Last month I shared with you, in more or less real time, The Process of Creating Dreaming in Colour – my entry for for the Carrefour Européen du Patchwork/ European Patchwork Meeting 2014 contest- Imagine. I was drawn to this contest not for the substantial prize money on offer but the opportunity to have my work on tour for a year and, if I was really fortunate, the possibility of an all-expenses paid teaching trip to Japan. The jury (Olga Prins Lukowsky, Dr. Marina Blumin and Maryline Collioud-Robert), it seems, did not share my imaginings and Dreaming in Colour was not selected as one of the 43 finalists drawn from “the numerous entries we received from all over the world”:
Of course, non-selection prompts some reflection and this brings me to the theme of the 2015 EPM International Contest
Reflection: Get inspired by one of the various meaning of this word :
A portrait of an impression, memory, observation or likeness also of the mind, the eye, the light, and why not a mirror image …
Although my contest entry was not selected, I will still have THIRTEEN works on exhibition at the Carrefour Européen du Patchwork, Alsace, France:18-21 September 2014. I have twelve pieces in the Twelve by Twelve Colourplay exhibit and am curator/exhibitor of Australia Quilts – an invitational exhibition to showcase the diversity of Australian quiltmaking. AND I will be there too. Join me if you can!
Monica Johnstone says
I think you are right that the work is really good but may not have fit with the other work or the direction they were going. I suspect that you coming out and saying so will be empowering for those who are fearful of submitting.
Brenda Gael Smith says
The way I see it, you have to make work that fits your own voice. If it happens to fit a call for entry and/or an exhibit, that’s a bonus. Your work will never be selected if you don’t put it forward!
Ms Lottie says
Would love to join you! However, I don’t think it’s reality 😉
And I learnt so much from reading your posts about putting together the Living Colour! exhibition. It’s made me realise that half of the acceptance process is about making a cohesive exhibit and many top quality works are rejected because they don’t ‘fit’. I’d never really thought about that aspect before.
Brenda Gael Smith says
Not every exhibit is as strongly visually linked as the rainbow sequencing in Living Colour but creating a general flow is important for curators and sometimes otherwise fabulous works just don’t fit…
Uta Lenk says
Dear Brenda – I love your piece, and found it interesting to follow its development. Here, to soften your disappointment: I have been a member of the jury for the contest, and the year after that I was not included in the show… (And this year I managed to miss the deadline, although I had made a piece specificall for the competition. But that’s my own story.) I am looking forward to meeting you in Alsace – if you are a member of SAQA, I would like to invite you to come to the SAQA meet and greet on Friday for lunchtime. Just let me or the other representative for Europe, Elisabeth Nacenta de la Croix know (by the way, she won the trip to Japan last year!)
Brenda Gael Smith says
Thanks Uta. What a shame that you missed the deadline! I am a SAQA member and would love the join you at the meet and greet if I can (I am teaching on Friday and am not sure of the logistics). See you in Alsace!