At the JAS10 Opening

Tonight we had the opening for the Belmar Arts Council's 10th Annual Jersey Shore Juried Art Show. The Boatworks has been spruced up and all 3 rooms were put to use to hold the 82 piece show.  This is traditionally their biggest show of the year, in terms of both entries and attendance.  That's holding up for this year so far.  I got there extra early, both to make sure I got good parking and because my brother's family was showing up early with the little kids before the crowd arrived.  And it did arrive.  We are estimating about 300 people came through over the length of the two hour reception.  We were blessed with one of the nicest days so far in 2014, allowing us to keep the doors propped open for air without making the visitors suffer freezing temperatures.

I already knew about my prize, but this time the ribbons are now up.  My two pieces can been seen in these two photos- the bowling print (with blue ribbon) over the shoulders of the crowd in the photo above, and my Blake print in the photo below.  The prize envelope made the decision to end the annual winners show official, but contained a nice check.  Received congratulations on the award from people all throughout the reception, and the juror, Margaret O'Reilly from the State Museum in Trenton, introduced herself.  She said she was very excited to see woodcuts in the show's entries, as she's a fan of the medium in general and they aren't that common, and in my case appreciated the bits of humor she detected.  Mine were the only two woodcuts of course, and the only two traditional prints.  There were two traditional drawings (pencil and charcoal) that would have been in my category, and even if some digital pieces were thrown in to my graphic media category (it's up to the juror to decide that I guess), still not many competing for that prize.  Almost half the accepted work was photography, noted by many without much enthusiasm.  My response was to point out that the juror could only select from what was submitted, and considering how many digital photography classes are run there, not to mention that this show was judged only from digital images (all they had to do was send files they already had as opposed to having to properly photograph paintings, sculptures, etc), it's not surprising to see so many.

I spent more of the reception talking to people about two upcoming BAC related projects more than the prints I was showing.  My woodcut class starts tomorrow, adding a sixth member tonight, a veteran of the class from last year.  And then there's the train show, which I didn't start, but I'm chairing the show at their request, which makes me more involved than anyone.  The official 8 foot banners are still in production (printed on canvas or something similarly durable), one of which will be displayed at the train station, so while my mural idea wasn't chosen, I will have a big artwork there for a little while this spring.  We had a homemade oversize computer printed version (maybe 4 feet long) in the window and the postcards out for people to pick up, and response to the design I made has been very positive.  I was satisfied with the result, but it's just adapting a straight photo I took to the modern simplified style and bold colors of early 20th century train posters.  The two prints I have in the show involved a whole lot more creativity and hard work in both conception and completion.

This juried show remains on display through April 11th during regular gallery hours (Wed-Sat, 1 to 5). More photos of the opening and works in it can be seen over on the BAC blog.