Judge's Presentation of Awards(Transcription of Award Ceremony presented by Jan Fabian Wallake, held on October 10th, 2008)
Before I present the award winners, I would like to share with you my criteria for judging each painting.
Spirit – Artistic Spirit. Let’s talk a little about what that means and why it is important. When most of us begin our
painting careers we are determined to learn technique. How does the medium react, how does it mix, how does it move.
It can all be so frustrating, especially with watercolor – it seems to have a life of its own! It is by making mistakes
that we learn and we learn how to control the medium. Once we attain a certain level of learning the technique, we
generally move on to some more innovative techniques, more texture, more pattern, and special effects. All of this can be
learned with practice, they can be conquered. They can be used to make an apple look more like a real apple, a rose look
more like a real rose. The pitfall here is that the artist can get bogged down at this stage. He or she might become
obsessed on how much their apple looks like a real apple. The art has become a skill of executing a learned technique.
What’s missing? Creativity. Artistic spirit that transforms what is seen in reality into an innovative, personal view of
that reality. It is at this point that the painter becomes an artist.
Now, all of this talk about creative spirit, personal imagery – what does it really means? You may ask, How can I get to
that point in my own art? And I can tell you it is a personal journey, but let’s break it down in some basic insights.
First, do you work from real life? Do you work from photos? What is your inspiration?
Second, look for beauty or inspiration not in subject, but in shapes, in spaces, in light, movement. Now you are seeing
more than the eye sees. You are pulling some qualities out of the things that the ordinary person does not consciously
realize. Now you have an opportunity to communicate your own unique view to the world. And, how do you do that?
Maybe it is by emphasis, or dominating lights over shadows, or negative shapes over positive ones. Maybe you use color
or pattern to attract attention or repetition to lead the eye. Possibly you use motion as a force in your work.
Think about all the great movements in history. When the Impressionists came along, they saw a world filled with
atmosphere and light. Vincent Van Gogh saw scenery filled with color, living, moving color. It was his personal vision.
Post-impressionist Paul Cezanne called the father of modern art was the first to place shape above subject matter in
importance, and he opened the way for the Cubists, who saw pattern as dominant. Minimalists reduced all elements to basic
shapes. Dadaism is a movement that depicts subject in a care-free, childlike image. Well, you get the idea: true artists
have learned to project a unique spirit, they look beyond the subject and collect their experiences, their skills and,
even yes, their learned techniques, and they transform their subject into a work of true art. I challenge each of us,
including myself, to look inward to find that spirit. And then work outwards to create art that excites.
I talk about confident brushstrokes so many times when I am judging awards. Some times people have great composition,
they have great technique, but I can see, I can read in the brushstrokes whether they are confident. It is something
that comes with a lot of practice, a lot of painting. When you can get your brush, load it up with paint, lay it down
and get out of there, you know there is confidence. Believe me, it is like your handwriting, you can see it immediately
in a painting. And if your painting didn’t get in the show, it might have been for that reason – not everybody, but that
is a very common thing that I see that people work very hard in a certain area and I can see that it was way too hard.
It is something to try: confident brushstrokes.
With all of this in mind I focus on the paint that exemplifies with composition the elements of art, the principles of
design, and most of all a creative spirit. And with that, I would like to present the awards.
