espressojoe
Posts: 1464
Joined: 10/13/2006
From: Yuma, AZ
Status: offline
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Alright, been thinking about what to say here, and me thinking for a long time is never a good thing!
The main reason I submitted this post was to hopefully help future jurors see what the artists are looking for. Sure, we’d all like to win, but even if we don’t there is a lot of valuable information that can be taken out of this contest. From what I’ve read by most people who have been through this process, the comments from the jurors have improved and I feel lucky that I entered when I did. If I had entered back when there were no comments, I would have felt like I had paid for nothing. It’s the feedback, positive and critical that makes us grow as artists.
It is important to point out that the quality of your artistic skills is not the only deciding factor in this competition. Presentation is the big one that seems to get a lot people. If you are going to make a living selling anything, retailers everywhere will tell you its 10% product, 90% presentation!
The artist statement, the quality and clarity of the photos, how “professional” the photos of your work appear, along with the general cohesion of the whole series, these are the biggest deciding factors here. I’ve seen some of the best artists on EBSQ say they had a hard time passing the juried process!
While most of these things are subjective, a well developed format should get an overall response from “most” jurors. I thought of this process as training for future juried shows for outside (non EBSQ) venues. At any show, the juror’s opinion will be subjective. The jurors are not all familiar with your media of choice, and some may even consider your media/technique to “not really be art”, a criticism heard often in both the abstract art circles and photography circles. To succeed, we need to find a way to surpass that shortfall and strive to impress “the pants off” even the most prejudiced juror.
Jackie, your artwork is outstanding! You are a highly skilled artist. Reviewing your portfolio, there are many places that I feel the presentation could be improved and am willing to speak with you privately about this if you want my “critiques”. I’ve owned 2 small businesses in the past and have a relatively good knack at “selling” a product, or presenting it in its best manner. I do hope you don’t give up on the juried process, as your artwork shows extreme talent.
I know for me, personally, I never would have made it in this process if I hadn’t read through all the prior posts and experiences from others. The pieces I had originally picked out were not a cohesive bunch; I had wanted to show my versatility and was going to show a bunch of different medias, thinking that would be strength. It’s a good thing I read through the historical posts here, I could have tried for years and would never have made it if I did it “my way”. Thankfully I had all the past experience on these forums to draw on!
I hope this thread will prove helpful, not only to future entrants, but also to future jurors!
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RE: Juried Comments, an artists perspective - 
Useless or mean comments are just disheartening. 
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