Juror's Statement
THE AUGUST 2002
AMERICAN LANDSCAPE MEMBERSHIP SHOW
I feel privileged to have been asked by Betsy Curry to judge the Art League's prestigious annual American Landscape Show. At this peak of patriotism and national pride/ our country occupies a special place in all our hearts. I wanted a show to reflect our country's greatness, beauty/ and diversity from coast to coast with quality work in a variety of mediums and techniques.
Barbara Nuss
President
Washington Society of Landscape Painters
Juror's Dialogue
by Pat Gerkin
Barbara Nuss, President of the Washington Society of Landscape Painters and a landscape painter herself, juried The Art League's 21st Annual American Landscape Show. When asked what it means to be an artist in America today, she replied, "I'm a landscape painter. Like most American landscape painters, I have an affinity for the landscape that is disappearing under urban and suburban sprawl. My paintings will reveal 100 years from now what a barn looked like or what our country looked like."
Have you seen a change in art since 9-11? "I see art in the galleries, and I do not see a change in art. The galleries that represent me aren't doing themed shows. Art shouldn't be about seeing how many strings we can pull. I think art is above that. It doesn't have to be so blatant," she noted.
Has 9-11 changed the way you approach art as a curator or as a painter? "No, not really. But I don't think the world is as secure as it once was, and I hope that I am not just wasting my time painting what I see now. Over the years I have had to figure out why I paint what I paint and who I paint for. I paint for myself, and what I paint happens to be a rapidly disappearing landscape," she stressed.
Ms. Nuss reminisced that she had been a member of The Art League and worked on the receiving team. She was surprised at the overwhelming number of photographs that were submitted to this show. She felt that the quality and the diversity had remained the same as she remembered. Her selection process included (1) composition (she is writing a book on landscape composition for North Light books); (2) value contrast and interesting areas and treatments; (3) good drawing; and (4) subject matter. "Many pieces were rejected because the composition was weak, and the value contrast was weak. Some pieces overused repetition, and others were 'different' just to get my attention. They were kitschy," she emphasized.
"I saw a lot of dark paintings that did not have good value contrast. Dark can be good if there is some interest, but if the painting is all dark with no light then dark doesn't mean anything. It is only one value," she said. "We all paint for different reasons. Some paint to get out their anger, depression, other emotions. I often paint places that are refuges: places to get away from the stress and responsibility of everyday life. And often that takes me back to earlier and queter times. So my work is more restful. Fortunately for me, other people relate to that. For instance, I paint a lot along the C&O Canal," she said.
"One of my pet peeves is work in which the bases of tree trunks are cut off. It says to me that it is from a photograph and the photograph didn't include the bottom of the tree. Lines that go into comers is a no-no, and horizon lines smack in the center are also no-nos. And I saw careless perspective, and a lot had values that were too dark. If a piece doesn't work from across the room, people probably won't walk up and look closely at it. That's why an all-dark painting doesn't work, whether it is abstract or representational."
Drawing: "Not very many drawings were entered, but some were very nice. I chose a pen and ink and a pencil drawing that were both very nicely done."
Watercolor: "I selected three watercolors for prizes that were very good. There were a lot of good watercolors and there were a lot that were not so good. I didn't want to select work that was obviously done from photographs. When the values are too dark, it is a dead giveaway. Some of the works had figures that were not too competently done."
Photography: "There was a lot of photography entered. Many of the photographs looked like sightseeing shots, and I eliminated those. Some of the more artistic photographs were probably like outdoor still lifes and I rejected them for that reason."
Works on canvas: "I found that a number of them looked as if they had been hurried through with the hope that the looseness was somehow going to work on its own. What they got instead were a lot of muddy colors. I saw a lot of roads that artists need to know how to handle. For example, a straight road leading into a piece is sometimes too abrupt. And roads that go into the comers are a no-no. You never want to put any lines into a comer as it sets up arrows that take your eye out of the painting."
Pastels: "I didn't see as much value contrast as I know pastels can do. I didn't feel that they pushed the medium enough. "
Printmaking: "There were some very nice prints. I selected a nice silkscreen that was very well done. There was a big one that was very intricate and professional, but I didn't feel that it was a true landscape. In general, some works were simply not landscapes, they were really 'outdoor still lifes'."
Sculpture: "The sculpture was really tough, because it is a stretch to even think of a sculpture as a landscape. I chose a few pieces that I thought represented the 'feel' of a landscape."
Abstract landscapes: "I selected one abstract painting of the erupting volcano, Kilauea, that was more dynamic than any representational painting of the same subject could be. Some abstracts worked, but not very many had any relationship to the landscape. Some were so oblique that I couldn't see any reference to the landscape. When I judge, I don't really see the mediums so much as I see whether the work is strong or weak. I base this on composition, values, contrast, and interesting, resolved areas."
Advice to Artists: "Paint on location as much as possible. Working only from photographs only simply won't do it. I do a sketch for the colors and composition, then I take photos as backup only. I don't think artists should make up landscapes. The landscape doesn't need to be made up-that usually makes them weak. They can become formulaic."
Advice to The Art League: "The process was well organized and ran smoothly."
This page was last updated 08/14/2002.
This page was last updated 07/04/2002.