Living Colour Announcement

It has been a very intense week reviewing the 177 entries I received for Living Colour!,  selecting the finalists, preparing background statistics and notifying the entrants.  I am honoured that so many artists took up the opportunity to submit their work for consideration and deeply appreciate the time and creative energy that goes into such work.  For some entrants, it was their first time entering a juried exhibition and I understand this can be a little scary.  The exhibition would not be possible without the participation of all entrants.  I value their enthusiasm and support for this project.  Thank you to ALL entrants for offering your work.

Although I was able to increase the size of the exhibition to 32 works, I am keenly aware that a significant number of works were not  selected and this will bring some disappointment and discouragement.  I am not in a position to provide detailed critiques of individual entries (and don’t think this would be appropriate anyway) but I will be sharing some curatorial insights that I hope will be helpful and educative.  In the meantime, here is an observation about the role of a juror-curator:

I recently had a conversation with the director of a small museum who described putting together a show as creating a work of art from works of art. Like any good artwork, a show must have balance, the colors must make sense, and the overall composition must read well.

That the pieces are cohesive and flow from one to another in a way that complements them is paramount. A show that is not thoughtfully selected and hung with equal care and consideration is just a mismatched collection of pieces, and even if each one individually is superb the end result will not be successful. 

Leni Wiener, Chair, Exhibition Committee
Studio Art Quilt Associates

Quote used with consent. Leni also has some posts on entering juried shows and learning from rejection.

Against this background, it has been so exciting to compile a vibrant exhibition with a strong narrative. I am thrilled to announce the 32 artists over on the Living Colour website.
The exhibition will premiere at the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne, 10-13 April 2014 and a comprehensive website gallery will be published at that time.  Meanwhile, I will be sharing some preview detail shots of each of the selected works in a series of blog posts entitled A Glimpse of Living Colour.  I invite you to bookmark the blog feed www.livingcolourtextiles.com/feed in your preferred RSS reading app ; subscribe by e-mail by filling out the form at the top of the sidebar; or follow the Living Colour Facebook page to stay up to date.