completely new avenue.
New artwork will surely be forthcoming that is inspired by my time in France.
I've posted some photos on Facebook. Here is the public link, meaning anyone can see the album, whether or not they have a Facebook account: Facebook Photos.
And here are some photos that only newsletter subscribers will see.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What I'm Working On
I spent some time over the past month plotting out what exhibits I might like to enter in the coming quarter. It's simply a matter of wading through all the calls for entries that I come across, deciding which to enter, and then charting all the pertinent information on a calendar. It's really the only way I've found that I can commit to long range exhibitions and have the work progress, and, not incidentally, make all the various deadlines!
As I mentioned above, I have some new textile work that is just getting underway. One of these pieces is a departure for me in that it is going to be quite large; in the neighborhood of 5 feet x 7 feet, possibly larger. I'll be posting updates on my blog as the work progresses.
If you've followed my work for a time, you probably know that in addition to art quilts, I also create collages and photographs. What you might not realize is that I also paint watercolors, acrylics, and oils.
Here are a couple small watercolors.
I am currently working on a series of 12 inch x 12 inch acrylic landscapes. Below is a small detail image from the first in the series. Stay tuned to my blog for more on this series.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for your ongoing support of my work!
Winter Blessings!
