I feel honored to have been chosen to jury the Southwest Washington Regional Art Exhibition at South Sound Community College’s Leonor R. Fuller Gallery. Jurying this show was a curious process that allowed me a fascinating glimpse of the currents running through contemporary artwork in our region. Many of the works evoked strong emotions that are reflective of where we are in this moment. A lot of the work felt lonely, asked questions, or probed for connections. Others offered grounding through materials, composition, or connections to the earth or the body. There were a lot of very bright colorful works and interest in the qualities of brushwork and formal elements. Overall, the entries included more two-dimensional works and fewer three- dimensional works.
I accepted 48 out of 176 works submitted. I made several passes through and selected works that moved me, made me ask questions, or want to delve deeper into the piece in person. I assembled the images in a document to see how they looked together, and then I went through all the works again to choose additional pieces that resonated with what I saw bubbling up in the collection. I organized and re-organized the works looking for visual and/or thematic connections. All selected work has at least one other piece that serves as its companion by deepening a question, providing a complement, or grounding through repeated motifs, textures, and/or organization. No more than two pieces were selected from any artist with the exception of a couple who either entered a triptych or had pieces that served a special function in the show.
I’m looking forward to seeing the scale of these works next to each other. I am curious about how the pieces will interact once they are together in a three-dimensional space; much of the work that was entered was small, but there were a few larger pieces sprinkled in. I’m also fascinated by the many resonances there were in the works regarding emotion, subject matter, composition, and color palette. I’m very excited to see the works in person!
I want to congratulate the artists whose work made it into the show and encourage those who didn’t make it this year to continue making their work and applying for shows. Jurying is a very subjective undertaking, and there were excellent pieces that I didn’t choose because they didn’t fit with the overall show. I loved seeing the wide variety of art that exists in this region. I was very inspired by the large number of people who applied as well as the quality of the work presented.
Thank you, artists, and the Leonor R. Fuller Gallery committee, for this opportunity.
