To celebrate the 10th installation of the Houston Area Exhibition at the Blaffer Gallery, members of the Houston art scene were invited to an informal discussion exploring juried shows.
Katherine Veneman, curator of education at the Blaffer, led the Contemporary Salon on Wednesday, which included Diane Barber, co-director of Diverseworks, Christine Jelson West, director of Lawndale Art Center, and Madeline Yale, director of the Houston Center for Photography.
"The rules are anything but standard," Veneman said of the jury process. "As an artist you might feel sometimes like you’re submitting into a black hole."
Local artists may have agreed, particularly in the case of the The Big Show, which Lawndale has hosted annually since 1984.
West, who joined Lawndale last year, said jurors looked at 1,043 pieces in just two days, and chose nine of them for this year’s exhibit, which is on view through Aug. 9.
"For Lawndale and The Big Show, it’s about gaining accessibility for the artist," West said.
Whether accepted, she said artists still have the opportunity to gain exposure through submitting. Yale said she keeps a rolodex of submissions to HCP shows to reference previously submitted work for future shows.
HCP hosts two annual juried shows, including the 26th Anniversary Juried Membership Exhibition, which opens Aug. 8.
"We have had to change the rules so that the entire process is done live," she said, noting that while only members are allowed to submit, 20 percent live out of state.
Barber noted the selection process was online for one Austin show, with four jurors logging in to review pieces. The panelists agreed there were definite weaknesses inherent in this new process.
"I think they should set it up like defensive driving online where you are forced to take a break," Barber said, prompting a burst of laughter from the audience.
Barber has curated more than 60 exhibitions, and DiverseWorks is known for emphasizing the selection of new works of upcoming artists with charged sociopolitical undertones. For example, Sept. 12, will mark the opening of the Understanding Poverty exhibition.
When asked about this year’s exhibition, Veneman couldn’t have seemed more pleased.
"You know, I was really happy with the way Claudia (Schmuckli) had done it," she said.
Schmuckli, acting chief curator at the Blaffer, reviewed 350 submissions and visited 50 studios to select works for the exhibit, which features multimedia installations, paintings and sculptures.
The exhibition, which opened May 10 and is on view through Aug. 2, has what Veneman called "a rich history." Four women pioneered the Houston Area Exhibition in 1925. The exhibition discontinued in 1960, only to be revived in ’74. Since 1988, it has found a home in the Blaffer, which has held an open call to artists every four years since.
Evident in the exhibit is the matured style of all the artists involved, which could also pay tribute to Schmuckli in putting together such a complementary selection of work, varying in content, but nonetheless refined.
Jonathan Leach, one of the 16 featured local artists in the exhibition, also attended the panel. Leach came to Houston from Minneapolis last October and said he submitted for the exposure.
"I had no idea about the vibrancy of the Houston scene," Leach said. "The overall acceptance and cohesiveness of the Houston art scene has made it such a powerful, positive experience."
Schmuckli chose three of his pieces for the exhibition, which are a delightfully playful use of space, as exercises in color theory and shapes through cityscapes painted from memory. When asked what he thought of Ellsworth Kelly, an American painter of the Minimalist school born in 1923, Leach said he definitely saw him as an influence.
"He had the largest impact on me when I was a kid. Up until then, I had no interest in abstraction," he said. "I really enjoyed the way it split my vision – understanding spatial relation."
Also on view at the Blaffer through Aug. 2 is Charles Teenie Harris: Rhapsody in Black and White.
The gallery, located in the Fine Arts Building, is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free.
