Pearl Ellis Jury Process

December started with our first jury convening, to select works for the first two concept shows of 2024, and for the first solo/group slot. 

Our jurists included two board members; Teresa Kachanoski and Tish Doyle-Morrow, along with three other individuals. Susan Schaefer represented the established artist category, Pelle Campbell came to us from the Comox business community with a special interest in the arts, and Samantha Bishop is a practicing artist and recent graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

We developed a five-category scoring criteria to make the process both fair and thoughtful:

• Artistic mastery of technique
• Finished quality
• Creativity/Originality
• Conceptual Strength - depth (a. For concept shows: does the work reflect the theme, and b. For the open spot: is the work strong enough to carry a solo spot)
• Overall concept; is the work thought-provoking

The jurors went through the submissions separately, giving each of them a score from 1-5, in all five categories. We then tallied the scores to determine a numerical ranking, which we used in our zoom discussion to determine which works were accepted for the concept shows, and who to award the solo/group spot to.

Two artists who had submitted separately for a solo show received the highest points, and we asked them to do a joint show together, entitled “Home and Away, the Art of Frank Carter and Jack Duckworth”. We feel that this will be a compelling exhibit, featuring Jack’s paintings of local landscapes, alongside Frank’s photographs of exotic locales from his world travels.