Juror's Statement

Jurying the 2020/21 COCC Student Art Exhibition has been both an honor and a privilege. I am impressed by the technical accomplishments and conceptual breakthroughs that the students at COCC show here. Bravo to all for participating.

Jurying a student show is always a difficult task. While we celebrate the most highly ambitious and accomplished pieces of this school year, there were many more pieces that could have easily advanced with a different juror.  While personal preference is always inherent in an evaluation, I stayed clear of the simple “I like” stance.  There were pieces eliminated that “I liked”, and pieces that were included that do not suit my taste or preferences in art.   So how did I make my choices?  I was looking for a combination of the following:  

1)    Is the artwork visually striking?
2)    Is the artwork something I’ve seen before or did the student add a unique interpretation?
3)    Does the artwork avoid clichés?
4)    Does the artwork speak of contemporary experience?
5)    While most artworks were part of a class project, does it hold together as an interesting and unique piece outside the context of the classroom.
6)    Craft and technical skill by itself are useful, but not enough. There is an abundance of beautifully created pieces of mundane art in the world, while some artists use low-craft and non-traditional materials to push an idea.  

Congratulations go out to the award winners.  Your work stood out and deserves recognition.

For those not selected, I encourage you to continue to believe in your process.  Clearly your teachers felt your work was notable by nominating you for the exhibition.  As an artist who has received thousands of rejection letters over the course of my career, I know the brutal blow of being eliminated.  My advice is to try to develop a thick skin for this kind of evaluation, especially if art is your passion.