Blog

For the past several months I have been working on getting together an exhibit for Northern Indiana Artists at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.  FWMoA is the second largest art museum in Indiana and this is the first time our group has had the chance to enter work for a special exhibit there, so this was a pretty big deal in my mind.  But we didn't know how many people would enter the show, due to timing and travel issues. 

Drop off and the jury process took place on Sunday.  It all happened within the span of 3 hours.  People were in high spirits prior to the judging.  We had a much larger turn out than we had anticipated, so only about 1/3 of paintings got into the exhibit, resulting in a little over 1/2 of the people getting one piece in, but leaving a large number of people who did not get any work in.  Everyone had stayed for a lecture in the same building, so everyone picked up their work at the same time.  I had let the group know the numbers before they proceeded back to the jury room.  There was a much different tone to the group at this time than prior to the jury process.  People who had made it in, were ecstatic, but celebrating as quietly as they could because they didn't want to hurt other people's feelings.  I had many people come up to me and almost whisper about how surprised and happy they were!  We will have an award ceremony in two weeks and then there will be loud applause and lots of mutual hurray's given to all whose work made it into the exhibit.  But Sunday I felt like every one of those artists were feeling for those who had to pack up both of their entries and return home with nothing to show for their efforts.  I thought to myself, 'Well I've been there enough times, so I know how it must feel!'  But for the artists who made it in, the prize was all the sweeter, after realizing that the competition was so tough. 

I think we need to realize that as artists, every one of us has high moments and low moments.  It is all part of the journey we are on.  We need to be there for each other when the road gets tough, but also to genuinely celebrate in each other's victories as well!