Reviewing Lowell Art Quilt Shows

Today in my Robert Genn newsletter was this- it seemed to fit so perfectly with yesterdays Art Crawl through Lowell I had to include it.

"Dear Sandy,

Yesterday, Jeanne Long of Selby, Minn, USA wrote: "In judging
an art fair this weekend, I found myself utterly affected by
the input of a fellow juror. Suddenly my picks seemed wooden
and overworked. He was looking for spark. I was seeking
mastery. In my search, I lost my yen for a purity of
expression. He brought it back again by describing his delight
in seeing a single line applied with �lan! I've been changed by
this occurrence. I can see that my own future work will grow
from the exchange."

Thanks, Jeanne. For those of us who perform jury duty, pass
judgment on the work of others, or simply give thought to what
we do, mastery often picks a fight with spark. Actually, in
recent art history, mastery and spark represent "The Great
Divide." It would be easy to say that those who have no mastery
tend to value spark, and those who have no spark tend to value
mastery. But there's more to it than that. In a recent show
where I was one of the jurors, there was a magnificent
semi-abstract rendition of a horse. On close examination all
the jurors agreed that the animal was way out of whack. The
painter really had no idea what a horse looked like. And yet
the thing had spark. An argument followed--in less civilized
times there would have been a lynching. The pseudo-horse
galloped off with second prize.

As we tend to find virtue in our own prejudices, one might
think it important to pry open and educate the minds of jurors.
But really, in the subjective business of artistic value and
creative quality, that's what juror-variety is all about.
Parachuting jurors in from other villages broadens viewpoints
and neutralizes artistic incest. One has also to watch out for
what I call "unnatural spin." This is where jurors are so
stultified by pedagogy, fashion, expectation, or garden-variety
ignorance that they are untrue even to themselves. With these
lovely folks, one watches a mind-bending circus that includes
fresh breakouts of "The King's New Clothes."

Genuine creators with a range of styles and genres make the
best juries. A slate of three or more is best. What blows me
away is the frequency in which "spark" jurors favour mastery,
and "mastery" jurors favour spark. I can only conclude that
genuine creators have a fine degree of humility, are themselves
in a state of learning, and like Jeanne Long, are open-minded."

Spark vs. Mastery- that was pretty much the theme of what I saw in the four art quilt exhibits and the one digital print show I got to. Go to our new collaborative site, Art Quilt Reviews, where we will review shows across the country, hopefully in a timely fashion so people have a chance to get out to see the exhibits. We are hoping that people will submit new reviews to post, and in doing so become current contributors so we can get different viewpoints on what is going on. We felt that no matter how well written, that the reviews appearing in magazines and periodicals were too late, usually appearing long after the close of a show and this new site could remedy the time problem.

I reviewed four of the shows we attended, but didn't include the one show I liked the most so I will do it now since the word MASTERY has come up. At the 119 Gallery at 119 Chelmsford St. was the "Digital Atelier: Printmaking for the 21st Century" show of priintmakers who use digital media in their work and you will fiond links to theri individual websites below. If you do nothing else, go check them out.

It's a small show, but absolutely blows those of us who print to fabric on our ink jets out of the water. These women are printing to steel and aluminum, directly onto tiles and canvas, in short anythiing that will go through their presses. If you get to Lowell anytime before August 18th, make sure and get to this gallery- call 978-452-8138 first for hours. Of particular note were the pieces that were buildups of several prints, for instance printing on both sides of transparent rice papers and then adhearing that to steel so the juxtaposition of substraight became a design element. Then, the plate was reprinted, further integrating the images. A majority of the prints shown were heavy with visual texture, but when viewed very closely lost the texture altogether. This was an interesting problem that is apparent in our fabric priinting too- one I have temporarily solved in my own work by printing to more textured fabrics like canvas. I was happy to see that was also used as a device by the artists in this show. The Atilier has put out a book detailing their working methods and techniques, available on Amazon through the Atilier website above.

Dorothy Simpson Krause

Bonny Lhotka

Karin Schminke

Digital Art Studio book, at Amazon