[Woodcarver] Judging Carving Shows

[Donna Menke]

My main recommendation would be to have more than one judge. One recent show I was in was judged very poorly, in my opinion, and I think it was because only one person was judging. I would much rather have 2-3 mediocre judges than one opinionated person inflicting their judgment on an entire show. Granted, I was miffed because a couple of my entries were not placed well- and after talking to the judge I was amazed at the reasoning. Get this- I was in the open class, and one of the best carvings I'd ever done was given no ribbon at all because the judge thought maybe one of my students or other person had ripped off my style- excuse me??? The other was a complex carving in a hard wood, relatively large. It came in second to a hard wood carving because the base on that one was of a different hard wood. Duh- I kinda thought it was neat to have it all out of the same wood. The details on the other, very stiff looking, carving were done with a circle punch no
 less- while mine had gesture and personality. Not that I'm prejudiced or anything- but I was robbed.
Not that it matters- but then why enter competitions?
I will be entering one of these carvings in another competition soon, and I'm anxiously looking forward to seeing how another judge places it. If it doesn't do well than I'm full of baloney and I take it all back. If it garners a blue ribbon I will wave it under the nose of this other judge. The first carving, by the way, got a blue ribbon at this other show last year.
Just a rant- take it for what it is worth- 
Donna Menke
http://www.woodworks-by-donna.com 
Author: The Ultimate Band Saw Box Book

----- Original Message ----
From: Patti Landmann <lowvillecarver at yahoo.com>
To: Woodcarver Mail List-New <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 1:36:00 PM
Subject: [Woodcarver] Judging Carving Shows


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Carvers,

If there is anyone out there with some time to spare, could you tell me about how a "simple" judged carving show could/should be organized.   

Our club has always had a "People's Choice" awarded show and so the results were fun but fairly meaningless.   Often things are voted on for cute or fun or popular subject and not the quality of the carving or skill of the carver.  Our club discussions usually end with someone saying...too much work...can of worms...nightmare..etc.  So each year we opt for fun.   Maybe this is the year that we can change that if I can find some simple introduction to a "real" judged show.   

I hope to hear from a few of you.    Thanks in advance.

Patti Landmann


      Patti Landmann 

  lowvillecarver at yahoo.com 
 

     
http://www.picturetrail.com/lowvillecarver.............for carvings, family and more 
http://lagrandmama.blogspot.com/...........for my Grandma experiences 
http://picasaweb.google.com/lowvillecarver...........for Bird, Deer & Flower Photos from our house
http://www.centuryinter.net/treasures/.........for my old dated web site,still good stuff:


  




 
      
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