Reflections on the Selection Process

It is a privilege to have been asked to select prints for The Boston Printmakers’ 2005 Biennial. As one of the largest and oldest juried exhibitions, it attracts a broad range of work from artists across the country. In a relatively brief period of time, I had the opportunity to review hundreds of prints I would not have otherwise seen. After years of jurying various print exhibitions, I have become familiar with the work of some artists primarily by seeing them in these exhibitions. I was especially pleased to see prints by some well-established artists who support juried exhibitions by their participation.

On the other hand, what am I not seeing? Among the over twelve hundred slides submitted for consideration, few works were printed at a professional workshop. Several weeks after I selected this exhibition, I visited a smaller, juried print exhibition in New York in which more than two-thirds of the works had been professionally printed in collaboration with the artist. Because of the nature of the submissions, The Boston Printmakers’ Biennial has a much better representation of work printed by the artists themselves. Exhibitions such as this provide a real service to these artists who have fewer opportunities to show their work outside their own region.

I was surprised to see very few artists’ books submitted for consideration. Most of them incorporate some form of printmaking as well as papermaking, binding, and folding skills that extend traditional formats for prints. Some of the most creative and challenging work I have seen in recent years have taken the idea of the book well beyond its traditional format into the realm of sculpture.

As I was viewing slides, I was aware of how the selection process favored some types of work over others. Simple, bold images were easier to comprehend than more complex, subtle relationships. It was difficult to appreciate line quality, surface, paper, and nuance of color in the slides. Seeing all the images projected at the same size distorted the impact of many of the compositions. When I saw the works in person, I was surprised to see how different they looked. Predictably, most of the prints looked much better in person, but to my surprise, some of them looked better in slides!

Conversely, I wonder which works I did not select because a slide, even a very good one, cannot really convey the presence of a work of art. Some prints have to be seen in person to be appreciated, and I fear I might have missed some of these.

However, I fully understand why an exhibition of this scale must be selected from slides, or perhaps in the near future, digital reproductions that will allow for greater accuracy and close-ups. In the end I was very pleased with the selection when I had the opportunity to see the works in person to make the awards. It was especially satisfying to have so many prizes to award. Several of the award winners are veritable tours de force of printmaking, compelling images created by extraordinary mastery of technique. Many represent some of the finest examples of black and white printmaking I have seen among contemporary artists. Some take formats and purposes traditionally associated with printmaking, such as narrative sequences and social or political commentary, and push them to new levels of expression. Others transform popular imagery into fine art, often with a sense of humor or tongue-in-cheek message. I tended to favor works made by more straightforward methods rather than complex combinations of techniques, but in some instances the combinations were particularly effective and worthy of note. The one characteristic that all the award winners share is my continuing interest in looking at them. These were the works of art to which I returned over and over again as I sorted through the entire exhibition.

Such a large undertaking as this exhibition would have been impossible without the organizational skills and assistance of the board members of the Boston Printmakers. They were helpful and supportive at every turn. They made the experience of selecting this exhibition a memorable and enjoyable experience.