Prizes and awards
I was thinking back to the Reston show last night, and an amazing thing happened there. All of the prizes (i.e. ceramics, glass etc.) were handed out based entirely upon the images that were submitted during the show’s jury process. To say that I was astonished would be an understatement. I simply don’t understand how you can award category prizes for excellence without seeing the actual work. If images of things were the things themselves, then we could have virtual art fairs that would deliver the same experience as a real show. I would argue that this is true of 2D work as well (with the possible exception of photography), a picture of a painting is not a painting.
As for 3D work, an image of the work flattens and captures only one side, and cannot reveal surface depth, and cannot allow the viewer to pick it up or see how it’s made. Craftsmanship is a big part of my work, it’s important to me, and it simply eludes the camera. This photographic veil in front of the work is a necessary evil in terms of the show’s invitation process, but it’s inexcusable to use photos as the basis for awards.
I can’t imagine what caused them to decide to do this (2009 was apparently the first year), but I hope that it was an abberation that will be reconsidered for future shows.
By the way, when I was at Gasparilla this year, the juror never even entered my booth to look at my work . Awards generally come with a check and an invitation to again display at the following year’s show, and customers regard the work differently based upon those awards (i.e “Best of Show”, “Award of Excellence”, “Best of Ceramics” etc.) . The award is a validation from a trusted source: the show and the art professionals doing the jurying. At shows like Gasparilla, their huge awards pool ($75K in 2009) is advertised to potential exhibitors as a significant benefit of doing their show. In my opinion, when the on-site juror’s don’t even look at all the work in the show the results are fraudulent, and it’s a kind of breach of contract. I believe that it’s the responsibility of the show director to instruct jurors to go into each booth and actually look at all of the work, introducing themselves and demonstrating a level of respect to the artists and craftspeople they meet.
I like to get awards as much as the next guy, but I don’t expect them. What I do expect is an equal shot. Who actually gets awarded in the end is based upon the opinions and biases of the jurors and that’s fine, but the underlying process must be designed for fairness.