improvident and glanced

 The thing about art is that life is in no danger of being meaningless

-Robert Genn

A few days ago I posted some observations about the jury process-  you can reread it HERE if you missed it or it looked too wordy.  Today I found a great article by 

Renée Phillips, founder of Manhattan Arts International, and thought you might like the perspective of a professional in the field.  (Phew, we agree on most points!)  That article is HERE and I do suggest you read it-  her perspective is of larger urban shows and might offer some tips for the bigger events we might enter.  

To my point, I have always maintained that a juror is doing a job and her personal taste shouldn't enter the picture, but Ms. Phillips has swayed me to rethink that point in her first remarks where she addresses researching the juror.  For instance if you researched *me* you would probably think I like more avant garde and 'ironic' art and you would be right.  The things I love are not necessarily my own work so your research would have to go further than my woefully incomplete and ignored website.  But frankly I don't know much about sculpture (heh heh, but I know what I like...) and would be a lousy juror for that.  

So I'll go HALFWAY against my prior thoughts and state that you should research the juror to make sure she is well versed in the type of work you want to exhibit.  In that case I am perfectly well qualified to jury a quilt show and do a good job.  I know little about fancy machine quilting, not my area of expertise so therefore I cannot JUDGE it, but what I can do is put ten fancy quilted quilts against each other and come up with the ones with the best design attributes.  So, there ya go.  Now go read her article, I'll be here when you get back.

Netherland-based artist Peter Gentenaar, whose billowing paper sculptures were born out of what he couldn’t do with commercial paper. As a printmaker, Gentenaar’s search for a better type of paper led him to an unexpected process of creating his own custom beater that processes and mills long-fiber paper pulp into the material he now uses in his artwork. “My sculptures start as totally 2-dimensional,” says Gentenaar, describing the process in which his organic forms come to life. As the wet pulp dries around the bamboo framework it begins to shrink and curl, “just as a leaf when it drys.”

Imagine this- a  hooked rug self portrait!  Stellar work by Wanda Kerr