Hi, I’m Mary! I joined Illuminate in October, at the start of a brand new project. We worked towards choosing a winner out of those exhibiting at this year OPEN at Nottingham Castle. Our prize would include a monetary prize- but the rest was up to us! The next few weeks involved meetings and gallery visits to make sure we were fully informed to make such a decision!
We began finding out how local galleries operated, learning about their exhibitions and exploring their art collections. This taught us skills necessary for judging art. Our first visit was to Nottingham Contemporary where associate artist Sian Watson ran a workshop to teach us how to choose our favourite artworks, working on how we react emotionally and instinctively to art, helping us formulate opinions and ‘judge’ other artworks.
We also visited Lakeside Arts’ Djangoly Gallery where curator Neil Walker talked to us about the exhibitions and their hang, informing us how he chose artists and how exhibitions were planned. We had a visit from Tristram Aver, who told about the Open, what it would involve, how it started and how it worked. He showed us all the artists exhibited at the Open explaining how decisions had been made over who to choose for the show. We also saw some of Tristram’s work at the Djangoly.
We visited the Open when its hang was in process and artworks being put up. Most artworks were on the floor yet to be hung. We visited Andrew Bracey’s exhibition as it was being hung, talking to the artist and learning about his work and how exhibitions are hung and curated.
We revisited the Open once it was fully installed. We initially wondered around individually to get a feel for the exhibition. We noted four articles as our own favourites. We got into pairs and selected three artworks between us; one each of our most favourite and one artist we agreed on. We put stickers on photographs of the artworks we picked. Any artworks not picked were removed from the group.
We split into two teams, each team choosing four artists. This was hard to agree on but a brilliant exercise in learning to compromise and work together! It was amazing how emotional and empathic we became about artists we didn’t know and how much we had our own choices in who we wanted to win! I was particularly passionate about Lois Wallace’s work. The artists chosen by each group became our shortlist. Amazingly, both teams had agreed on 3 choices, only differing by one choice! We now had our favourite 5.
At the next meeting we researched each artist, their background, their practice and their artworks. We decided that the prize for our winner should involve us working with the artist and learning how their practice operated. We each inputted our top two choices and tallied up who had won. At our first meeting back in January the results were in and the winner was…… Geoff Diego Litherland!
At the next meeting we researched each artist, their background, their practice and their artworks. We decided that the prize for our winner should involve us working with the artist and learning how their practice operated. We each inputted our top two choices and tallied up who had won. At our first meeting back in January the results were in and the winner was…… Geoff Diego Litherland!
Read our next blog to find out about the prize-awarding ceremony and the fruits of our labour! It was really tough making our decisions but they were well informed and fairly executed. In the end the winner was a mutual decision, with nearly every person in illuminate voting for them! It was a great learning process and fantastic team working! It tested out our analytic and art-appreciation skills!
