Mayor's Art Show 2005

2006 Show Coming Soon

2006-06-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's almost time for the 2006 Mayor's Art Show!

Jurors are being choosen, however some important dates have begun to be finalized:

Art intake day: Monday August 28th.

Opening Ceremonies: Thursday September 7th.

A printable submission form will be available on the Jacobs Gallery website in the next coming weeks. Update will also be posted here.

Continuing Article Round Up

2005-09-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, the Register Guard ran a review of the Mayor's Art Show along with a review of the Salon, written by Bob Keefer:

[in reference to Rosalie Juhl's "Living in Creative Process"] But this is the first time the mayor's show - an annual Eugene rite occasionally accused of stuffiness - has incorporated a live human being as an artwork.

The Eugene Weekly has an excellent View Point written by fellow juror Mike E. Walsh.

What we still need, desperately, is a stronger sense of our own artistic history as a city. We need a sense that art made in Lane County can emerge from the sphere of private lives (whether those of artist, collector, or their friends) and take on a meaningfully public, historical dimension. What this means is a commitment to the ongoing preservation and re-examination of art exhibitions, particularly those in the non-profit sector, to mount analytical and critical historical exhibits. Finally, we must encourage the publication of exhibition catalogs, books and articles that document and examine the work presented.

Last week's Eugene Weekly featured Sylvie Pederson's more ample review of the Salon.

Interestingly she picks up on a point that cause some discussion among us jurors, the role of giclee prints and computer printing in the art world:

Under the label photography, snapshots abound, some of them poor inkjet prints, others digitally enhanced to look like paintings, a trend I fear will only grow. Sometimes the word photograph refers to a digital collage of found images — a definite misnomer. Painters, sculptors and professional photographers provide us with a precise indication of the media and methods they use. To be taken seriously, providers of digital images need to follow suit.

Giclée prints of original works are becoming popular, but I feel cheated where I expect an original, as with Annette Gurdjian's Two Women Kissing, which is a reproduction of a very strong painting over a photograph. Gurdjian says the original was sold, but she likes the painting so much she made a copy, which is also more affordable for many people.

Getting Ready for the Preview

2005-09-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

I really need to put my signed off version of this up!  
Turns out I have better than perfect vision... 20/15.
I have to give a big thanks to Dr. Carpenter at the campus
Rainbow Optics for helping me out with this joke.


Tonight is the first ever preview event of the Mayor's Art Show
and the Salon de Refuse.

Tickets are available at the door for $25.

Come join us!

The Day After: Love Notes and Thank You's

2005-09-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

I came home from jurying Wednesday and gave Steve the spousal priviledge of hearing about my judging. After venting at him for a good hour or so, I finally let him respond. "So, when are you going to tell me about what you picked?" he asked.

The ones that got away had stuck to me. Am I being overly defensive, am I feeling guilty? Maybe. I think its just part of the process for me of chewing on my selections, of checking myself for my predilections.

Looking through the art work I became aware of several operational modes that I employed.

If I was familiar with an artist, I was often more critical of their artwork.
I would find myself asking if I had seen better artwork of them. In most of the cases the answer was yes, and they didn't receive my vote. Interestingly, the case was often that Mr. Vitri and Mr. Walsh ended up giving these artworks in question their votes, thus giving the artwork a place in the show.

Art work completed in a style or medium similar to artwork I have made, were given a more critical eye for detail.
Some may think that this is a given with judging, but I have recalled moments where as a submitting artist, I have looked up further information on a juror of a show I wanted to be accepted in. Perhaps I simply wanted to know more about the juror, but I bet that I was also interested in what style of art interested them. As a juror, I found myself wanting more expressive, more unique art... aspects that I identify with in my artmaking- which isn't to say that I was looking for art similar to what I make. If a piece of art approached a medium I am accutely familiar with, I picked it up, fondled the piece and often found I had seen better and didn't think it was the best in quality of work. I enjoyed several of the works that fit in this category, but could see that there was much growing and developing yet to happen with the artwork.

Art work in a bad frame, or distasteful frame was not viewed favorably by me.
On one hand I can hear the arguement that it shouldn't matter what the frame looks like- its the art that counts. However, if you choose to frame an artwork, that structure becomes part of the art and is the art. If it is not the best quality, then it isn't the best of quality and I found myself moving on to the next piece. Shoddy framing indicates a lack of completion and a lack of care about the art. With some artwork this may be the calculated intended effect- however the artwork in the submissions with bad framing just struck me as that: bad framing.

The art submitted to the Mayor's Art Show was fantastic! If this was a cocktail party- it wouldn't be breaking up till the wee morning hours. Looking through all of the submissions was such an honor; I can already tell I'll feel myself twitching to get a glimpse next year with out juror's privilege. Not to mention I admitted today to wanting to already start on art specifically for Mayor's Art Show consideration next year!

Many artworks I was charmed by or interested in did not get accepted to the Mayor's Art Show. I took photos of details of several of them and plan on scrapbooking them here just in case the art doesn't make it into the Salon. In the capacity of good cop, bad cop, I can blame the size of the Jacob's Gallery... it simply isn't large enough to hold all of my choices. The process of spending time with the non-admitted works as I wrote my thank you notes, really impressed onme the importance of the Salon. It is not simply the show of rejects. It's the overflow room. It's a secondary set of conversations. It's an opportunity for established artists to be a good example to other non-admitted artists and the viewing public in general, when their city-know art is not accepted into the Mayor's Art Show.

But most of all, the Salon is fuel to the whispered sentiments of
... who the heck are these jurors and what do they know about art?

I'm really looking forward to the preview night!

Jurying Day Two

2005-08-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

Todays efforts were to finalize the selection of art to go into the Mayor's Art Show. I think its fitting to reveal more details about how the selction process happens (as that is one of the points of this journal!).

Yesterday, on the first day of jurying, the jurors worked independantly selecting 50-60 pieces each out of the 444 submitted. We recorded our votes on an information sheet that contained the title, number code (instead of artist name), medium and price of the art work. We also visually marked the artwork with a color post-it note, each juror having their own color. Works that receive two or more votes move to be considered in the second round of viewing. In addition to the flagging with post-it notes, each juror is allowed to "star" a selection meaning it was guarenteed of moving to the second day of jurying for consideration.

I had a slight advantage in yesterday's jurying process in that I was the slowest juror. Both Mr. Vitri and Mr Walsh had finished flagging their art works with post-it notes by the time I finally started my flagging. This caused me to adjust my art selection ever so slightly... if an art work I had marked on my sheet had already received two votes, I chose to apply my vote to a different piece. Sowing my wild oats of hope of selection if you will.

However, as I tried to fall asleep the night of the first day of jurying, I realized I just set myself up for soo many more choices. I had to remind myself that this was a good thing. It had spread hope to more artworks.

Enough about day one... lets talk about day two!

Mayor Kitty Piercy came to have breakfast with us at the Jacob's Gallery this morning. This was a wonderful event that flew by too quickly! Mayor Piercy had free reign to pick out a piece of art from the submissions to enter into the show as a special Mayor's Pick. Her thoughts on selecting an art work as the Mayor were wonderful and simply stated: several works touched her as works she would like to live with, but she was interested in picking art for the city of Eugene.

I am proud of Mayor Piercy's chosen artwork, however I am sworn to secrecy about the work itself! So many people and artists will be specifically pleased with her selection (yes, that is an awkwardly vague comment, I'll expand on my opinions after the choice is revealed officially). I can't tell you yet what she picked, but I can let you in on a hint: if you want to know before everyone else what the Mayor picks... volunteer for the Jacob's Gallery or become a patron. That way you will be invited to breakfast with the Mayor next year. Then you will be the one with the secret. Another hint? You can see her selection in the images I posted in yesterday's entry. Hmmm, maybe that was more like teasing than a hint...

Overnight, Tina tabulated our selections from day one and we found that 36 works had received a star or a vote of two or more. Being the easy going jurors that we are, we decided before walking back into the room of art that these would automatically go into the Mayor's Art Show. We approximated that this would leave us with 25 more artworks to choose.

We walked together around the room and casually talked about our flagged works. In this walk through the room we choose several more art works. Then we each set out on our own to select several more pieces, in effect we gave ourselves the ability to star works to advance into the show. And before we knew it we had 61 pieces of artwork selected.

Did everything I like get in? No. Do I like every piece of artwork that is in the show? Maybe not. However, I take these as indicators that we as jurors were able to act somewhat independently at times. Not everything was agreed on in consensus. We had a couple of instances where we lobbied each other for the inclusion of an artwork. Sometimes it worked and the art was then flagged as going into the show, and sometimes it didn't advance the artwork in question.

Jurying 444 works of art was a mouthful... and I'm still chewing.

Jurying Day One

2005-08-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

You know what I got to see today? 444 pieces of artwork submitted for the 2005 Mayor's Art Show. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but today's job was fun. Today was about feeling the excitement of seeing all of this great art! Today was about the power of giving someone a chance at an art show. Today was about discovering more in depth how my inner art critic works.

The jurying is a two day process. Today each juror picked 50-60 pieces of artwork. This helps narrow down our field of contenders for tomorrow's judging. This initial pick of art work was individual. We each wandered around the room with a clip board of the number, title, medium and price of the artworks in the room.

In addition to myself, the juror's in this process are:

Dom Vitri, B.A. Kilks Professor of Law at the University of Oregon. Prof. Vetri teaches Gay and Lesbian Legal Issues and Torts. He has won the UO's prestigious Burlington Northern Award and the Law School's Orlando John Hollis Faculty Teaching Award. Vetri is a strong advocate for the arts and has been active in establishing a rotating exhibit gallery on the second floor of the UO Law School building.

Mike E. Walsh, Eugene Installation/Assemblage Artist. Walsh is a former Northwest contributing editor for Artweek. Walsh has juried/curated over 20 regional exhibitons including: Artquake, Portland, Western Biennial, Denver Art Museum and Monumental Works, Eugene. He has exhibited his own work widely and was a featured artist of Oregon Art Beat in November 2004.

Click on the photo to see more images of the artwork as grouped in Studio One in the Hult Center.

Our instructions as jurors stated that our "task is to select an exhibiton that will celebrate the high quality and diversity of work being done by artists currently residing in Lane County".

I took this to heart, which ment I didn't simply pick what I thought were the prettiest works to choose from. I also didn't simply pick works from artists whose work I am familiar with.

I believe a lot of grumbling about the Mayor's Art Show (and yes, of course there will be grumbling this year too) stems out of frustration with the lack of reflected diversity. I finally understood this today as I looked through the art works. My related frustrations as a submitting and rejected artist have focused on the selected artworks as being characteristically: large and paintings. Looking through the Studio One image set from today, can you see how it is that large works often predominate?

Excuse me for this admission, but this juror did have an agenda of sorts once she set her eyes to the task at hand. Two main objectives: to not overlook small works, and to strive for diversity in my art picks.

Going through 444 art works is no small task! I promised myself that in my first round of looking, I would view each art work for at least 4 seconds. This almost sounds crass, but the math adds up: this is strictly 30 minutes of non-stop art viewing, not even including transition time between art, that some works are multiple pieces and that some artworks are more interactive in their nature.

The art work in Studio One is grouped by media and with a subgroup here and there by size. Looking through the art of this first day I developed some rough additional categories. Quotas, if you will, that fall within the artscape:

Illustration
Landscapes
Environment
Self Portrait
Portraits
Religious
Humorous
Furniture
Politic
Music
Gender Politics
Found Object
Amateur/Innocence
Abstract

The above categories wrote themselves. Eugene can produce a diverse group of tasty art. We are music lovers who are striving to find our fit in politics and attempting to define the human experience as channeled through gender. We love our dogs and cats and often frame them as humans. We are our landscape: lush, tidal and often clearcut. We love a good coffee table to commeorate a beautiful tree.

And did I mention that we are the art ourselves?

Interview with a Juror

2005-08-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

Please describe how you stay actively involved in the arts.

Eugene is a great area for art viewing and art showing. I strive to stay active in the arts on both fronts, as an artist, and as an appreciator of the arts.

I work on the University of Oregon campus in the Westerfield Lab in the Institute of Neuroscience. In this capacity I am able to keep my tie to the University, even after having completed my degree work in Biology in 1997. This University position gives me a great vantage point from which to keep abreast of the University art community. The University has several rotating art galleries of varying sizes on campus and the recently reopened Schnitzer Art Museum to keep me visually occupied.
Also, I have been fortunate to take the occassional art class through the University's staff rate program that encourages University employees to take classes at reduced tuition rates. My University connections been a great way to keep my brain buzzing with a constant feed of artistic inspirations.

This year marks my beginning journey in viewing what happens "behind the curtain" of the art gallery. I am serving on the Jacob's Gallery Steering Committee, which is giving me a valuable insight into funding discussions and committee work. I'm realizing that many cogs are required to make the art scene of Eugene work. This role as a Mayor's Art Show juror is another step in this journey.

As a professional artist yourself, what advice would you give to aspiring artists who want to market their art?

The first step to fulfill as an aspiring artist, is to make sure you are creating the best art you can at this moment in your life. Before you market your art, it has to be honestly the best art you can make. Your time as an artist is one of your most valuble assets, so use it to your fullest potential and make art you are truly proud of. Anything is possible in the art world, as long as it is done well.

Also, to successfully market your art, an artist can't be afraid to fulfill details of the business side of the art market. This means creating a top notch visual presense, for your art and yourself as an artist. Be able to clearly state who you are as an artist and what your art is. Create a stunning presentation of your art in the form of a portfolio or online gallery. Make information about you and your
artwork as easily accessable as possible.

A final crucial piece of advice for artists striving to market their work, is to be able to ask for help from those in the art world. Be it gallery owners or successful Eugene area artists, there are many worlds of wisdom when it comes to marketing art in the Eugene area. Artists shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel in this realm of living and working as an artist.

What excites you most about the Lane County arts scene?

Lane County has a great mix of artistic flavors. The proximity of the University has great potential for infusing Lane County's arts scene. I've seen the excitment that is generated in the studio classes on campus and love catching traces of this energy as it trickles through out Lane County. Even better is that the University is like an ever constant fountain of youth in regards to its art vigor. Each year overflows with new arts students, each teaming with potential. The trick is, how to tap into this novice energy; to bring the excitment and learning of a studio experience and mix it with the wisdom of long time practicing artists. I would love to see more of an exchange between these artist groups.

Please describe your experience as a juror, what the role of juror means to you, and what type of shows you have recently juried.

Acting as a juror for this year's Mayor's Art Show is my first formal capacity in the role of a juror. Though I have to admit, I've informally juried several Mayor's Art Shows... in my volunteer shifts as an art handler! Working the volunteer shift of receiving artworks or handing back non-admitted pieces provides a wonderful opportunity for ones own private jurying process. I've even written up lists of artworks that resonnated with me, to compare to the juror's final selection of artworks. Every year I am surprised by the similarities and the differences in the final pick of arts to be in the Mayor's Art Show.

Part of being an artist is the roving eye that takes in everything art related around you. Every art show I attend is "juried" and critiqued in my mind as I view it. Every art journal I read is thoroughly digested and checked against my own internal aesthetic. I continually create and update my own personal aesthetic by digesting the art around me.

What are your aspirations as a juror for the 2005 Mayor's Art Show?

As a juror, I hope to catch some of Lane County's unrealized gems in what is the Mayor's Art Show dragnet. The Mayor's Art Show has many flavors swirling around its reputation... it can reveal new artists, highlight established treasures, create a city-wide chuckle (remember the paint test art work of stripes outed in the Comic News?). It can also push one to try harder for next year; it can invoke the harshest
inner critics of an artist's mind.

I have seen such a variety of reactions to the assembled Mayor's Art Shows of years past. I aspire to be transparent in my selection of artworks with no juror-mystique attached. I can only approach the variety of artworks submitted with my own personal preferences and the goal to work with the other jurors to narrow down the field of entered artworks to a body of work that will fit in the gallery. I hope to share the jurying process with any who are interested so that hopefull artists can see that jurying is not a condemnation of non-selected artworks.

Special Preview Event

2005-08-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight...the first ever Mayor's Art Show sneak peak! Come see the chosen art pieces before opening night. Juror's on hand to explain how they decided. This DIVA/Jacob's Gallery fundraiser begins at the Salon de Refuse and then procedes to the Mayor's Art Show.

When: Thursday. Sept 8th 5:30pm
Where: DIVA, continuing on to the Jacob's Gallery at 6:30pm
Ticket Price: $25, tickets for sale at the door.

Special Ticket Price: volunteer for the Jacob's Gallery or DIVA or become a financial supporter of either gallery and purchase a sneak preview ticket for only $15.

On Thursday, September 8, beginning at 5:30pm, an exciting evening event designed to answer the ever-pressing question "How did the jurors decide?" will precede this year's Mayor's Art Show. With the directors of both the Mayor's Art Show and the Salon des Refuses, as well as the Mayor's Art Show jurors present, viewers will hear the inside perspective on the structure of this impressive show and the jurors' personal selection processes, while having direct access to view the artwork being discussed.

The event will begin at DIVA at 5:30pm, with a representative from DIVA and the Salon des Refuses discussing the history of the Salon in relation to the Mayor's Art Show. Around 6:30pm participants will then walk over to the Jacob's Gallery, where the director of the Mayor's Art Show and the jurors will offer their insight on the selection process. Both galleries will be catered and presenting live music.

Tickets for this special preview event are available to all. General Admission is $25, and $15 for supporters and volunteers of the Jacob's Gallery and of DIVA. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 541-485-2278 by Thursday, August 25, 2005. Proceeds will benefit both DIVA and the Jacob's Gallery.

The Mayor's Art Show and the Salon des Refuses are symbiotic events. This special preview will display the connection between both shows and give a behind-the-scenes taste of a juried exhibition. Come join us!

Be Your Own Judge of the Mayor's Art Show

2005-07-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

Have you submitted art to the Mayor's Art Show before? Are you curious about how the show really works? Would you like a first glimpse of all the art entered to the Mayor's Art Show even before the judges see it?

If you would like to get a glimpse of all the art entered in the mayor's art show, all you have to do is sign up to be a volunteer. The average volunteer shift is 2 1/2 hours. Each volunteer date has several shift times available. The location for all of these volunteer events is the Jacob's Gallery located in the Hult Center.

Please note, to facilitate shift transistions, we ask that volunteers be able to arrive 15 minutes early for each of their assigned shifts so that the leaving shift volunteers can give you spot training on the specific tasks of your particular volunteer time.

Volunteer Dates:

Saturday, August 27th: Art Intake Day
Help receive the art to be submitted to the Mayor's Art Show.

Tasks include: receiving paperwork from the artists, collecting submitted artworks.

Shifts: 10:30am - 1pm, 1pm - 3:30pm, 3:30pm - 6pm.

Monday, August 29th: Art Set up for Jurors
This is a great opportunity to see the submitted art before it is even judged!

Tasks include: carefulling moving the artworks, and double checking that artworks have proper identifications to be matched to artists at a later time.

Shifts: 10am - noon, noon- 2pm.

Wednesday August 31th: Greeters for Mayor's & Jurors' Breakfast
Actually, I'm not sure what the duties for this set of shifts are exactly. Though a benefit is that you'll get to see selected artworks for the Mayor's Art Show and also, Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy will be in attendence.

Shifts: 8am - 10am, 10am - noon.

Friday September 2nd: Art Pickup Day
Pickup Day is an exciting day to volunteer. There are two main areas that require volunteer help on this day: contract signing for artists of accepted art, and artwork pickup of non-admitted artworks.

Tasks: depending on area you are helping with... retrieval of art works from the large collection of art submissions, filling out receipts of artwork pickup, meeting artists whose work has been selected, assisting contracts for Mayor's Art Show selections.

Shifts: 10:30am - 1pm, 1pm - 3:30pm, 3:30pm - 6pm.

Thursday, Friday & Tuesday - Thursday, September 1st,2nd, & 6th,7th,8th: Art Installation
This is a great behind the scenes glimpse of how to hang art for an art gallery. If you've ever wondered about the prep work done to present a show of artworkm this is a volunteer opportunity not to be missed! Work with Jacob's Gallery Exhibit Designer, Susan Detroy as she assembles the variety of artworks into a cohesive show.

Tasks: paint prep, moving of artwork, assisting in lighting set up, and attending to final show details.

Shifts: 9am - 3pm for each of the above listed dates (Sept 1st,2nd,6th,7th,and 8th).

Friday September 9th: Opening Ceremony and Reception
This night is sure to be a busy and packed night!

Tasks: volunteers needed to be greeters and gallery guides, assisting in finding particular artworks, answering general questions about the Mayor's Art Show, possibly assisting in sales paperwork.

Shifts: 5pm - 6:30pm, 6:30pm - 8:30 pm.

Friday September 30th and Saturday October 1st and Sunday October 2nd: Eugene Celebration Weekend
Join the city of Eugene as Celebration participants visit the gallery to see the Mayor's Art Show. On this special weekend, you will be the offical hosts of the Mayor's Art Show.

Tasks: Gallery Guide duties of answering general gallery questions, locating specific artworks, assisting art sales, occasional crowd managment duties (keeping food outside of the gallery, monitoring children in a gallery setting, etc).

Shifts: all Celebration Weekend Volunteers required at Friday, Sept 30th meeting at 3:30pm.
- Friday: 5:30pm - 8pm, 8pm - 10pm
- Saturday: 11am - 1:30pm, 1:30 pm - 4pm, 4pm - 6pm, 6pm - 8pm, 8pm - 10pm.
- Sunday: 11am - 1pm, 1pm - 3pm, 3pm - 5pm.

If you would like to help bring together the Mayor's Art Show by becoming a volunteer, email Becky Tonkin (rtonkin@uoregon.edu) or Nicole Luke (nluke@uoregon.edu).

Mayor's Art Show Dates

2005-07-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

Dates have come forth for this summer's art show.

Saturday, August 27th Art Intake Day: 11:00 am - 6pm. Artists submit their artwork in person at the Jacob's Gallery at the Hult Center. There is a $10 fee to submit your art work.

Friday, September 2nd Art Pickup Day: 11:00 am - 6 pm. Artists will arrive at the Jacob's Gallery and check the acceptance posting on the gallery's door.

If your name is listed on the acceptance sheet, come into the gallery and sign an insurance contract.

If your name is not listed, go around the building corner, to the left to where all the art works are stored. You will be asked to show your art receipt and your artwork will be retreaved for you. In addition, this is the day to submit your work to the Salon de Refuse. Steve La Riccia will be present to offer you more information on submitting your art to the Salon.

Submitting Art to the Mayor's Art Show

2005-05-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

The Mayor's Art show is a unique art show experience that coincides with Eugene's summertime Eugene Celebration. Held at the Jacob's Gallery in the Hult Center, the Mayor's Art show is comprised of approximately 50 pieces of art picked by three judges, with the Eugene Mayor being given the honor of picking out a favorite art work to offer a gift to, hence the name of this exhibition.

So, it's an art show... what's the big deal? Most art exhibitions jury possible artworks from slide images. This is a practical move that allows an artist to be considered for an event in a different geographical region than where they live, without risking that the artwork they wish to be considered becomes damaged in shipment to and from the juror. Slides offer highly detailed images and frame an art work wonderfully in an isolated space that is not cluttered, and showcases the art in question flatteringly. The downsides to this process is that slides can be costly and time consuming to have made. Having slides made require that you have a high quality image of your artwork, a process that usually requires the aid of a profesional photographer. This also requires that the artist enter the world of maintaining a slide database of all of their artwork: entering images of new work, maintaining a stock of multiple images of one piece, and keeping track of where their slides are in the art world. And did you gather yet that this isn't all cheap?

What the Mayor's Art Show does that is different is that it requires entering a piece in person on one intake day. This means that the actual artwork itself is judged- not an image of it. This process tends to be friendlier to amateur artists, who often don't have a slide making protocol established for their artwork.

However, the scheduling of the event itself means it is not flexible. There is one given day that art can be turned in to be judged. Two weeks later comes another single day in which the art is to be picked up. That can be a bit tough to schedule during the summer time- however the community atmosphere is well worth it. As an artist, you won't be alone in this process. There will be other artists at your elbow, finding out the same information as you: did they make it in to the Mayor's Art Show?

If you don't make the call? There is also the option of entry into the illustrious Salon de Refuse, the doppleganger, no not quite... the ecentric Aunt of the Mayor's Art Show.

The Call

2005-05-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

Tina Rinaldi of the Jacob's Gallery just called me to ask if I would like to be a juror for this summer's Mayor's Art Show! This came as quite a surprise and I am flattered.

I've volunteered for the Mayor's Art Show for many years ever since my first rejection of an art work seven years ago. I've had artwork accepted two years and rejected four years. I've experienced the highs, lows and laughs involved in submitting art to an event this size. Having been a volunteer has given me a glimpse of what is involved behind the scenes in putting on this event. I have sat at the acceptance table with an artist helping fill out the required insurance paperwork allowing their chosen artwork to be displayed safely. I have also been with the crew who hands back unaccepted artworks. In this role I have been afforded a sneak peak of the manifestations of the inner working of fellow artists: from dejection, anger, destruction of the rejected artwork, to mirth, zen-like acceptance, and also relief.

Working with past Mayor's Art Shows has allowed me the opportunity to play juror myself on the sly. Handling my crumbled paper of noted artworks, I've wandered through the accepted works experiencing my own range of reactions similar to those of the rejected artists.

I am both apprehensive and overjoyed to see my art journey continue in a direction more behind the scenes of gallery events. I would like to share with you my reactions on what I expect to be an exciting ride as a juror for the 2005 Mayor's Art Show.