Sharon and Christine in Alexander house show!

Sharons web site

Sharons Blog

Minutes from Chandra

WISCONSIN VISUAL ARTIST’S GUILD

July 15, 2010 Conference Room

Marshfield Clinic, Weston

Attendance: Christine Kysely, Pat Plunket, Sharon Dowis, Chandra Witter, Sharon Feathers , Sandy Krumpas, Laura Nelke, Pat Plunket, Sharon Rotz, Betsy Popp, Dennis Zopp,.Linda Langhoff, Robert Scheinona.

We enjoyed a lovely and lively meeting tonight. The purpose of this guild has always been to encourage artists to make, show and sell their artwork. We have doing so for a few years now. The purpose of our meetings is to hear from and encourage each other. Our meetings will also educate, enlighten, support, and familiarize our members by sharing and communicating our experiences and resources. Watch for post cards for upcoming meetings and please participate so that we all may shape and expand our opportunities. Please plan to attend, WE NEED YOU!

Reminder! WVAG meetings are held at the clinic on the third Thursday of the month.

Welcome to our newest member, Linda Langhoff! Glad to meet you, Linda!

Congratulations to all of the artists whose work was accepted for “Culture and Agriculture”, New Visions Gallery, Marshfield:

Sharon Dowis

ChandraLyn

Rick Eyre

Cindy Markowski

and “Northern National”, Nicolet College, Rhinelander:

Sharon Dowis

ChandraLyn

Rick Eyre

and “Visions”, Riverfront Art Gallery, Steven’s Point:

Sharon Dowis

Sharon Rotz

Sharon Feathers

Announcement: Christine Kysely and Sharion Rotz will be having a show at The Alexander House, late August, featuring Sharon’s fiber art and Christine’s stitched jewelry creations. Congratulations!

Laura Nelke: Giving private lessons and teaching in Colorado. Brought lots of info on getting your work into galleries to share.

Betsy Popp: “Spent lots of money and got nothin’” So she says… Betsy sold two paintings this last show. Woohoo! We sure miss you, Betsy!

ChandraLyn: Not making any art but remodeling my house. Wish me luck!!

Christine Kysely: In facebook heaven!! Getting ready for the Alexander House.

Sharon (#1) Dowis: Had cataract surgery and is feelin’ fine! Waiting to hear from Richmond, VA on artwork with graffiti. Good luck, Sharon!

Sharon (#2) Rotz: Sold a piece, made $28 and got a ribbon. Awesome, Sharon!!! Working on a new quilt.

Sharon (#3) Feathers: Enjoying Summer, recently won 3 awards, including Juror’s Choice at “Visions”. Sold some art, too! Way to go!

Pat Plunket: No new hair cut this time but finished up some sculptures and working on the last of his commissioned pieces. We learned that Pat and Sharon Feathers graduated together but didn’t know each other in high school. Small world!

Dennis Zopp: Brought his trademark enthusiasm to the meeting! Still teaching some and will teach a pottery class, that is if they have a wheel ;) I’m still trying to figure out “double developed and reticulated”!

Sandy Krumpos: “Trying to think outside the box” You go, girl!

Featured Speaker, Laura Nelke, Watercolorist: Laura talked to us about putting together a portfolio for presenting to a gallery. I will just hit the highlights here because there was a lot of information in addition to all of the handouts Laura and Betsy handed out.

Six Mistakes Artists Make When Creating a Portfolio

1: Presenting inconsistent bodies of work

2: Producing insufficient work to sustain a gallery

3: Delivering portfolio in a format difficult for the gallery to look at.

4: Lacking confidence and consistency in pricing

5: Approaching the wrong gallery

6: Submitting art through the wrong channels

…and now, completely out of context.

(Some funny things overheard at the meeting.)

Shhhhhh… don’t tell Betsy!

Do you just keep those things on the top of your head for decoration?

Who could possibly change in 50 years?

I’m so excited! I feel Like Betsy Popp!

I hate when that happens!

Curl up in a fetal position and suck my thumb!

It’s not you…

What are you doing reading this? Go make some art!!!!!

Respectfully submitted by ChandraLyn.

Minutes from meeting

CLICK HERE to get the copy of the Meeting Minutes from June 2010

Great stuff!!

Entry Forms

New format for getting entry forms, much better than essentialy downloading pictures of the scanned forms that we were doing.

Now they are on a scribd site and able to be downloaded in a much clearer cleaner format..

Click Here for entry form for LONG SHADOWS

Click Here for "Just Say Cheese 2010"

Click Here for "Colorama 2011"

Click Here for "Cat Tails and Flowers 2011"

Click Here for "All Creatures 2011"

Let me know of you have any problems with the form,s and I will make sure you get them

Rick

Lighter Than Air 2010 Winners Announced!

Congratulations to the following members ......

Best of Show .....

Pat Gaska ...... "Earth & Sky 3" ..... Fiber

Runner-up Best of Show .....

Sharon L. Dowis ...... "Mammatus Clouds" ... Digital Photography

Embodiment of Spirit ........

(Judge's Choice)

Sharon Feathers ... "The Road Home" ... Digital Photography

Awards Of Excellence

Pat Gaska ........ "Earth & Sky 2" .... Fiber

Betsy Popp ........ "Mourning Nest" ..... Wood Burning - Hand Colored

Honorable Mentions

Jean Huntoon ...... "On The Second Day" ... Watercolor

Betsy Popp .... "Winter Passage" .... Pastel

Douglas Beasley Speaking in Rhinelander

The person who wrote the "Judging Shows" column below is speaking in Rhinelander.

Check it out!

I will be coming to the Central/NW Wisconsin area to teach the photo workshop "Zen & the Art of Photography" at Rhinelander School of the Arts from July 25 to 30. Please come and join us!

About Judging Photo Shows.........

Jurying the MN State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit

By Douglas Beasley
 Yesterday (8/10/09)

I judged the photography competition for the 2009 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit. As the sole judge in the photo category this was an overwhelming task with over 1,100 entries that needed to be narrowed down to just 107. That’s less than nine percent of the entries making the cut! Although honored to have been chosen to be the judge this year, it is made even more difficult because I was suffering jet lag after returning from Italy late the night before.

Walking through the room with the photos laid out on the floor along the walls told me there was going to be a lot of very enticing images to have to choose from but also that many will be easy to eliminate. 
With the help of several volunteer assistants, my first undertaking is to remove as quickly as possible all entries that are visually or technically poorly executed. This is to avoid further visual overload and to save energy for the hard choices I know lay ahead. Poorly executed unfortunately often means very bad digital printing. With good Epson photo printers starting under $200 it is probably more due to lack of experience and judgment discerning print quality than a technical issue.

I also try and look closely at the small prints that seem well executed so they don’t get lost among the giant oversized works that scream out at you. Small intimate works can easily get overlooked and I really try and see the intent and value in each piece. Almost half the photos have now been sent away! 
 Usually I also take into account presentation but have been asked to overlook matting and framing choices, since not everyone can afford that and to base my choices purely on the photograph itself. This is the only guideline I have been given by the State Fair. I try, but much of the wildly ‘creative’ framing and colorful mats, carefully chosen to match the colors in the photo and often double or triple matted really get in way of the photograph. I wish people realized how distracting this is and how much it detracts from, rather than enhances, their image. If only they could visit a few museums or galleries that are not in malls and that don’t start with “Thomas” or end with “Kinkade” or that don’t feature duck art, I think it might really help.

Access to real galleries is where people who live in the metro area have a distinct advantage over the rural population. A mediocre photograph is not made any better by a colorful mat and ornate frame. It is in fact, much worse, sometimes even offensive. 
My next task was to eliminate typical or trite responses to clichéd subjects, way too many cute kittens, cute kids and old barns. I have nothing against kids, kittens or nostalgia but cute gets old quickly when looking at over 1,100 framed images and nostalgia doesn’t replace vision, craft, soulfulness or insightfulness. Cute or nostalgic simply aren’t enough to carry a photo under this level of competition. Use that as a starting point in going deeper and maybe we are getting somewhere. And if you are going to choose subjects, including flowers, that many others are going to submit nearly identical versions of, please try and find a more unique or personal way of interpreting your subject. I suggest to my very helpful assistants that they should consider having a whole separate exhibit, hopefully in a building far away, for the hopelessly cute including any photo where your first reaction is “Awe.” It would probably be a very popular State Fair destination but you won’t find me there unless there is something very tasty on a stick on the other side and no other way to get there.


Another category with a lot of entries is travel. These span the globe from nice vacation snapshots to some very insightful beautiful photographs. I feel bad eliminating anyone’s favorite travel shot or the amazing sunrise or sunset because I love that they stopped and noticed. I know their friends or relatives told them it was a great shot and I’m sure the experience of being there was great but it is usually the place or moment that is significant, not their photographic record of it.

The choices of what to eliminate so far have been fairly easy and instinctual and I am confident in my choices. From previous experience, I know that now the real work begins…
My criteria for selection includes concept, execution, creativity and exemplary implementations of a wide range of styles or genres. The most important criteria for me would be emotional impact: what makes the viewer think, or even more, feel. That quality of ‘emotional impact’ is, of course, completely subjective and up to me to interpret. I try to be as objective as possible while also fully realizing that true objectivity is impossible. I recognize many of the photographers by style, content or because they have signed their name on the front. Many of these people are my friends, my colleagues, and my students. How can I be objective about someone’s photo when I know their strengths and weakness, their vulnerabilities, their struggles, their growth and compare that to the photo of somebody I don’t know? I try to be objective but I simply don’t think it’s possible, at least for me. It was much easier when I judged shows in Alaska and Hawaii where I didn’t know hardly any of the photographers. I think maybe the State Fair should bring in judges from outside Minnesota to avoid this dilemma. 


Jurying is mostly selection by elimination. I need to take into account balancing how many images in a given genre (i.e. nature, wildlife, documentary or digital composite) are accepted so the exhibit shows a balance and range of different methods of working with the medium and ways of seeing. In the end it is more about trusting my instincts, but there still is a lot of second-guessing myself. In the final selection there are a few that didn’t make it that now, in retrospect, I think should have. If your photo was rejected please know that it was definitely one of these. There were also a couple I think now, in retrospect, shouldn’t have made it in and I agonize over these decisions. Another day or another time there might be different choices but that is always the case. Today I stand by these choices. I also feel for all those that chose to honor moments in their lives by making a photograph. Who am I to now diminish that moment by saying it’s not good enough to stand with these other moments submitted by those more accomplished, more experienced or more sophisticated photographers or alongside the hundreds of professional and commercial photographers who also chose to enter the fair? 


Now we are down to at least 250 or 300 photographs, all strong and all very deserving of a place in the show. And I have to still eliminate two thirds of these! If you have made it this far you should know that your work is good but there simply isn’t room to include all of these in the show. To narrow it down to 107 it is no longer about what is better than something else but what appeals to me at this time, this day, this point in my life, my career. But are these really the ‘best’? No, there is no such thing in art. These are my favorites and I leave it at that. It also becomes about having a well-rounded show with many styles and genres represented. 
 Picking the first through fourth place and merit awards is by far the hardest part of the day for me. With jet lag swirling through my body and the sensation of my blood turning to cement I am temporarily unable to continue.

I ask that all possible candidates for awards be lined up against the back wall but I simply can’t choose. I want to just give them all an equal designation of ‘my favorites’ and walk away, but winners must be chosen. The task is made harder and more complicated by the fact that I know at least half of the award contenders personally and a couple of them are very close friends. I consider eliminating any awards to friends. I consider only giving friends ‘honorable mention’ status. But either of these choices would be doing their work and them a disservice. I walk away again to try to clear my head and gather energy.

When I return I talk with the exhibit director and with several of my helpers about my dilemma in making awards to friends. They both help me realize that I just have to give the awards to what I feel is the strongest and most powerful work, no matter whose it is. 
Even though overall I love my choices, I am haunted by a couple images that made the final cut that I let outside factors influence me (who they are, what their previous work is like, their standing in the photo community) and a couple that didn’t make it in that I think I made a mistake on. When I go back the next day I tell the Fine Art committee I think have made a mistake at the last minute by impulsively, under pressure, cutting the photo of a man with a red white and blue straw hat the says “Made In China” on it. Is this photo ‘better’ than many of the other much more ‘fine art’ photos rejected? No, but it has made an impact on me and it is one I want others to see, probably more for the wry political commentary than anything artful, yet it is well done technically and aesthetically. They let me add it back in! Now we have 108, what some say is an auspicious number; the same as the number of prayer beads on a Tibetan Buddhist mala. Perfect. 


If your photo didn’t get into the State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit it is important to remember that less than one out of eleven photos were accepted, due to space limitations. It was the highest number of entries ever. Out of the eleven hundred images, many by well known artists and accomplished professionals, I thought there were about three hundred strong enough to be in the show and still only one third made it in. Your job is to make it to that top three hundred. If you didn’t make it that far (and I wish there was a way for people to know) you probably need to work on developing your vision and craft. If you did make it into that top three hundred, from there it is up to the taste and whims of the judge.

There are many factors that influence the judging that have nothing to do with the quality or artistic merit of your work: the judge’s taste, how many similarly themed entries there were, the need of the judge to create a well rounded show reflecting many sensibilities. There were some very good photos that didn’t make the final cut and every time I had to eliminate one of these it hurt. Undoubtedly there were also excellent entries that somehow got overlooked in the chaos of the sheer mass of submitted images (or the apparent blindness, ignorance or poor taste of the judge).

I think it is the job of the photographer to submit a photo with a strong enough vision coupled with a high level of execution to be in the top tier but also true to the photographer’s individual vision. Submit images that you feel most passionate about, not ones that you think will get in. From there it is anybody’s guess as to the whims of fate that year.

-
Douglas Beasley Saint Paul, Minnesota


www.douglasbeasley.com www.VQphoto.com dbeasley2@me.com http://douglasbeasley.blogspot.com/