April 12, 2014
Earlier this year I was honored to be selected as the sole juror for the 2nd annual photography competition held by The Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville, Tennessee. Open to anyone in the United States, the exhibition will run from from May 2 to May 31, 2014 at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville.
I was initially contacted by Suzanne Cada of the Arts & Culture Alliance/Emporium Center in early February 2014. I was recommended by Jeffery Stoner, a member of the Culture Alliance and a great photographer, whom I met in early 2013 at a seminar held by Asheville Art Museum in conjunction with the f/32 Group. The seminar was part of a day long fund raising event in which I participated as an instructor offering advice and new insights in the ever expanding vocabulary and technology of digital photography.
I had deliberated as to when to create a blog on this event. I concluded that it would be best to hold off until I made my decisions as to which pieces would be included in the upcoming exhibition. The role of an outside juror is to maintain objectivity, and therefore I felt it best to keep a distance, minimizing any influence save for my bio on the The Arts & Culture Alliance website.The contest was widely publicized with some 400 pieces submitted before the cut off of March 23, 2014. I had but a week to select up to no more that 50 photographs for exhibition so that the artists can be notified by April 7. Needless to say, with so many wonder photographs to choose from, it rattled my nerves to know that there was no possibility for everyone to have a work selected for the upcoming show.
Photographs could be entered into any of four categories. This included Our Earth, The Human Experience, Digital Imagination, and Travel. Curating such an event is no easy task, and it was necessary to abide by a number of criteria in deciding what images warranted consideration. This included the originality of each work, composition, technical excellence, impact, and artistic merit. This was the cheif rubric that I used, but I also considered vision, intent, appropriateness of the work’s technical applications and a series of other guidelines to help in the selection process. Stepping outside myself as a photographer, meeting only four of theses five criteria did not necessarily negate inclusion.
I will be in Knoxville on May 2nd to give a talk and to make the final judging for first place in each category as well as best of show. For a breakdown of the prizes being offered, visit knoxalliance.com. For more information on those selected, please go to the Arts and Cultures Alliance press release.
