JUROR'S STATEMENT
2010 SKIDMORE STUDENT EXHIBITION
SCHICK ART GALLERY

I Sat Down This Morning
I am an artist, a teacher and now a juror. The role of "judge" is not one I relish.
I think there are people better suited to this than I. As an artist, I have been and
continue to be on the other side of that dialogue/hierarchy often. Just two months
ago, the very same day it was announced that my work was selected for inclusion in
a major exhibition, I received a letter of rejection for another. This in turn made
me recall a time 17 years ago, when I submitted a piece to four juried exhibitions
in the course of several months. I was rejected three times and accepted and awarded
the top prize the fourth. Why? I don't know, different eyeballs? Probably.
I can't begin to count the number of times this sort of thing occurred in the years
in between. A lot. When I was rejected those three times, I wondered if the piece
was any good and I thought a lot about that. Somehow I believed the work was strong.
Someone agreed that fourth time, but it's also possible that someone may never have
agreed. I've had that experience too.
Strangely enough, as I sat down to write this statement, the television was playing
a documentary film called The Audition, which follows the proceedings of the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Awards.
I found the points of view of the "Grand Finalists" and jurors interesting. They spoke
not just of opera, but also of art. One juror after the next talked about what made
an artist. They all had their own way of phrasing it, but essentially agreed that
simply having a good singing voice was not enough, and that the importance lies in
having something to say, meaning what you say, saying what you mean, and communicating
it. Communicating it involves that combination of idea and practice, what we say and
how. A true honesty, honesty with ourselves can be hard to find. Are we trying to
prove something, working for approval or really honestly speaking/showing our minds?
These seem like dumb questions, but they're pretty hard.
In my selections for the show and the prizes, I am fairly certain I did not always
pick the work that demonstrated the most skill. There are several works in which I
saw tremendous technical skill, but not in everything I picked. I selected work that
I felt expressed and communicated a sense of strong point of view through the process
and product, medium and meaning, form and content. Among the work selected and refused,
I saw good, promising works, real skills, earnestness, ideas and passion. I think
every single one of you felt strongly about what you presented.
If you believe in what you do and have something to say, keep doing it. It's as
corny and as important as that. Be honest and analytical, listen and question, share
and show us. Pay attention to the beautiful and the ugly and what at first may appear
to be a failure. Work hard, show and tell it up close, not at a distance. It's all
in you, there to be tapped.
Dawn Clements
February 7, 2010
Brooklyn, NY
Schick Art Gallery