Juror of Selection - David R. Smith
Statement 

Thank you to the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society for the invitation to juror the exhibition and to instruct a workshop.  I was honored, but it was an arduous job selecting 125 from over 600 submissions.  Watercolor can be a challenging, so I was impressed at the scope and quality of work.  The chosen pieces will provide viewers a great tase of what can be accomplished with the medium. 

Everyone probably realizes the process of selection has some subjectivity.  That another juror would undoubtedly select some different paintings.  And if provided more time to review the entrants, I would have continued to swap one painting for another as there were so many worthy of recognition. 

In regards to criteria, many of the paintings have shown strong composition that perhaps leads the eye in or around the painting, interesting and balanced shapes, harmonious or impactful colors, strategic use of values, etc.  However, as this is a Watercolor Exhibit, a significant criteria was “Does the painting showcase the qualities of watercolor well?”  What makes watercolor so unique and enjoyable (and sometimes challenging) is the medium of water, which helps the artists create the beautiful interminglings of color and unique textures and transparent glazes that are unique to watercolor.

Many of the artists in this exhibit show the qualities unique to watercolor as well as showing great skill in controlling the medium… some to the point of photo-realism. 

However, as the artist Herman Pekel once said, “Artists make the worst judges, as they focus on the technical side vs the emotional side of the painting.”  And added that if Van Gogh would have entered an exhibition, Artists would have never selected his pieces. So, I tried to take this into consideration and not just look at the paintings with a “technical eye”, but also simply view the paintings in terms of whether I felt drawn to the painting; does the painting illicit an emotion, does the piece hold my interest? 

Lastly, I appreciate risk-taking, originality, and/or a thought-provoking painting or a piece that tells a story or brings me into the scene. Again, there were many more worthy submissions than there were spots available.  Thank you for sharing them and congratulations to the selected artists.
--David R. Smith
http://dsmithfineart.com/

Juror of Awards - Douglas Wiltraut
Statement 

I would like to thank the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society for inviting me to serve as the Juror of Awards for their 41^st Annual International Juried Exhibition.  I would also like to take this opportunity to thank David R. Smith for selecting an extremely strong body of work from which to select the awards.  In some shows it seems like there are too many awards to give out but in this case there weren’t enough.  Overall, the show was very strong and while the figure predominated, there were many interesting avenues that the artists explored in which they showed a keen sense of invention and design.  Those paintings which were selected to receive awards combined a strong interpretation of light and shadow coupled with a dynamic composition and overall mastery of the medium.  All of the artists in the show deserve recognition for their efforts and they can be proud to be included in this outstanding exhibition. Awards JurorDouglas Wiltraut