I had warned the folks at the South Shore Art Center that I’m really picky, that I might select only 3 or 4 pieces from the hundreds submitted. However, because of the generally high quality of the work, I really didn’t live up to my advance billing. I struggled to winnow the selections down to what could fill, but not stuff~ the galley. It was a long day.

Step into the confessional with me for a moment, will you? Let me whisper a couple of things in your ear. I’m not a big fan of work that is primarily nostalgic. Hey, these are the good old days. And, while I’m in a confessional mode, I admit to being less than enthusiastic about work that owes any kind of debt to Thomas Cornell. I can‘t help but see him and his acolytes as folks who need to get out and about more, brush the dust off the old fedora and do some in-line skating. I’m also not crazy about work that relies heavily on TEXT~ even though know that makes me seem old-fashioned; I still like VISUAL art. Okay, thanks for letting me unburden myself: I feel so much better.

I tried to pick work that I found intriguing, beautiful, mysterious, unsettling, goofy, lyrical, or strange.I think I succeeded. But, hey, I’m just me; I looked at the work with my eyeballs, my biases, my allergies, my history.

If I’d chosen the prize-winners an hour later or the next day or with more or less caffeine in my system, the list might be slightly different. Maybe the Second Prize winner would have gotten First Prize, the Third Prize winner might have been an Award of Merit, an Honorable Mention winner might have gar­nered Third Prize. You get the picture: I thought all the prize-winners were terrific.

If you didn’t get into the show, too bad and better luck next time. Feel free to think of me as wrong­headed, visually illiterate, legally blind. If you did get in, congratulations! Great minds think alike.

Todd McKie

September 2004

Todd McKie's Jurying Notes