Speaking of Art Blog

Snowy with Clouds, pastel

“I’d rather be keeping a painful dental appointment than jury this show right now.”

That was the comment made by a top notch pastelist who was in the middle of jurying an exhibit for a national pastel society as she joined a Zoom meeting a little late and answered the question, “How is the jurying going?” I was surprised and a bit apprehensive when I heard her say that because a few days later I was about to face jurying an exhibit myself, for the Indiana Audubon Dune Birds in Art Exhibit, to be held simultaneously with the annual Indiana Dunes Birding Festival at the southern tip of Lake Michigan during spring bird migration. The festival is a big deal and so is the juried exhibit. I was honored and excited to be invited to jury this annual albeit small but spectacular exhibit that showcases only birds of the Indiana Dunes region.

Since I have been concentrating on painting birds of the Indiana Dunes myself and since I am married to a birdwatching guru, I am familiar with our area’s birds, both the migrators and the ones that stick around all year. I love depicting winged creatures doing their quirky bird things, with each species displaying their unique personality. I was anxious to see what submitting artists would bring to the table, hopefully surprising and delighting me with their own creative interpretations.  But what I was not prepared for was the sheer difficulty level of my task for a number of reasons.

First, while this would be an in-person show, I did my jurying all on computer by examining digital images through ShowSubmit.  No artist names, just numbered images.  Years ago, a 3-D artist friend and I juried and judged a big all media regional show in a neighboring state in person.  While it was a daunting task that took us all day to whittle down over 350 entries to about 90 pieces and then choose 11 award winners, the in-person aspect was very helpful for obvious reasons. The impact of seeing artwork up close with one’s own eyes is irreplaceable. But I understand why in-person jurying and judging are becoming obsolete.  It’s so much less practical, but in my opinion, so much easier for the jurors/judges to make their decisions based on viewing the real deal.  So, while I juried the IA-DBIA show online, I reminded myself to check each artwork’s size. But sorry to say, while some artwork may have blown me away in person, if the computer image looked lifeless or the cropping was poor, those entries had to be eliminated early on. Professional looking images are key to juried show acceptance success these days.  I needed to reduce the 56 submitted entries down to 18 2-D pieces and 2 3-D pieces, 20 pieces total, with only one accepted piece per artist. All fine art media were permitted with a maximum of 2 entries per artist. Gulp.

Secondly, every artwork needed to portray only birds of the Indiana Dunes.  So, I had my husband sit down in front of my computer and identify every single bird for me.  If he couldn’t do it or if the bird portrayed has never been seen at the Indiana Dunes (there was a list of birds that entrants were supposed to consult), that was a problem. Creative flair was fine, but not to the point where the bird was unrecognizable.  A few more pieces were eliminated at that stage.

Next came a somewhat more difficult step, eliminating the pieces that were simply not juried exhibit ready.  I remember those days myself.  I tried for years to get accepted into juried shows at the local and then regional and then national and then international levels. In order to reach my next goal, I doggedly honed my skills and kept raising the bar for myself.  When I look back at images of my early work over 25 years ago, I was definitely not juried show ready back then. It’s hard to see that when you’re just starting down the competition path, but the rejections are clear indicators that there’s more to learn and more bars to raise. For this stage of jurying, I examined each piece while considering all the art principles I’d ever learned – edges, composition, color handling, adept use of art media, values, leading the eye through the piece, bringing out the bird’s personality, etc.  And so, more pieces were set aside. Each elimination at this stage pained me as I remembered my early failed efforts at getting accepted into juried competitions.

I was down to about 26 pieces, a little less than half the work submitted.  Gosh, I wish I could have stopped there. The remaining works were stunning. I was in awe. I had figured out which 2 of the few 3-D pieces I wanted to keep, but to have to eliminate 6 more 2-D pieces was going to be torture.  How on earth would I do it?  I was beginning to compare a painful dental appointment to my task ahead and it didn’t look all that scary, maybe even peaceful since I wouldn’t have to make any decisions.  Just give me the Novocain and let me listen to some music.  Ahh.

I consulted Kristina Knowski, expert birdwatcher/aviary watercolorist/juror of many bird art competitions/framing-gallery owner hosting the IA-DBIA show this year. I told her about my dilemma.  She replied that she understood completely.  She suggested that I count up how many of each bird species remained, and eliminate some of the repeats.  Great idea!  But she also told me to listen to my heart.  In other words, if there are 2 of one species of bird and I can’t part with either of them, then keep them both. What a lovely tip to add.

I was stunned to find that in the total number of entries there were 6 Great Blue Herons and 7 Sandhill Cranes.  A word of advice here: If you enter a show that is themed or one that has subject categories, don’t go for the obvious choices that every other artist is going to paint.  Even if your artwork is excellent, you will still worsen your chances of getting accepted into the show if you are walking down the wide expected path.  Think outside the box and choose a subject that will stop a juror in their tracks because there won’t be 6 or 7 or 40 more of your chosen subject to compete with your work.

Something I did at this point had less to do with the quality of the remaining works, which were all stunning, and more to do with the cohesiveness of the show as a whole, which is also what a juror should think about. I wanted to put together an exhibit that showcased a wide variety of birds.  But a few show-stopper works by different artists actually looked alike.  So, I went back to the original pool of all the entries and I chose the second piece submitted by some artists instead of the first one that I had originally chosen.  I mean, some artists’ works were so exquisite that it honestly didn’t matter which piece I chose of theirs.  (“Do I want their Sandhill Crane or their Green Heron?  I’ll go with the Green Heron even though I originally chose the Sandhill Crane, because it’s unique.”)  I chose the one that fit better into the exhibit as a whole because it added variety. Which brings me to another bit of advice I have for artists: When possible, submit more than one piece of work.  Give the juror choices.  It just might make your acceptance more likely.

And so, I finally got it down to 18 2-D pieces.  The last 2 birds I had to release were the hardest eliminations of all. After I finished, I slept on my choices.  That was important.  I needed to let things simmer on a back burner in my subconscious for a time.  By morning I realized which 2 pieces by 2 more artists needed to be swapped out for their second choice. Once I did that, I knew my task was complete.  I could feel it. I waited a couple of hours, but with no more changes bubbling up to the top, I finally hit FINISH and I was done.  Then I went for a long walk at the Indiana Dunes to clear my head.  I was free, free as a bird. When I came home, I sat down and penned my juror’s statement.  I consulted 2 competent artist-writer-juror friends who helped me fine tune some of the wording.  I appreciated their help because by that time I was nearly brain dead.  Here it is:

JUROR'S STATEMENT

2026 DUNE BIRDS IN ART

This exhibit is a wonderful artistic celebration of all things aviary in the Indiana Dunes area.  I was humbled and honored to jury this show.

Birds of the Indiana Dunes are such fascinating creatures and we are so fortunate to be able to observe and listen to them. How can we artists not try to capture their essence?  The artwork displayed here does just that. Through the masterful use of many different media, these artworks stop us in our tracks. Even as we recognize each bird, we can appreciate this fresh look at our feathered friends.

First and foremost, I looked for accuracy in the descriptive details, stance, and behavior that is common to each bird in the wild.  I also examined competence in edge treatment, values, color usage, story line, composition, and that special creative spark that kept me coming back to linger over each of these fascinating examples of aviary art.

To each artist represented here I say bravo!  You have captured a delightfully quirky moment in a bird’s (or flock’s) life. May we all continue to appreciate, celebrate, respect and protect birds. They bring such joy and they spur us on to make more art involving beaks, feathers, and wings.

Mary Ann Pals

I have been Exhibition Chair for a couple of national pastel societies for over a decade.  I love every aspect of my job. I see every submitted artwork as it comes in behind the scenes.  I like trying to second guess which pieces will get accepted by a juror into a show, and which pieces will be judged to win awards. I always keep those thoughts to myself, but I find it fun to see how closely my predictions come to what really happens. That’s why I was looking forward to this jurying task. I thought it would be…fun.  Ha! The word fun never crossed my mind.  Here is what did cross my mind:  It was exciting, wearying, awe inspiring, humbling, motivating, nerve wracking, self-confidence building, torturous, new creative ideas forming, and very hard.  Would I do it again?  Oh yes. Would I trade it for a dental appointment?  No, although I reserve the right to at least consider that option for a few moments the next time I jury a show.  Dreaming about stressing less brain cells can be relaxing.

Indiana Audubon Dune Birds in Art Exhibit
May 8 – June 5, 2026
Ancillaerie Framing/Gallery, 109 S. Calumet Rd, Chesterton IN 46304
Reception: May 15, 6 – 8:00pm CT

Here are some of my most favorite bird paintings that I’ve created over the years.  Yes, there are 2 Mourning Doves. I’ve decided to keep both of them in this little collection because I listened to my heart.