The Jury Process

Artwork awaits the juror's decisions.

The gallery received over 220 submissions from 81 artists for our first show- an overwhelming response from an enthusiastic and talented group. We were pleased and excited as we spread all the pieces out in the gallery to make sure that every one was able to be seen by Katherine French, our juror, and had just finished when she arrived.

Each juror’s process is different, as is their rationale and vision. As artists, we were very curious to see how the juror went about making her decisions, what criteria were used, and what factors were involved. The first thing she did was to stroll around the gallery to get a feel for the space and to get an overview of the work itself. The second time around, she looked carefully at each piece and compared multiple pieces by the same artist to choose the strongest work. As pieces were eliminated, our assistants carried them to the members’ room, leaving the remaining works in the gallery. Once the collection was pared down to a manageable level, the real challenge began- shaping the diverse pieces into a cohesive collection, so that each chosen work was displayed to best advantage.

This latter stage took the most time. We had thought our 2200 sq. ft. gallery was cavernous, and wondered how we’d fill it- surprisingly, we found ourselves wishing we had more room! We decided to build and install 3 more suspended panels in the gallery to add more wall space; this allowed us to hang quite a few more pieces.

Finally, the hardest choices were made; work that was of excellent quality, but just didn’t  fit, as much as the juror tried to include them, needed to be removed. At the end of the day, 117 pieces, roughly half of those received, were included in the show.

All those rejection emails we’ve gotten over the years have commented on the numbers of entries, the general quality of the work, and many factors involved in decision making. We learned that this is in fact the case- that in the end some very good pieces were eliminated and that very difficult choices had to be made.

The Gallery's Grand Opening Reception, our Birth-Day, is Saturday, February 5th, from 5-8 PM, in the gallery at 59 Fountain Street, Framingham, MA.  Please join us!

The 'unscripted' exhibition will be on view from January 27-February 27, 2011; stop by and see the results for yourself!