Demystifying the Jury Process

By: Lisa Becker

I remember several years ago when I first applied to become a Juried Member of Best of Missouri Hands. I looked at my pictures, I thought they were pretty decent. Glass is hard to photograph and I had taken them myself. Sure, you could see just the edge of the pedestal but it was a white pedestal and the background was as white, plus, the judges would be looking at my fabulous glass anyway. Right?

Well, you can imagine with my jaded opinion that when I received my rejection letter I just couldn’t understand. I thought, “That Ellen Klamon, I’m going to talk with her and ask her what’s going on.” After all, even though I had the juror score sheets and feedback in my hands, it must be the jury chair at the time, Ellen Klamon, that had the final say on my rejection. Not so.

Allow me to tell you a little bit about how my position works as the Jury Chair. Now, I have received my share of shrapnel from artists that were not accepted. I knew that in accepting this position that I would be a main person that artists would vent to during the process and after. I’ve grown mostly thick skinned now as an artist and I can say with honesty, “I totally understand, I was rejected too the first time I applied” and we can go from there. The great thing about BOMH is that they are a mentoring organization and offer feedback on ways to make your work stand out more and be more professional.

As you know, we are in a digital age and all members submit their applications through Entrythingy. My job is to watch these applications come through and handle questions that arise from artists on what category to apply in for example. I also do my best in helping artists that are coming to terms with the digital age and may be struggling to upload images, etc. I will gently say though, depending on what your goal is as an artist, the paperless world is not going away. BOMH will do their best to walk artists through the process because that is just how we roll as a mentoring group. In the big bad world of shows and exhibits though, there is no hand holding, and a class in preparing computer files and JPEGS would be very beneficial.

So anyway, after all the applications come in and we check off that you have met the criteria in submitting all fees on time, a member for 90 days, etc.; I select a board of three jurors that represent knowledge on our applicants’ work. For example, if there are many applicants in the fiber category, then I will make sure at least one of the jurors is a professional fiber artist. One juror will also always be someone versed in all different types of artwork such as a gallery owner or arts administrator.

In watching the required presentation when applying for Juried Membership, you know that work is scored anonymously 1-5 across in the categories of Craftsmanship, Design, Originality, and Overall Presentation. My job at this point is to tell the jurors about those categories. Most specifically, I tell them to look at the work in an objective manner. If the work is religious in nature, and they are just not “into that,” they CANNOT let their personal feelings come creeping into their score sheet. In a stained glass piece, are the solder lines even and smooth because the artists is a precise craftsman and cuts glass with knowledge and skill to create a stable piece? Does the design flow aesthetically or does the nose in the painting of the woman appear “off?” Have you seen a lot of work like this before? Is it another photograph of an animal that is missing special lighting or an angle to make it exciting? Or is it original, the artist has literally captured such personality and emotion in the photograph that you feel like you are sitting in the field with that animal with a special private viewing into its world?

As the jurors make their marks on the sheets, they are encouraged to leave feedback for the artists that will help them grow as an art professional. The reason we select three jurors across different professional art categories is because we want a diverse group of experts to view the work and also, we know a juror will be more critical of work that they also work in. I know that even though I am observing the jury process and answering questions about material, size, etc., when I see glass artists come across the presentation, I scrutinize the work more than a watercolor artist because I know glass better than watercolor and I can find the “good marks” and “flaws” much easier. We also change the group of jurors each session to ensure the best amount of objectivity we can.

Years ago, after my rejection, I didn’t end up contacting Ellen Klamon. I did take a good look at the presentation of juried BOMH members because on my score sheets, presentation brought my scores down the most. I still take my own photographs but I make sure the glass is lit without glare and I use a consistent gradient backdrop. The second time I applied, I was accepted as a BOMH Juried Artist.