Judgement Call
16mm by 12mm - Mosaic gold in sterling silver
$225 USD
One of the unusual things I've done in the past number of months is act as a juror for the Canadian Annual Mosaic Exhibition held this year in Edmonton, Alberta, my home town. I'd never been asked to be a juror before, so that was an honour, and being asked to judge a national show was also exciting.
I won't say it was easy, but it was enjoyable. There was work that spanned all levels and styles of mosaic making, and I was grateful that the organizers provided a comprensive scoring rubric. I admit wondered prior how this sort of thing would work; how would I score works that were in mosaic styles that aren't to my personal taste? How would I overcome bias for works that were from artists whose style I recognized or for work I just really personally liked ? Luckily, the score sheet solved that issue readily, because it wasn't about what I liked, but whether a mosaic embodied various merits. I found myself often awarding higher marks to mosaics that weren't something I "liked", and sometimes lower marks to ones that were more to my personal liking, but didn't quite score highly in certain categories. The whole experience was a huge eye opener to how much work and mental quandary goes into these types of juried shows!
After my individual scores were logged, they were then combined with the scores awarded by the two other jurors, and then we convened over Zoom to confirm the winners and the other works that got into the show. I felt we chose well, and that the work chosen for the exhibition was not only solid artwork, but represented a broad cross section of fine art mosaic.
So if you enter juried shows, chances are you get frustrated if your piece is rejected. Please understand it is not personal! Juried exhibitions are judged blind, and there is a very specific criteria that the jurors consider, without too much room for what they personally like. And remember, it's a numbers game—the artists who receive the most yesses also receive the most nos. Those artists are also likely the ones who are constantly striving for improvement in technique, in communicating their message, and in taking high quality photos of their mosaic work.
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