Juror Gallery Talk Excerpts Frank Francese---Juror
“If you paint joyfully you will have a joyful painting”
When Frank began his gallery talk he
explained to us how the paintings were chosen for the 2005 Montana Water Media
Show. It begins when the juror receives a box of slides of watercolor paintings.
There
are basically a two steps to the process. First the juror reviews the slides and
then later views the actual pieces of artwork to choose the paintings that will
win the awards.
The view of a slide and the view of the
real item are quite different. It is difficult to judge the scale of a painting
as all images show the same size in a slide. As Frank finally juries a show he
looks for several things. First, good design then good paint quality and good
paper. The issue of presentation is everything. When in a competition, how well
you present your work is of utmost importance. Frank’s advice is to read the
prospectus and follow it closely. He
recommends single three inch white or off white mats and a simple frame. He says
“be classy, be proud of your work.”
Frank made observations on many of the
paintings in our show. I wrote down comments and looked for a common thread as
to how he chose a painting for an award. I will try to summarize his many
comments.
He encouraged us to notice the design
and composition and clear, clean presentation of Diane Schmidt’s painting
Dress Rehearsal, the translucency of paint, reflections of shadows in Carol
Hubbard’s Another Arrangement. Frank mentioned transparency of shadow and
unusual points of view in several of the paintings. He pointed out how the eye
travels through the painting by Silver Award winner Sy Ellens and talked about
“simple treatments”. He noticed “great shapes” and “big shapes” and
minimal simple backgrounds and in almost each painting he talked about
presentation.
After several comments he had us all
looking for “joyful painters” and it warmed my heart to see so many in the
Montana Watercolor Society’s 2005 Water media Exhibition.
submitted by Jan Stout
Diane Hausmann---MTWS President
Awards for Watermedia 2005
Gold
Award and Medallion
Diane Schmidt “Dress Rehearsal”
Silver
Award
Sy Ellens “Twin Lakes”
Bronze
Award
Cindy Brabec-King
“Laughter Is Golden”
MTWS
Founder’s Award
Carol McSweeney “Respecting The Elders”
MTWS
President’s Award (this award was selected by MTWS President Diane
Hausmann)
Carol Spurgeon “A Hopeful Wait, Clinic #6”
Nancy
Beelman Award
Louis Archambault “Double Falls”
Donald M. Harvie "Almost Showtime”
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