[Woodcarver] Judging shows.

[Ivan Whillock Studio]

I have two novel suggestions that fly against current thinking:

1. Burn the judging standards for shows.   Admit from the outset that
judging art is subjective.  Don't expect the judges to crawl out of their
skins and become some sort of objective entities.  They are making
subjective judgments that come from their souls.  There will be variations
from judge to judge, show to show.  Rejoice in that.  In the cumulative
effect hopefully many points of view will be represented and many styles of
carving will, sometime throughout the series,  be represented--and
honored--in the sequence of judges.

2.  Carvers should not try to reach for some objective standard but should
carve from their own souls, carve what they feel, carve what they want to
express, smeary or neat, representative or abstract, carefully planned or
spontaneous.  Don't carve for someone "out there" but for someone "in here."
Realize that if you enter your piece in a show the process is going to be
subjective, that taste varies from person to person, from year to year.  In
art "winning" and "losing" are artificial constructs that work within the
borders of the contest but have little meaning outside of it.  Monet "lost"
in the 1874 Salon show but now stands among the greats in the history of
art.

Open things up rather than close things down.  Rejoice in the differences
rather than trying to standardize them.  Don't try to impose objective
standards on what, by definition, is a subjective activity.


Ivan Whillock Studio
122 NE 1st Avenue
Faribault, MN 55021
Visit my website at
 http://www.whillock.com
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http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=ivancarve